1999 Cornfest 10k

Cornfext 10k
DeKalb, IL
August 28, 1999

Last Saturday I ran the Cornfest 10k in DeKalb, IL. I had two plans for this race. If, after about 2-3 miles I felt good, I would make a strong effort and try to PR; if I felt that it wasn't going well, I would slow down and take it easy. The next day I would be running an 18 mile LSD, so if the race wasn't going well, I would then not trash myself for the LSD. My goal was sub-59:48, which is my current PR.

On Saturday morning I made the 45 mile trek to DeKalb-a pretty boring drive on country roads through corn fields. I made it to Christie's apartment by 7:20am, and we left for the race shortly after that. The weather was probably in the mid-70's with high humidity. Not good race conditions. Christie and I ran about a ½ mile for a warmup and the 8:30am starting time came fast and we were off. Christie went ahead (we ran together last year, but she's gotten a bit faster and I've gotten a little slower), and I stayed behind, trying to aim for a 9:45-9:50 mpm for the first few miles.

Well, by the third mile, which was 10:08 and actually felt like a 9:45 mile, I decided to take it easy the rest of the race to conserve my legs for the LSD. It was just too dang hot. I swear it felt like the temp was near 80 degrees or more, but I could have been imagining it because of the high humidity and the blazing sun. Lots of people were walking, which is always infectious when conditions are not good. Though, I really like this race for its community support which was evident during the race this year-I think I saw at least 10 sprinklers set up along the way so we runners could cool down, and some residents were out cheering. During the last mile I was blessed with the presence of local speedster Penguin/Dead Tom Soliday, who ran with me for a few minutes-thanks, Tom! Also, I know I saw ChiADead Chrys Knight during the race-we were close to each other throughout the entire race, but I didn't want to bother her because she was wearing headphones and looked like she was "in the zone," as we all were, just trying to survive!

When I saw the high school, near the finish, I sped up a little, leaving some space between myself and the person in front of me so that ChiADead Ken Wilson (who was working the finish line) could spot me ;-), and finished in 1:44:44 (1:44:49 clock), which is a few seconds faster than my PW. As I was finishing, Ken announced "And there's #52, Chicago Area Dead Kelly Roe, who ran the Bird Attack 10k two weeks ago!" Cool! Thanks, Ken!

I found Christie after the race-she also was about 3-4 minutes off her goal time-and we chowed on the post-race goomies. I also saw Tom Soliday again and we chatted for a little bit, and went over to the finish line again to chat with Ken. All in all, despite the really poor performance, I had fun.

After the race, Christie and I spruced up and then headed over to the Cornfest, and ate some free corn and walked around. It was definitely not a good day for racing-even while we were standing around I was sweating like crazy. I spent a little over an hour there and then headed home. Yep, the race was a bomb, but I had fun anyway. :-)

1999 ChiADead Bird Attack 10k

Bird Attack 10k
Evanston, IL
August 15, 1999

Yep, this is late, but I wanted to report on the great 1st Annual Bird Attack 10k/ChiADead Very Local Conference I that I participated in last Sunday with the ChiADeads. First of all, I want to say THANKS! to Prescott and his family for putting on such a great event. The course and post-race swim, food, and fun was great!

I had no real goals for this race except to have fun and finish standing, since I was running an LSD the day before. I did run 15.6 miles on Saturday, and it went really well, considering the fact that I had not run long since the Distance Classic 20k (7/11!). I woke up on Sunday morning with no soreness, drove to Evanston and met up with the ChiADeads, finally was able to meet some I haven't met before.

The race started and most everyone else ran ahead, while Rebecca and I ran together for the first couple of k's (as others have mentioned, the course was marked in kilometers, not miles-something I wish more metric races would do) until Rebecca had to make a trip to the bathroom. I went on ahead, aiming for about a 6:00/k pace, so that I might be able to finish under an hour-I was actually thinking that anything under 65:00 would be fine with me because of the prior day's run, but for some strange reason my legs felt pretty good. I stayed pretty much on pace, even through the horrible swarm of gnats that were hard to get through without choking some down. Ugh! Other than that, the course was beautiful, right along Lake Michigan, with the other runners, walkers, and cyclists, it seemed like a much larger race than our 12 participants.

