It's almost showtime!

Well, it was supposed to be an easy day but I'm pooped. I did a quick one mile jog this morning, then went to the expo with my friend Pam (above), met up with my sister and her family and got some yummy deep dish Chicago pizza, then finally rested a bit. We ended up doing the pre-marathon pasta dinner at the hotel since it was easy and I was tired.

I have all my stuff laid out and ready to go for tomorrow. Despite record-high temperatures, I think tomorrow will be a lot of fun. I'm thinking of it now as a "fun run" and just a sightseeing tour of Chicago. :)

Check in later for more updates!

P.S. Thanks so much for the shout-out, Kirby!!!

Hanging with the 'rents

After spending the last six hours with my parents, I'm about ready to rename my running blog to "Adventures with Cesar and Vicky". As most of you know, I enjoy telling stories about them (much to the displeasure of my mom) as I find them very humorous. But I think most kids like to make fun of their parents, right? (It can't be just me, can it???)

Let me give you a couple of examples just from this afternoon... before we left the rental car lot, my mom and I sat in the car watching my dad slowly circle our car about five times or so, giving it a thorough examination noticing every discoloration, ding, scratch, etc. Finally, when he was satisfied and ready to depart, he manages to ding the car next to us when he opens his car door to get in. Classic.

Then my mom tries to tell a story about my sister's son - something about him tying a string on my mom's finger? Turns out she was trying to say that he has her wrapped around his finger.

OK, one more... my dad tried to tell me another one of his boring jokes he picks up at work - this one had something to do with a bookkeeper and a mafia boss. I couldn't even follow the joke because I was too busy laughing at how my dad pronounced mafia, which was ma-FEE-uh (as in Sophia).

And don't even get me started on stories about my dad using a GPS unit for the first time - wow, I could start a separate blog on just that alone. (Did any of you catch The Office last night? My dad is almost as bad as Michael ...)

OK, maybe these are really only funny to me. (I bet my sister would laugh, too, though.) It's all in good fun, though - my parents rock!!! I just hope they don't read this...

Anyway, I'll have a real running update tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, my friend Pam and I are headed to the expo to pick up our race packets and bibs.

Greetings from Chicago!

Well, I made my 6:30AM flight with no problems (although with only two hours of sleep, but whatever).

So I have finally arrived in Chicago and let me tell you, it is HOT! As in, literally, the weather is hot, not in the sense that it's hip and happening. Although, I guess that could apply too.

I'd been watching the weather forecast all week so I knew it was going to be hot. But I didn't get the full grasp until I stepped on the jetway from the plane. Not only is it hot, it is also HUMID. Ah, yes, the midwest summers. How I *haven't* missed you so...

This does not bode well for me as I do not like to run in the heat. Which is why I drove two hours round trip every Saturday to train in the city - to avoid the south bay heat! I would have much preferred the cold, rainy forecast from Monday... hot and sticky for 26.2 miles? Egads. But like I've said before, I'm really just hoping the energy and exciting of the marathon will help me forget the discomforts I will have to deal with.

I overheard a couple of people on my plane this morning talking about how they were also running the marathon. I would have commented but they were two rows behind me and I wasn't really fully awake yet at 6AM in the morning. I saw another lady with a Team in Training gym bag wearing last year's Nike marathon finisher shirt so I'm assuming she's doing the marathon as well.

Otherwise, I haven't seen too much marathon stuff in the airport (where I am typing this now - I'm waiting for my parents to arrive on their flight from Cleveland) other than some billboard ads by the baggage claim.

Anyway, keep checking my blog this weekend as I will be regularly posting updates.

What to write on my shirt?

Unfortunately, my TNT race shirt won't arrive until the week of the Nike Half. That's OK - I've decided to wear one of my dri-fit shirts that I've used during training instead. I chose a BRIGHT YELLOW one - I'm hoping my family will be able to spot its neon color.

To encourage support from the spectators :) I plan to write my name on the front of my shirt. The big question - what, if anything, should I write on the back???

I enlisted the feedback of my Wednesday running buddies for ideas... here is what we came up with:

• I hope I win!!! (My runner up idea)
• Are we there yet? (Used by Renu)
• Your feet hurt 'cause your kicking so much ass! (Found on a blog)
• This is my first marathon. Let me beat you. (Pete's idea)
• Stop looking at my ass (I was just kidding)
• If you beat me, you have no chance of getting my number (not my idea)
• Why couldn't Pheidippides have died at mile 20? (If you're clueless like me, here's the Wikipedia entry.)

So what did I pick??? Well... that will be unveiled later. But it was definitely Renu and Pete's creation that just really cracked me up. Stay tuned!!!

Wednesday Night Success

Wednesday was a very productive evening for me. I went up to the city (on a "school" night!!!) to do the Wednesday Nike run at Niketown in Union Square. This was my last real run before Sunday's marathon (I might do a quick 1-2 mile jog on Saturday) and my last Nike run before the Nike half.

My schedule is crazy this week but it was worth the drive for this run because I now have VIP access for the Nike Half on October 21st!!! In order to get this, you have to get all 30 punches on your frequent runner card - 15 Nike runs, 6 shoe trials, bring 5 buddies (thanks Kelly, Andrew, Scott, Pete, and Renu!!!), 2 "retail" punches, and 2 "mystery" punches. And now I'm all done! What a relief...

I had VIP access for last year's Nike half so of course I had to get it again. :) We get special pre-race and post-race tents and we get to start in the very first corral, right after the elites. It was so much fun last year... I thoroughly enjoyed the buffet after the race. :)

Anyway - we did 4 miles last night and although the pace was slow for my running buddies Pete and Renu, it felt good for me and I didn't really feel any pains so that was awesome. We all got $5 Jamba Juice gift cards and for trying on their shoes again, I got another pair of Nike dri-fit socks - pink ones this time! Woo-hoo!

It's Marathon Week!!!

Yep, as my watch reminds me, it is now 6 days until the marathon. Where did the time go??? Just kidding, I feel like I've been training forever.

I just received my confirmation packet in the mail, so I'm getting really excited now! I mean, I have a bib number and everything!

2007 Chicago Marathon Bib #: 25501

By the way, feel free to stalk me - sign up for runner tracking!

On a related note, I just got my number for the Nike half as well:

2007 Nike Women's Half Marathon Bib #: 12165

Week 2 Wrap Up: Ready or not, here I come!

So the rest of last week went pretty well. I did spinning again on Wednesday and everything felt good.

My TNT workout went really well, too! Because the group was doing a more challenging run on the weekend, they gave us a more basic workout on Thursday - just an easy 3 mile run on the LG creek trail.

I was really happy with this workout because I ran with some of the other girls who are slightly faster than me and I was able to keep up with them for the whole run. Sure, I couldn't chat as much, but that's OK!

At the end of these workouts, we always group together at the end for announcements and stuff. This past week, my mentors surprised me by announcing how I was running the Chicago marathon and even made me a poster! Here's a pic of it:



Here's a pic of me with one of my mentors (my group is lucky enough to have two - a husband and wife team):


They are super nice and supportive. I'm going to pack the poster with the eight million other things I'm bringing to Chicago :) Who knows, maybe my family will want to use it. (If it survives the rain, that is.)

On Saturday, I managed to do an easy 6 mile run on the LG creek trail again. My legs feel better, although not 100%. Honestly, I think I'll be OK on Sunday. As with any of my long runs, the first three miles will be rough but after that, I will just be in auto-pilot mode. Hopefully there will be enough activity along the course to keep me entertained that I won't notice any discomfort.