Running – Page 68 – Zenaida Arroyo

01
Oct
2015

Chicago Half Marathon

On Sunday, I ran my 62nd half marathon, the Chicago Half Marathon. The last time I ran this race was in 2009. This race is my last one before the Chicago Marathon. The only reason I ran it is because of the CARA Marathon Incentive Program. So now I need to volunteer at the expo, run the Chicago Marathon, apply on December 1 (yes there is an application) and cross my fingers that I get in for next year. Now that I think about it, it does sound really crazy for a supposedly guaranteed entry. I mean, it isn’t really guaranteed because there are a limited number of spots available and once they’re filled, you’re out of luck!

Back to the race. I was told not to race it but instead to use it as a training run. And that is pretty much what I did. I was up very early at 4am, got ready, and drove to the race. Luckily I found parking right away and waited for about half an hour before heading over to use the bathrooms. It was very dark.

I met up with another Chicago Endurance Sports runner (Amy) to run together. The weather was just perfect. No rain and overcast. Definitely ideal running weather.

I do not remember hearing the National Anthem but we were kind of far so maybe we didn’t hear it. Anyway, a few minutes later we crossed the start line.

We settled into a nice and comfortable pace. I had my iPod but ended up not using it. Yep, I ran the whole race without listening to music. I love the course! And I love even more that we ran on Lake Shore Drive instead of the running path. That would have been very tight and a disaster.

ChicagoHalfMarathon7 — Source: http://www.chicagohalfmarathon.com/

I took an Advil at mile 4. My calves were tight and my feet were bothering me since the beginning. The Advil kicked in a few miles later. I wonder if maybe for the marathon I should take 2 of them earlier in the race.

Amy and I got separated after mile 8 but then I caught up to her. I saw the 2:20 pace group and did my best to stay with them but they were running a little bit faster than I could/wanted to. With 2 miles to go I told Amy to go ahead and I did my best to finish.

Throughout the race I had my watch to only show average pace. I was hoping to keep it at 10:55 which is pretty much what it was on throughout the race. However, that number crept up once I took my walking breaks and then I could not bring it down. I then changed it to show just the time. I ended up finishing in 2:24:41 (according to my watch) which is an 11:01 average pace. I am very pleased with my finish time.

Seriously the best medal ever!

A cute shirt and one that I will definitely keep.

One of my friend sent me the picture below. I remember seeing them when I crossed the finish line and thought about waving but did not want to look stupid. But it is still pretty cool!

Overall it was a great race. The course is awesome. There was plenty of crowd support and enough water stations. We lucked out with the weather so it made it an even better experience.

26
Jul
2015

Shipyard Old Port Half Marathon

categories: Race all 50 states, Race Recap, Running

Another really late post. I am usually really good about posting race recaps right away but somehow I slacked with this one. It won’t happen again.

I ran the Shipyard Old Port Half Marathon on Saturday, July 11. So that was state #34 for me. You can read about what I did the day before here.

The race began at 7:15am so I was up at 6, got ready, ate, and headed out with Sonya and Kim. The start line was about a mile away from our apartment. On the way there I saw a Residence Inn so I took advantage of it to use a real bathroom. I said goodbye to the girls and went to do my business. I walked to the start line and waited for the runners in the first wave to start. Then about 5 minutes later it was my turn to run. It was so crowded. I am not a fast runner but I still had to weave around a few runners. Plus, it did not help that it was a narrow path.

Honestly, I don’t remember too much about the race except that it was HOT. Plus, I was miserable and couldn’t wait to finish the race. Earlier I told Kim that my goal was to finish under 2:30. I was still at mile 12 when I saw those numbers on my watch. Honestly, I did not care because all I wanted to do was cross the finish line. We ran around a lake that seemed to go on forever. It reminded me of the one in the IMS Des Moines Half Marathon. There was absolutely no shade and I mostly walked (but in Des Moines it wasn’t as hot).