I saw the lead bicycle, Prescott's son PJ, the front runners, the RD Prescott himself, and Melita close behind, and then everyone else-all of us waving and shouting encouraging words. The turn-around point was on the street, and I made my way back, Bob and Rebecca close behind. The sun was starting to bug me a little, but I maintained a 5:50-5:55/k pace until the last k, where I actually did speed up but took a wrong turn, backtracked, and aimed for the finish with a 6:24 last k (ugh!), and an overall finish time of 1:00:05. I'm pretty darned satisfied with that, since my PR is actually 59:48, and, if I had not made the wrong turn, I would have certainly PR'ed at this race, the day after a long run! 8-)

Well, after everyone finished, a few of us went swimming in the lake-actually I waded in the cool water up to my thighs-boy, was that refreshing! And then we all met up again at Prescott's house (thanks showing me the way, Ian! Rebecca and I were in the strange red car following you. ;-) ) The food, already mentioned, was FABULOUS, and I really love the race T-shirt, too. Thanks, again, Prescott and Tina for being such great hosts!

I've got another 10k on August 28, (Cornfest 10k in DeKalb, IL), and I'll just have to see if I can PR, since I won't be running an LSD the day before, it's a pretty good possibility!

Happy running,

Kelly

1999 Chase Corporate Challenge

Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5mi
Chicago, IL
August 5, 1999

I ran the Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5mi last Thursday. I had set a modest goal of sub-35:00, thinking that, with the weather nice and "cool" by this summer's standards, I would have no problem with that. I had not run for more than a mile or two in the 1 ½ weeks prior to the race, so I also assumed that my legs would be sluggish. Unfortunately, I had also come to this race with negativity-partly due to how my running has been going, and a lot because this race is critically disorganized, mainly because of the vast amount of inexperienced participants.

Luckily I was able to spot ChiADead Rebecca before the race looming near where I was meeting my coworkers. We chatted for a while and she took a picture of my corporate team (thanks, Rebecca!), then left to go back to her team meeting place. At 6:45 the first wave of runners started, and the walkers in my team decided to jump in to the race after all of first start people had passed, so they would be able to finish at a reasonable time. I lined up for the 7:10 start with two of my team members and chatted with them until the race started.

The start horn went off, and it took me about 21 seconds to get to the start line, which wasn't too bad. But, because there were many walkers who had lined up before me, I was dodging and weaving, getting pissed off that most of these people were walking four and five abreast and it was difficult to find a gap to run through. After the first mile, which was a labored 10:11, it got a little bit better. I swear I must have added .1 mile to the first mile just weaving. 8-0 After the aggravation of having to maneuver subsided, I felt that I was doing pretty well considering the circumstances under which I had put myself; my legs did not feel dead.

The second mile passed in a disappointing 10:01. I thought I was going faster than that. Oh well, need to pick it up a little bit if I want to break 35:00. The third mile was not very fun, because for some reason I started to feel nauseous. I don't usually feel that way during a race, and I'm not quite sure what caused it. I try to ignore the feeling and try to maintain the pace. Mile 3 passes by in 9:48. At this point I am very glad that I only have .5mi to go.

Before the straightaway the course goes uphill, and it's not that long, but I really felt like walking the dang thing. I decided against that because I really wanted to salvage this race. Then, on to Columbus for the final stretch. I can't do what I'd like and go all out because I still felt the nausea, but I try to speed up as much as I can. I finished the last .5mi in 4:24, for a watch time of 34:24 (clock time 34:45). I had accomplished the goal I set for myself, but I was still disappointed. It wasn't a PW, it was just slower than last year by about 3 ½ minutes.

After the race I picked up my finisher's t-shirt and chatted with the few coworkers who had stuck around, looked at my watch and decided I needed to hurry to get back to my office to pick up my stuff and make the 8:30 train back home. I ended up running back to work, adding another 1+ mile to my log for the day, picked up my stuff and got to the train with over 5 minutes to spare. On the train, sweaty, red-faced (I think I would've won the red-face contest!), and freezing because the AC was cranked up, I wondered why I do this race. I don't think I'll ever come up with a good reason. Maybe because I like to torture myself every once in a while. 8-)

Happy running,

Kelly

1999 Chicago Distance Classic 20k

Chicago Distance Classic 20k
Chicago, IL
July 11, 1999

As some have already reported with the Chicago Distance Classic today, the weather was unseasonably pleasant for Chicago--mid-70s and low humidity. I've run this race the past couple years and it is notorious for a hot, humid, performance-wrecking race. Also, the course changed this year, with the start at University of Illinois at Chicago instead of Grant Park, and a nice stretch along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan on the path. I was a bit weary that it might get a bit crowded on the path, but it was very manageable (which might have something to do with the fact that I'm in the back where it gets sparse). My plan for this race, more of a training run for me, was to do a conservative first half, speed up a little bit in the second, and finish strong.

