Marathon Packing List- What’s in your suitcase?

On Sunday, I’ll be hitting the streets of Chicago for marathon #4.  It’ll be the 3rd time I’ll be coming from an away rotation and have had to pack ahead of time for my weekend getaway of torture… er, running.  Since away rotations mean living out of a suitcase for a month, I set aside 2 suitcases, a marathon bag and a rotation bag.  Wondering what’s in my bag?

1. Running shoes.  First think that went in and won’t be coming out.
2. Running clothes: this includes DetermiNation clothes, running shorts, running spandex, running 3/4 length pants, long sleeved base layered shirts and a throwaway shirts. Let’s face it, it’s Chicago. In 2010, it was 93* at the finish. in other years, it was in the 40s-50s.
3. Socks and undergarments
4. Gloves and arm warmers  Let’s face it, it’s Chicago and the weather is bipolar
5. Jeans and normal everyday clothes
6. Confirmation book and a print out of the confirmation emails
7. My DNation timeline of events
8.  The Fuel belt and gels
9. Body Glide
10. Compression Socks and Calf Compression sleeves [let’s face it, I need variety]
11. Foam Roller, travel version
12. Deodorant and all the bathroom supplies
13. If I could bring alcohol onto hospital housing, I would. That’s typically illegal though
14. Extra strength tylenol for my post race aches and pains

What’s on your packing list?  Or, what am I forgetting?

The Chicago Marathon

I have a date with the Chicago Marathon in 10 days….WendyCityProductions did a highlights video of the 2010 marathon.  Here’s to hoping I’ll have just as much fun as I did 2 yrs ago!

Here Come’s Chicago and DetermiNation deadlines!

Earlier this month, a story ran about an 8 year old boy from Edwardsville, IL who won $1000 in a scavenger hunt sponsored by a local bank.  Later that day, he called the parents of a 2 year neighbor girl fighting leukemia and asked how much chemo $1000 could buy.  We need more kids and people like 8 year old Wyatt Erber.  The type of people who help people (not just with money) during times of need.  That’s part of the goal of the American Cancer Society and people who run for DetermiNation.  Our goal is to make life a little bit easier for people suffering from cancer.  Whether it include helping with rides to treatment, providing wigs or helping them through the shock of their disease, money raised is going towards a good cause.  I have 15 days to raise $550 and I’m asking for help in my goal to help fight cancer.  Head on over here to my DNation Page to donate to a good cause.  No amount is too small!!!  I promise Chicago Marathon tweets and blog posts, a hug if I see you in Chicago and hand written thank you notes!

NYRR Bronx 10 Miler

Happy September!!  The Chicago Marathon is just under a month away and I’m hitting between 40-50 miles a week and I ran 188 miles last month, the highest I’ve run in a month. Ever.  This weekend I headed up to NYC for NYRR’s Bronx 10 miler.  Is this the first time this race has been done?  I have no idea.  Is it the first time I’ve done it? You bet.  I took the train out yesterday morning after a quick 4 mile run.  After checking into my hotel (got to love hotel reward points), I headed up to 89th and 5th to the NYRR office to pick up my race bib and shirt.  I then quickly found a sports bar that was playing the OSU-Central Florida game (we all know where my priorities stand!).  I hope the Horseshoe was loud enough for the UCF coach!  I ended up in SoHo and did some window shopping and stopped at Chobani’s flagship store.  After church and dinner, I did some walking around, but kept ducking in places due to bursts of rain.

This morning, I woke up around 6:15/6:30, got changed and headed to catch the train to Yankee Stadium, close to the start of the race.  I was glad that the 4 train is express because that saved a good 15 minutes.  We arrived to our stop at 7:40 and there happened to be a McDonald’s at the stop with a bathroom.  Any good runner knows that if there’s a short (in comparison to the porta potties) line, you go for it.  After waiting a good 10 minutes, going to the bathroom and washing up, I sprinted to the start because it was 7:54.  I got to the corrals as the National Anthem was being sung (and yes, there were ridiculous lines at the porta potties).  I could have gone a touch slower, as it took about 7:38 for me to get across the start.  This was a relatively flat course.  There were some small bunny hills and one slightly larger hill due to us going under an overpass.  I was keeping a pretty good pace, but I had to keep weaving between people the first mile or two.  My feeling is if you’re already walking, move far over to the side.  I kept doing quick math in my head at each mile, subtracting 7:38 ish from the clock time to get my time.  At mile 4, we turned, as we had been heading straight up until then.  We also ran by someone who was down for the count (dehydration possibly?).  There were already police and medical help there, thus my not stoping. We kept chugging along, hit mile 5 after another turn or 2 and then mile 6.  By the time we were done with are turns, we were heading back down our initial route.  I had to walk a few times as I was getting some pretty bad pain in my toes. I’m wondering if it was my shoes or what, but it wasn’t kosher at all!!  After we passed mile 9, we saw people coming our direction who had finished and were going back to their regularly scheduled lives (as I call it).  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone who had finished give part of her pretzels to an older guy who was in need of some salt.  He was struggling some and just needed something to get him to the end.  This is why I love runners!  She kept saying, no take it, you’re really almost done (and we were), but take it easy!  Sure enough, a few minutes we crossed the finish.

I finished in 1:37:32, pretty good since I haven’t done a 10 mile race since the Cherry Blossom Run earlier this year.  I always forget how good of a distance the 10 mile race is.  The nice thing is that you could get a discount at the Bronx Zoo if you showed your bib today after the race.  Definitely a good race, smooth as all of the NYRR races are and something to go back to in the future!  When I got back to Philly, I did another 3 miles to get a longer run in and to get insurance credit so I can get some cash back!