I Finally Saw Him!

I've read about him, seen pictures of him, I was starting to believe he was actually a myth....but then it happened........as I rounded the corner on North Ave beach the JOGGLER!!!! For those who don't know about the joggler check him out here. It was very inspiring to see him today, I have a hard enough time just running, adding juggling (which is something I can do, quite well if I do say so myself) to the mix sounds just insane to me. I caught him about mile 15 and it certainly helped me on my last 2 miles!

So, as you may have gleamed from above I had a 17 miler this weekend. Due to apartment shopping, and for those who care we found and secured an awesome place :), I decided to skip runnning Sat and instead tackle the beast on Sun. This proved a good idea for quite a few reason, but mainly because it was cold as HELL on Sat. Walking around to apts I thought my face would freeze off, running would have been just brutal! But having found a place, and a good friend and fellow runners birthday on Sat night I wanted to have a few drinks. I wasn't sure how this would affect me, granted I watched myself and was my no means cashed. I sucked down a big glass of water when I got home, slept till 10 and really I was fine.

It was still pretty cold out today, and the longest I've run on the trail lately has not exceeded 12 miles. Most of my long runs for Chicago this year were done while we were travelling whereever we were at. So long story short I ran pretty far south, farther south than I've ever gone, infact I would venture to guess most people avoid that part of the trail. There were considerably less runners, I saw less than 10, and it's just not as pretty. I also used 2 gels this time which I think really helped. I was hesitant to use the second but when I thought about how it would help me finish strong that was all I needed to get it out. Although I will say that it was so cold today that my gels were more gummy than gel-like, not a big fan of that. Then I saw the joggler at North Ave Beach, highlight of my run, and I was almost home. Finished in 2:26:43, which I'm VERY happy with, I was ready to be done today, but that kink of time for 17 miles indicates that a sub 4 is in reach. Maybe not the Flying Pig with all the hills, but soon, heck that sort of time makes me feel Boston qualifying is not so crazy either!

After my run I actaully had a productive day too. I have a tendency to be uber-lazy following a run like that, not today, ran errands got groceries, I haven't even napped! Looks like we might get up into the 40s this week, I'm so happy I could cry, peace out old man winter!