Before the race, just south of the Registration booth I found some ChiADeads--Chris and wife Kim, Melita (who I'm sure has a great story to tell...), Prescott, Theresa, and Penny, and sat for a while in the grass. In the meantime I also said hi to a few of the many Penguins there--nice to see all of those pink hats. :-) I headed for the start about 10-15min before the race, and was able to wish luck to some fellow Penguins. The race started and off we went, as I kept just below 11min/mi, I felt comfortable and happy to be there.

The race starts going west, and then after a short while we go north, then back east into the Loop, turning onto Wacker Dr. and down to middle and lower Wacker, and then along the Chicago River on a path, part of the new (and improved!) course. This was about mile 3, and I started to see the elites coming back. After the stretch along the river, we ran along the lakefront on the west path along Lake Shore Drive with a great view of the lakefront and the museum campus, and you could see the people on their way back on the path that's right next to the lakefront. We passed the Shedd Aquarium and ran towards McCormick place, and turn around to continue on the lower path. Now you were able to take a good look at Chicago's amazing skyline--this race was definitely more scenic than in past years!

I guess the only problem was that mile 7 was short and 8 was long, which I had heard after the race, confirmed by my mile 7 10:02 and mile 8 11:31! The last miles were very manageable; before the race I was worried that with the two "long" (8mi and 10mi) runs that I've done in the past 1.5 months, I would start to fade. Luckily that was not to be; my last 3 miles were 10:35, 10:35, and 10:34. I was pretty happy with that!

Then the final stretch, the last .4, I waited a little bit longer to start really speeding up, but when I saw the finish I was sprinting like a mad woman (who seemed to have too much energy at the end!), passing people, waved to the huge flock of penguins, who then recognized me and started cheering wildly, which gave me the final push to the end. Actually, I sprinted so hard that I wretched (just once, though :-)) after I got into the chute, but luckily got myself under control to prevent any highly unwanted tossing of cookies. :-) The last .4 took me 4:01, and I finished clock time 2:14:57, watch time 2:13:55. Right on target! Also, my second half was 1:29 faster (actually using the clock time I was 2:31 faster) than the first half. I had executed the race exactly how I had planned. I am pretty happy about that!

After getting out of the finish chute, I grabbed a couple cups of water, then a cup of gatorage, passed on the greenest (Irish, as Dave says) bananas I've ever seen. I took a bagel stick and a little bag of nibbler pretzels and went straight to where I met the ChiADeads before the race. After about a 1/2 hour, which I used well for stretching and winding down, I was spotted by Chris and Kim. They led me back to where they were sitting with Penny and Theresa. I also was able to have a small chat with fellow Dead-Penguin Jeff Johnson. Unfortunately we never did meet up with Dave (who we didn't see before the race either) or Melita after the race. Penny and Theresa had to head home, so just Chris, his wife Kim, and I went to a small Gyro restaurant in Greek Town where I had a pretty darned tasty turkey pita sandwich.

I drove home, feeling really satisfied about the race. This was just what I needed to get out the funk I've been in; I'm now looking forward to building up again for Chicagothon in October! Yay!

