I drank what?

One of my favorite movies is Real Genius. The dialog is quick and clever, and the movie is quotable for so many occasions. One that I use a lot when I've done something that causes me panic or uncertainty is "I drank what?" That seems to apply now. As soon as I clicked "submit", all I could think is What have I done?!

I'm now officially registered for the 2017 Chicago Marathon through the American Cancer Society's DetermiNation organization. I've pledged to raise $1,000 (or $2,000 total for the team) for Team Pancakes. You know what this means, right? Time to pry open those check books and make a donation. Because if I'm throwing my kiester around 26 miles of Chicago streets, you guys can make it worth my effort.

Here's my charity page. Help me reach my $1,000 goal. Help Team Pancakes make our $2,000 goal. Not because you want to acknowledge our insanity efforts. But because many of you know someone who has been diagnosed with some sort of cancer. Some of you may have faced a diagnosis. Some may have lost someone due to cancer. Honor their fight or memory with a donation to an organization that not only funds research for a variety of types of cancer, but that also gave over 14,000 rides to cancer patients so they could get to their treatment locations.

So Team Pancakes is now a thing, and we're really doing this. Training plans are set. Registrations completed, and running schedules start next week. T-minus 345 days to the race.

Holy shit. We're really doing this.

Making a plan

50 Weeks Until Marathon

 It is well known that I am a planner, almost comically so. In this case, I think my obsessive planning may work in my favor. I really want to finish this race, and while I there's a ton of time to train and be ready, I know that life has the potential to get in the way, especially as the owner of a retail store. So I embraced my newfound love of bullet journalling and decided to set up a training plan to tackle this bitch. After reading a number of articles, asking running friends and marathoners what they recommend, and taking into account the demands of my schedule and the training opportunities offered by the charities I'm deciding between, here's what I think will be the most realistic plan for me.


First 8 weeks: Revisit and complete the Couch to 5K program.
I struggle with pacing and stride, even after running races for 5 years. I find a comfortable pace while training, and then the race arrives and I'm so excited in the crowd that all my training goes out the window. So for the first 8 weeks (or so), I'm going to start from square one with a focus on finding a comfortable pace and stride with the Couch to 5K program. This will also help get me back into a regular running schedule where I'm running at least 3 days a week. (I haven't run at all since last June!)

Next 8 weeks: Enter Hal Higdon for 10K training.
After asking my running pals for training recommendations, Hal Higdon's name kept coming up over and over. I like his program for 10K training because it builds on the schedule and distances I'm used to while adding a cross training day. I like that by the time I'm done I'll be able to do a comfortable 6 miles, which will get me ready for my next phase in training. I've decided to go with the 10K novice program (now and throughout my training) so I don't push myself too hard and get injured. After all, I just want to finish, not qualify for Boston.

This brings me to roughly the first week of February, assuming I've kept up with training. Almost all of the training programs I've considered (not including whatever training is offered by selected charity) start training about 16-18 weeks prior to the race date. That means I've got 3-4 months before I start the final leg of training. During this time I plan to work on maintaining regular running and cross training schedule, and I plan to officially join the DG running club out of Peak Running. I'll certainly run the Shamrock Shuffle in early April (it's a tradition, after all), and I may find another race that will help me get used to a race pace; we'll see what comes up during that time.

The final stretch: Chicago Endurance Sports.
Both charities I'm considering (American Cancer Society and Leukemia Lymphoma Society) offer training and mentoring programs, and I believe both of them partner with CARA or Chicago Endurance Sports. Again, those in the know highly recommend CES, and who am I to disagree? So the final 19 weeks will be spent in their marathon training program out of the Elmhurst Fleet Feet, running with the run club, and heading into the city to do weekly long runs with Kim. I'm sure there will be organized runs and coaching sessions with my charity mentor too. As we get closer to this stage of training, I'm sure I'll have a firmer idea of what this looks like and I'll share it here.

So that's it! It's true that my original training plan was "Register. Regret registering. Pray [for 48 weeks]. Get to the start line. Hope for the best. Throw myself around 26 miles of Chicago. Finish. Cry. Barf. Pass out. [Eat Pancakes] Get a massage." All of these things will most likely happen, TBH (well, hopefully not the barfing part). But at least I can have more of a race plan than "plan" and "hope for the best". Onward!

