Motivation and inspiration

I am once again nearing a marathon, and as I taper (runner slang for running fewer miles the 2-3 weeks before a big race) I have come to realize two things will be pulling me through my upcoming race...

On April 27, I will be running my seventh marathon; the Derby Festival Marathon in Louisville, KY. It is a hillier and smaller marathon than most that I've run. There are about 2,000 people running the full marathon (a much larger half is run the same day), and two very large hills at miles 8 and 21 (not to mention many rolling hills between). That coupled with this being my first marathon in 18 months, winter training in Chicago, a very tough final long run with 22 mph winds, etc... has left me realizing that I will certainly need help succeed in this race.

Luckily I have two great sources to help me through: motivation in that Deb and I are raising money by running this summer for one of our favorite charities, and inspiration in the memory of my cousin Terry who passed away recently after a LONG fight with a rare disease.

MOTIVATION
Deb and I are logging miles this summer as part of Team Bernie, a fitness group associated with Bernie's Book Bank. As part of that group, we are raising money to support Bernie's, our favorite Chicago bases charity - they take books from homes and publishers that no longer need them, and distribute those books to at risk children. We volunteer with our kids to help in their warehouse regularly, and hope to help them grow through this fund raising! The thank you notes from the kids that Bernie's receives are motivation to keep me moving.

You can learn more here: http://www.crowdrise.com/50For50in2013/fundraiser/marcyarbrough

INSPIRATION
A few weeks ago, my cousin Terry passed away. While his passing is fresh in my mind, the life he lived is truly inspirational!

As a boy, Terry was diagnosed with Fredricks Ataxia, a rare and debilitating disease. He was confined to a wheel chair most of his life. His health gradually worsened and he was dependent upon those around him to get through each day. Despite this, he had a smile and joke every time I saw him. His love of life kept him strong!

He was not supposed to live to see 20, but we were lucky enough to have him in our lives to see his 57th birthday. One thing is sure, he made the best of the situation he was handed and lived life to the fullest...something that I can only hope to mimic and is an inspiration to me!

Get out there and run!

Geneva Lake Path (21 miles)

Over the Labor Day, 2011 weekend, I ran the Geneva Lake Shore Path. This is a path that goes all the way around Geneva Lake. It passes through the towns of Williams Bay, Fontana, and Lake Geneva, WI. In researching the path before the run, I found several blogs about hiking the path, but none about attempting to run it. So, I thought I'd post my two cents on the path so others thinking about running it may know what to expect...

Bottom line - It is each homeowners responsibility to maintain the path, so there is a wide variety of surfaces. The only 'rule' seems to be that the path can't be blocked. There are a lot of uneven surfaces, and several sections of stairs so be prepared to run slower than you're used to.

I parked in Williams Bay (E Geneva St & Harris Ave)- there is plenty free parking and a public bathroom - so a perfect starting point in my opinion. I headed east from there toward Lake Geneva.

The path between Williams Bay and Lake Geneva is a mix of brick pacers, cobble stones, and grass. I'd say it was about 1/2 cobblestone. There were several sets of stairs along the way as well. There were a few homeowners who re-routed the path; one up their boat launch (I have some nice words for that unnecessary hill) and one around the front of their house (I missed the turn back to the lakefront somehow, so cut through the side yard of their house :)

Downtown Lake Geneva is about 6.5 miles down the path. The path through downtown Lake Geneva is brick pacer and a very nice welcome. There is a public bathroom and water in the marina.

About a mile out of downtown LG, the path runs on S. Lake Shore Dr. It is a well traveled road, but the shoulder was generally sufficient to run on. I either missed the entrance back to the actual path, or it is not even close to how it is drawn in Google maps. I stayed on the road and headed west on Hwy BB. I then cut back to the lake at Hilltop Dr. Any extra miles were probably made up for by the consistent and smooth surface.

Not long after getting back on the path, it took a sharp left away from the lake again. A guy 'manning' a boat launch pointed me in the right direction It wasn't well marked when I turned, but was well marked after that.

From there, the path ran through a golf course - I was surprised the golf course didn't even mark the path - it was just across the grass for the most part.

Along the south side of the lake, there was another mix of surfaces. With less cobble stones, but more dirt path (complete with roots, so watch your step) Several places the path narrowed to single file width. There was a water fountain on the path in someone's back yard around mile 15 of my run - about a mile east of the Geneva Lake Yacht Club (Yacht Club Dr). There was Probably more grass than anything along this side of the lake.

Through Fantana, the path is sidewalk, and another nice welcome after the uneven terrain. There is again a public bathroom and water available.

Between Fontana and Williams Bay, the path is mostly dirt. It runs through a few camps (a church camp and George Williams College).