1999 Madison Marathon

Madison Marathon
Madison, WI
May 30, 1999

I completed my 3rd marathon yesterday. It certainly wasn't pretty, as others have noted, it was HOT! But, before I get to the race, I wanted to say a couple things about the pre-race activities:

At the last minute, plans changes and my sister and her two kids were coming with me instead of my boyfriend. Brandon, my 5yo nephew was so excited because he would be able to run a race, too--the kids run on Saturday. We left early enough on Saturday late morning to get to the host hotel before the kids' races. He did really well in the 1k race--he received his medal at the end and gave it to his 10 month old brother, Austin. How cute! Austin had a fun time slobbering on it. :-)

We went to check in our hotel, and then went back to the host hotel to meet Deads. We saw Debbie and Tom right away, and then came Alejandro, Pam, and Alejandro's friend Sergio. We waited for others, but by 5:15pm we left to go eat at Olive Garden, leaving a note to Theresa and Penny at the expo in case they went there (it turns out they did but didn't see the note). Dinner was fun, and afterwards we met at my hotel and were able to meet up with Theresa and Penny. I had a great time! You all are fun people to be with!

I got to bed at around 10:30-11:00pm and woke up surprisingly refreshed at 5:00am. Took a shower, got dressed, and went into the lobby to get a couple bagels to eat for breakfast. I was dropped off at the start by my sister at about 6:30 and sat around before the start. A little bit before 7:00 I spotted fellow Dead/Penguin Charles Cohn and talked with him up until the race started. Very nice man--sorry that he missed our pre-race festivities.

The race. Well, you've heard by now that it was HOT, even at the start I was starting the sweat a little bit. It was in the lower 70's at the start, and it got hotter and hotter, in the upper 80's maybe? The sun was blazing in the cloudless sky. Beautiful day, just not for running. My goal was to finish, preferably sub-5:15.

I'll repeat what the others said about the mile markers/aid stations. I was really glad that they had water stations every mile--I was able to fill my water bottle which was not only used to drink but to douse myself to reduce how hot I felt. I messed up my mile splits because it's hard to hit the button when you're trying to grab cups of water, too. The other times when I actually hit the button at the split, the markers were waaaay off. I had some really strange splits. I had absolutely no clue of my pace. All I know is that I passed the half way point at about 2:27 and change.

The preferable strategy of negative splits was unrealistic as I wanted, my goal was to ignore the heat and keep my legs moving. I took a lot more walking breaks after the half--unshaded breaks, where if there was no shade, I'd walk, and then when the course was shady I would run again. And the last hills, which weren't a big deal, I just wanted to give myself some more excuses to walk. ;-)

I saw my sister at around mile 8, and then when I was running in the arboretum. Also, I should mention that my yellow tank top, adorned with the words "Dead Runner" generated a lot of comments--mostly "You don't look dead!" type comments. I'm glad I did that!

I think I did pretty dealing with the heat even though it did slow me down a bit. I blame a little bit of my decreased performance from lack of LSD's over 15 miles--I only ran a 16 miler and an 18.6 miler--all the rest were half-marathon or shorter. I felt the fatigue in my quads and the soreness in my feet at about mile 14. I carried a water bottle with me which I filled at almost every water station. I took advantage of sprinklers and ice offered.

At about mile 24 I started feeling pretty good (I think the sun was hiding behind some clouds) because I knew I was pretty darned close. I ran from this point on. Before mile 25 I was blessed with the presence of Theresa and Penny, whom I was actually not expecting see, since I'd be coming in so much later than everyone else. They ran with me until mile 25, getting me water and encouragement and taking some pictures. You guys really got me psyched!

Shortly after that I hooked up with Tom Mish on his bike and talked with him for a while--thanks, Tom! I started running a bit faster and passed a few people. Then the home stretch--saw my sister and nephews, and Alejandro and Pam. Heard my name over the loud speaker and crossed the finish line in 5:20:1x. Not bad, considering the hot conditions and my slight lack of preparation.

I felt pretty good at the end. I knew that I had hydrated well. So, I'll call it a draw between me and the heat. I reunited with Alejandro and Pam, who were so helpful and congratulatory. My sister and nephews came along shortly after that. Pam got me more water and a sponge, Alejandro took pictures. I was so happy to be done! My sister and I parted with Alejandro and Pam because I needed to get back to the hotel and take a much needed shower--luckily the hotel allowed me a 2:00pm check out time so I could do this!

The heat and messed up mile markers/aid station configuration aside, I enjoyed this marathon. The course was really pretty. I'd consider doing it again--hopefully it won't be so hot next time.

My next plan is to recover, start some formal marathon speed training, and look towards having a good summer so that I can kick some butt on October 24th at Chicago. Last year's time was 4:38:48, I'd like to go sub-4:30 this time.