I remember the 2:30 group caught up with me before mile 6 and I decided to run with them. I ran with them for a few minutes but there was a hill and I simply had no energy to keep up with them. I was very impressed with this 10 year girl that was running with her mom. There was also a cop in uniform gear. That shut me up and I did not complain anymore.

At mile 12 there was this group doing yoga.

ShipyardOldPortHalfMarathon27 — Photo credit: Kim Reed

ShipyardOldPortHalfMarathon23 — L to R: Kim, me, Sonya

ShipyardOldPortHalfMarathon31 — Lunch at Bayside American Cafe. I had the Bayside BLT with lobster.

Overall, I did like the course. There were many wonderful volunteers and thanks to them I had plenty of water to drink and to dump on my head to cool down. The medal is pretty neat too. After the race I told the girls that I did not like it. Obviously I was not in the right state of mind when I made that comment. One cool thing that the race offers is free race photos to the runners. Here is one that I cropped because, well, I do not like the rest of it.

Portland is a fun place to visit so make sure to stay a day or two to enjoy everything it has to offer.

Next race: Chicago Half Marathon, September 27 as part of the CARA Marathon Incentive Program.

22
Jul
2015

Trip to Portland, Maine

categories: Running, Travel

A little late with this post but better late than never right?

Two weeks ago I flew into Boston to meet up with Kim, Elizabeth, and Sonya. We were all running the Old Shipyard Port Half Marathon on Saturday morning. Elizabeth flew in from Atlanta and both Kim and Sonya flew from Portland, Oregon. I was the last one getting in so I was hoping that my flight would not be delayed. I must have jinxed it because even though it was not late (we did arrive at 5pm) there was trouble at the gate and we did not get off the plane till a little after 5:30pm. Thankfully they were patient and kind enough to wait for me in the rental car. Finally, I was outside the terminal, they picked me up and on our way to Portland, ME.

ShipyardOldPortHalfMarathon1

First thing was dinner. We made it to Portsmouth, NH and found an amazing place for dinner. We all wanted lobster and that’s what we ate. It was delicious. And I did forget to take a picture of what we ate. Once we were all satisfied, we continued on to Portland.

ShipyardOldPortHalfMarathon2 — Photo credit: Kim. “Flew to Massachusetts, dinner in New Hampshire, will sleep in Maine”.

Thanks to Sonya who found a nice 2 bedroom apartment via Airbnb. I was so tired and was asleep by 11pm.

The next morning I was up at 6 and wanted some coffee. Sonya and Kim were still sleeping (it was 3am their time) so Elizabeth and I found a cute coffee shop not too far from our apartment. Elizabeth wanted something different so we kept walking to look for another place and ended up at Portland Pottery Store & Cafe. I did not order anything because I had my bagel but E had a delicious breakfast. We ended up going back with Kim and Sonya for brunch.

Afterwards we visited several shops in downtown Portland until it was time for our Maine Lobstering Tour with Lucky Catch Cruises. One of my favorite stores was the Stonewall Kitchen. Pretty much everything looked delicious! There were a few samples for us to try out and I took advantage of it. I did not buy anything but for sure will order something online.

A piece of The Berlin Wall on our way to the boat.

Ready for our Maine lobstering experience with my 3 lovely roommates.

We caught a few lobsters but had to throw them back into the sea because we were on a demonstration boat.

Finally time to eat!

Bon Appétit!!

I had a great time at the tour and highly recommend it.

The next day was the race but I will write another post about it. Another fun place we went to after the race is The Holy Donut. It is seriously the MOST AMAZING donut place!!! We wanted to try all flavors but it would have been a little too much. Plus we were kind of full from brunch but yet had some room to try a few of them. We bought half a dozen donuts so we could each sample 6 different flavors.

