Sweet Home Chicago – 20 Miler!

After the fiasco that was flying to Chicago, I’ve actually had a good time so far! I’m a bit sad that I’m sitting here posting on Saturday night, as that means I’m all by myself (cue: tears), but my friends are tired and my parents aren’t back yet from the University of Illinois football game. How sad. Anyway.

Last night I headed out with my friends to try on bridesmaid dresses, as my friend from high school is getting married in January and two of us are bridesmaids. Awesome. My friend (the other bridesmaid) and I are generally the life of the party when it comes to David’s Bridal, and this time was no different. We like to dance around (you have to dance-test-drive the dresses!), and we’re pretty fun so people in the store enjoy our silliness. Basically, we’re fantastic. On two separate occasions, people at David’s Bridal have told us we’d be fun to party with. THAT’S RIGHT. Haha. Anyway, here are some snapshots to describe the event:

Bride to be, trying on veils. I thought it was particularly cute with her “Muck Fichigan” shirt. (She went to Notre Dame.)

My friend Katie (another bridesmaid), playing with the shawl that we need to wear to cover our shoulders in the conservative Catholic church where the wedding will be. She is actually wearing the dress that the bridesmaids will be wearing, although color(s) are yet to be determined.

FYI, wedding planning seems insane. I go back and forth between “All that for one day?!?!” and “But that’s MY day! I want it all!” Note: I’m not even engaged. (Wink wink, nudge nudge, Rocket Scientist…haha!)

Just kidding. Moving on.

My parents have season tickets to the University of Illinois football games (my dad is a proud alum…He attended back when tuition was like $78/semester…no joke!), so they headed down for the day. Tonight was the only night I could see one of my friends, so I stayed back in the lovely northwest suburbs of Chicago. Since my planned twenty miler would take a long time, I decided to wait until they left (around 2-2:20pm) to head out on my run to maximize family time. Luckily, the weather is pretty nice so it wasn’t a disaster to wait later in the day.

Let me tell you, I had an AWESOME run! I planned out my run to incorporate three shorter runs that I used to do all the time when I lived here. I had a four miler, a six miler, and a ten miler all strung together, so I ran back my house for water twice…and I was able to hit up water fountains along the way…love that! I miss my running routes from home…I could probably run them blindfolded, and I’m speedy on them! Here are the glorious stats:

Saturday, September 12
20.05 miles in 2:35:52, avg pace of 7:46
Splits: 8:09, 7:55, 7:55, 7:53, 7:56, 7:57, 8:02, 7:56, 7:54, 7:53, 7:58, 7:59, 7:49, 7:35, 7:40, 7:31, 7:28, 7:30, 7:22, 7:00, 0:18 (6:15)

Ahhh look at those splits!! And it felt so easy! I guess it’s better to have a day off and not run 18-20 miles eight hours after a terrible shift at work. (Not like I’ve done that…) I ate my Honey Stinger Energy Chews (love!) at miles 4, 8.5, 10, 13.5, and 16.5. I didn’t even notice I was speeding up until I looked at my garmin and it said 7:35 pace! What? It didn’t feel like that at all! I wasn’t dragging at all like I was last week, and it definitely felt amazing. I’m trying to decide between going for 3:20 or being a bit more realistic and trying for 3:25, and this gives me a little more hope that 3:20 is in reach, especially with a taper.

Definitely check out that last mile party! My watch actually showed 6:58 during my run, so I’m sad that it comes up as 7:00 flat on Sport Tracks! Boo. Oh well, I think I’ll make it.

I just realized that I need to register for the BOSTON MARATHON. Who’s in for 2010?? Lurkers, come out and comment…I want a HUGE meet up in Boston!