What was I thinking?

It's pretty well established that I have all sorts of ideas, some crazier than others. I see something,
 or read about something i think is interesting, and I jump in both feet before really thinking it through. Sometimes the end result is a disaster--or at least a bad call--and other times everything falls into place and good times ensue. The jury is out on this one.

I also have a thing for milestones. I love celebrating a good anniversary, special accomplishment, or date of significance.  I think it's important to recognize the passage of time and the experices that made us (and others) who we are.

So it should come as no surprise that my latest scheme was born from the collision of these two Hingis. The Chicago Marathon was last weekend. When I was listening to the coverage, I realized that the 2017 year would be the 40th anniversary of the race. That means that the first year the race was run was the year I was born. And thus the seed was planted.

I have never had any desire to run a marathon. I have done a bunch of 5, 8, and 10Ks in the past 5 years, but other than joking about it, running any further than that honestly never crossed my mind. Marathoners were crazy, masochistic folks who were too focused on putting in miles, eating well, being serious runners, and I just wanted to run races for the shirts and medals (or for the occasional cause or charity). Yet here I was, convinced that the universe wanted me to run Chicago because it couldn't be a coincidence that both its and my 40th birthdays were the same year. That had to be a sign, right? It was time to push myself further than I ever had physically. Now...who to drag into this with me?

The truth is, I am in no way disciplined enough to follow through with this on my own. And as I ran through my catalog of friends who would even consider doing something so ridiculous, really only one person came to mind. Only my running buddy from 5 years of races was crazy enough motivated enough desired pancakes enough to even consider doing this too.

I texted Kim on Friday night and tossed out the idea, fully expecting some sort of "are you nuts?!" type response. After a minute or so I saw the text bubble appear, and I started working on reply text to have her reconsider and agree. So when the text popped up and said "oh my." "Yes, yes I will." I was flabbergasted. Planning commenced immediately.

And so it came to be that two part-time runners who have never run anywhere near this distance at one time decided to run the Chicago Marathon for charity. And we're documenting the hilarity here. Stay tuned for a years worth of updates, stories, pancakes, and other shenanigans as we attempt to train and run a world major.

(Oh, God...what was I thinking?!)

will run 26.2 miles for pancakes.

i was innocently playing solitaire on my phone while lying in bed when i received a text from my friend, Diane. It was 8:19am on Friday, 14 Oct 2016. A day that will live in infamy.

Paraphrasing:
Diane: next year, the Chicago Marathon and i both turn 40. you wanna run it with me?
Me: Yes.

maybe it was because i was half-awake. maybe because i had had a long day with no caffeine. or maybe she just tapped into my deep love/hate relationship with running and my need to constantly prove myself. regardless, i said yes.

diane and i have had a fairly long organized running career together. i don't remember our first run together, possibly the Shamrock Shuffle, but we've done several organized runs in the past 7 years. we do it for the swag and the pancakes afterwards. always breakfast afterwards. personally, i get french toast, but pancakes (which diane always gets) has a better ring to it. we even got t-shirts made that say "Will Run for Pancakes." they're awesome.

i have been a "runner" since i was 13, wanting to prove that i was just as cool as those thinner kids, and also to be able to hang out more with the boy i had a crush on (i can think of worse hobbies to get involved with because of a member of the opposite sex). i don't think Diane was too much of a runner before we started doing the fun runs. the longest we've both done is 10k. we're both not much runners now, to be honest. but i keep signing up for ridiculous races and regretting it. i figure, why break that trend now.

we will be doing this for charity, so we can get automatic entrance into the marathon. so be forewarned: we WILL be begging you for money. but in the meantime, we will be blogging our struggles to get off the couch and slap some pavement with over-priced running shoes. here is our (initial) plan of attack on training (from Diane):

Register. Regret Registering. Pray. Get to the start line. Hope for the best. Throw ourselves around the course. Finish. Cry. Barf. Pass out. Get a massage

i can't believe she forgot the most important part: eat pancakes.