Dark chocolate and sea salt
Fresh Lemon
Maple Bacon <===== MY FAVORITE
Maple Blueberry
Old Fashioned Coconut
Sweet Potato Ginger

I had a blast in Portland. As for the race itself, well, it was very hot on Saturday and I did finish the race and that makes me happy.

I hope these girls invite me again to go on another trip.

06
Jul
2015

Community Bank of Elmhurst 4 on the 4th

categories: Race Recap, Running

Saturday morning I was up for a race. Normally I have a long run with the CES group but due to the holiday my group did not meet. Instead, all of the groups from the various locations met on Sunday in one location.

Back to the race. It is one of my favorites. Very cheap-$25-and with a $5 discount if you are a CARA member. It is 30 minutes from my house, plenty of parking, and fun/semi-challenging course. This was my 3rd time running it. You can read my other recaps here: 2014 and 2013.

I will admit that I was hoping to get a PR. Below are my times from last year and the year before.

I was not feeling good on Friday evening. I was bloated and felt very uncomfortable. I went to bed hoping that I would feel better in the morning.

Race day I was up before my alarm went off. I got dressed, drank coffee and ate a Hammer Bar. I did go to the bathroom 3 times before leaving the house.

I arrived in Elmhurst around 6:45. On my way to pick up my bib I ran into Pete who was running this race for the first time this year. We chatted for a little bit and said our goodbyes. Packet pickup was a breeze. I did not want my shirt so I quickly tied my bib to my race belt and got in line to use the bathroom one more time.

I was feeling a bit better but overall I felt tired. Not so much tired like from lack of sleep but more like body tired.

Start line. There weren’t too many people at the race so I was not too far from it.

Here are my mile splits:
1-9:15
2-9:58
3-10:49
4-10:15

I have NO idea how I ran that fast the first mile. I felt tired but still kept going. I remember stopping for water and walking up a small incline. As you can see mile 3 was my slowest and I just felt very tired and HOT (I was probably dehydrated). I walked a lot and kept checking my pace on my watch. I also did some walking in the last mile and even up the incline to get to the finish line but it must not have affected it that much because I still finished it in 10:15. <==== Very impressed with it!

Even though I did not PR, I still enjoyed this race. Unless I am out of town or injured, this is a race I plan to do every year.

My next race is Shipyard Old Port Half Marathon on Saturday in Maine. It will be state #34.

Did you run a race on Saturday? How was your 4th of July?

03
Jul
2015

Friday Randomness – July 3, 2015

categories: Friday Randomness, Running

1. On Wednesday I started my summer job. I will be working for the month of July from 8am-11:45 am. I like it because it it for one month for a few hours in the morning and I still have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. However, next month I have my summer class and then when it is over, it will be almost time to go back to school.

2. Do you have anything planned for Saturday, September 20th? Please plan to attend Bright Pink’s FitFest 2015 in Chicago. You can read more about it here.

3. Lately I’ve been buying so much Brooks running gear from REI. I’ve purchased the Versatile Lite Tank Top in each color. They run big – I usually wear a large but a medium fits me fine. I also bought the Versatile IV T-Shirt in blue and green. They also run big. There are a bunch of other discounted stuff and you’ll save even more (cash back) if you go through the Ebates site.

Brooks Versatile IV T-Shirt — Versatile IV T-Shirt

4. I was out returning some socks at Kohl’s and found some great books for my kids. I bought 4 different ones along with the stuffed animal. I might go back to get another one. Isn’t it cute?

5. Tomorrow is race #6 – Elmhurst Bank 4 on the 4th. I LOVE this race and am very excited about it. Here is a picture of my outfit.

6. Thanks to Timehop I can look back at what I did, ate, wore, etc., in prior years. Last year I had a new pair of Newton Kismet while three years ago I wore a pair of Brooks Glycerin.

What are you plans for the 4th of July? I am not sure if we’re staying home and my mother with BBQ or we’ll visit family members and they’ll BBQ. Do you have Timehop on your phone? How do you like it?

Category: Running