In total, my course of the path was 21.6 miles. It was much hillier than I expected (although not too bad), and the uneven terrain made it a much slower run than I'm used to. I wouldn't suggest it if you have a big race in the near future (due to the risk of rolling an ankle or something), but if you're willing to slow down and take your time, it is a doable run. I ended up about a minute per mile slower than I'm used to running (due to the terrain and getting stuck behind a few walkers).

I don't know if I'll ever do it again, but running through the backyard of multi-million dollar mansions (belonging to the likes of the Wrigley Family) made it well worth the adventure!

Get out there and Run!!

Just not my day - Chicago Marathon 2010

The summer leading up to the 2010 Chicago Marathon, I hadn't been training nearly as much as in the past. In past seasons I averaged 4-5 runs per week, where this year I was lucky to get in 3-4 pm average per week. However, I had been making the most of the training runs that I was getting in. For reasons unknown to me, I was running faster and feeling better on my long runs than ever before. My last 20 mile run was completed in 2 hours 45 minutes (8:17 per mile). I also had a predicted marathon time of 3:23 when I did a well known running test (Yasso 800's - 1/2 mile fast run followed by 1/4 mile jog - and you do that 10 times). With all of this in mind, I convinced myself to start the race at an 8:00 per mile pace and see how I felt around mile 18 or so.

Plans are all great, but race day is a whole different story.....

It was a warm morning - upper 60's at the start, and supposed to go up to the mid to upper 70's by the race finish. I got to Grant Park, did my last minute prep, found my way to the start corral I was assigned, and found the 3:30 pace group (a pace group is basically an experienced leader followed by a group of runners that want to complete the race in a given time). After the normal opening 'ceremonies', the race was on! I crossed the start line about 3 minute after the official start (much faster than in the past). The first 10 miles were perfect - the group was running between 7:45 and 8:05 per mile, but that is when my nagging cramp started. This cramp had nagged at me all summer, but it usually went away in a mile or 2, so I wasn't worried. I kept with the group and ran through the cramp. At mile 12, we were 50 seconds ahead of an 8:00 pace, and I was fully convinced that I could sustain this pace for the entire race. The cramp hadn't gone away by 12.5, so I slowed down a little - confident that when it went away I could catch up with the group.

At mile 14, I saw my wife, kids, and Father-in-law. By that point, my left quad had started to cramp also and I was hurting, but I tried to put on a smile, stopped to give my almost 3 year old daughter a high five, and continued on my run. By mile 16, my right quad started to cramp too. I walked through a couple water stops, but kept pushing on. I saw my Brother and Mom about mile 17, and that was a nice uplift to my spirits (that were quickly breaking). Shortly after that, I stopped and tried to stretch my quads - which may have been the worst mistake of the race. As soon as I lifted my left leg, my entire hamstring cramped up. Back on the race course, I made a conscious decision to stop pushing so hard, and to take it easy the rest of the race. Putting up what would have been an 'OK' time wasn't worth hurting myself, or taking weeks to recover from the race. So, I started running a slower pace, and walking through water stations. Not long later, I started walking between water stations for a couple minutes also. To top off my slow second half, I was drinking so much Gatorade trying to help the cramps that I had to stop and go to the bathroom - something I had never had to do during a race. To put the last 10 miles into perspective, I finished the first half of the marathon in just under 1 hour 45 minutes, and the second half took me 2 hours 13 minutes - quite a difference.

The most frustrating thing during the race was watching the 3:40, 3:45, 3:50, 3:55, and 4:00 pace group pass me. I tried to keep up with most of them, but the cramps quickly told me not to bother. In the end, I finished in 4 hours and 3 minutes - about average for most marathons, but far below what I had hoped and expected to do. It was my second slowest marathon time (followed only by New York where I was too injured to run, but too stubborn not to try). In the end, I'm very disappointed I didn't reach my stretch goal of 3:30, but the am very pleased that I kept my head about me and didn't do anything stupid. I like to think it shows how much I've grown mentally since my New York marathon - when I insisted on running when I really shouldn't have (I think I had a stress fracture that year, but refused to go to the doctor because I knew he'd tell me not to run). This year I made the right decision during the race to slow down, take it easy, and live to fight another day.

I keep asking myself why I cramped up - maybe it was the heat (it was 81 degrees when I got in my car for the drive home), maybe I started too quickly, maybe I didn't drink or eat right leading up to it - but I don't think any of those caused it as I prepared right, and ran on hotter days earlier in the summer without any issues.

All in all, it just wasn't my day....but I finished, and that's something only about 0.1% of Americans do every year - and I've done it 5 times now - I have to be proud of that. After the race, I couldn't wait to get back on the trail for a run (although I did make myself take 5 days off to try to recover). My first run back was a slow 3 mile run with my daughter in the stroller - that reminded me why I run - my daughter loves those runs maybe more than I do, and that alone makes me happy beyond what words can express!

Get out there and run.....