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The Whirlwind: Thanksgiving, Kenya, and the DR

The Whirlwind: Thanksgiving, Kenya, and the DR

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I have been negligent – but with good reason.  I’ll catch you up to speed as to what has gone down the past ~4 weeks.

For starters, the days immediate pre-Thanksgiving marked the end of the quarter, which means lots of writing and reading and stress to put the finishing touches on assignments to help ensure I earn the grades I strive to (good news: with lots of Blood, Sweat, and Tears [not literally!], I earned As in both my grad classes).  Following that, I spent Thanksgiving in Rockford w/C’s family, and the day after, I flew over to Kenya for ~3 weeks for my grad program.  I returned to the states on 12/15, went to Ohio 12/18-12/20, and then C and I will be leaving again for the Dominican Republic for a little Christmas and New Year’s vacation from 12/24-1/1.  It will be awesome!

Where to begin the catch-up?  Well, November was a really relaxed running month for me.  For starters, since November had unseasonably temperate weather, every weekend before I left for Kenya, Jack and I ventured out to Waterfall Glen for a relaxed 10-mile loop on the trails.  We figured as long as the trails weren’t snow-covered (and therefore impassable), we should do ’em.  It was a blast.  In addition to these 10-mile jaunts, I typically ran home from work a couple times each week and ran to/from the gym for my spinning classes in the morning (you’ll recall in an earlier post that I was trying to make a concerted effort to do more cross-training since my marathon ‘season’ was over).  I didn’t wear a watch for the entire month of November on any of my runs, which was both liberating and fun.  I’m usually wed to my watch to monitor my splits, but November was all about play.  It was a nice ‘end’ to the racing year.

Kenya – in a word- was freakin’ amazing (ok, two words).  I didn’t bring any of my running gear to Kenya (with the exception of an old pair of Launches that I wore each day) because I didn’t think our daily schedules would be permissive of daily running.  That, and the fact that Nairobi’s not the safest place in the world, so if I did want to run, I’d have to get a male guard to run with and escort me.  Not exactly too feasible.  Thus, I was ‘forced’ into a ~3 week running absence from my Kenya trip.  Interestingly, I only saw 1 person running the entire time I was in Kenya, so I guess not all Kenyans are born long-distance running lovers 🙂  On our way to safari at Maasai Mara, we drove through the acclaimed Great Rift Valley, which was badass to see (especially after hearing so much about it).

That brings me up to the week of 12/15, when I returned to the states.  During my time in Kenya, I was among the fortunate few who didn’t fall ill to traveler’s diarrhea or nausea, but something happened toward the end of the trip because from about 12/15 through today (12/22), I’ve been sidelined with nasty GI issues.  Nasty, as in I-can’t-get-too-far-away-from-the-bathroom nasty.  Or I’ve-been-eating-nothing-but-the-BRAT-diet nasty out of fear of what my GI will (or will not) do.  Not fun.  I’m not sure if I got a parasite or just some sort of bacterial infection; the lab’s still running tests.  Sucks.

With the lovely GI issues in mind, I haven’t run since Thanksgiving morning- it will be 4 weeks on Thursday, 12/24 (provided I don’t run before then).  I haven’t taken this much time off since I began marathoning and training in 2007, so I think it’s a mixed bag, in terms of the pros and cons of the “forced rest” that I’m experiencing.  If nothing else, I think the worst of the GI issues are over, and I’m planning to bring running clothes w/me to the Dominican Republic to get in some treadmill miles just to get my blood pumping again.  I’m really close to hitting 1,300 miles in 2009, so that’s what I’m aiming to hit.  If I hit it, I’ll celebrate; if not, I’ll just aim for it again in 2010.

I apologize for my spaciness and laziness 🙂  Once I post my Kenya pictures online, I’ll include a link to it so you can peruse them and the assorted videos at your leisure.  It was an amazing experience, and I’d love to return someday, especially with C.  He’d totally dig it.

Safe travels, if you’re on the road, and have a very lovely Christmas and New Year’s.  Boston training will soon begin – I’m going to go with Fleet Feet’s program this year – and I’m pretty excited.

Peace and love and happy trails to you and yours, always!

Marine Corps Recap

Marine Corps Recap

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More than a week now has passed since I ran the beloved MCM.  You can thank schoolwork and my not feeling 100% for my delay.  In true Erin form, though, we can’t have a race without a lengthy race recap, so here goes.

The MCM experience was not only a race but also a little mini vay-cay for my parents, C, and me, as we all ventured down to DC the Friday before the race and stayed through the Tuesday afterward.  We stayed in Crystal City, which ended up to be pretty cool since we ran right outside the hotel around miles 22-24 of the course.  Prior to race day, my family and I took in the sights a la a bus tour.  It was a blast, and we got to see a lot of DC (and the respected monuments, of course), in a relatively short amount of time.

Race day morning was a bit chaotic.  Instead of taking the Metro, which was only a few blocks from my hotel, I decided to take the pre-race shuttle.  Long story short, I got there with about 2 hours before the race began, and by the time I got on the shuttle, got off the shuttle at the starting line, and dumped my stuff at packet drop-off and got in line for the port-a-potties, I had BARELY enough time to run to the beginning of the start line and begin to run a marathon.  Yea, it was that sort of chaotic.  When I realized I could hear the national anthem being sung as I was doing my business in the port-a-potty, I realized that time definitely was not on my side!

At any rate, the race began in lovely late-October temperatures, probably around 40s or so.  The first 13 miles or so I thought were somewhat uneventful, though still pretty scenic.  We ran through a lot of different wooded park areas (and some neighborhoods) in VA before cutting across the river and running through DC.  It’s a bit misleading to say that you can see the monuments while you run because you can… but not really.  Granted, you can see the Washington monument pretty much anywhere in the DC/Arlington metro area, but we ran by many of the other statues and monuments only briefly… if we ran by them at all.  (for some, we actually seemed to run BEHIND them.  I got that impression from the Lincoln monument, anyway).

A big bonus to the race was catching up with long-lost Boston training buddy of mine, Rob, and his newly-announced fiancee, Magda.  The three of us ran together from about miles 6-8, through what looked to be the hilliest parts of the course.  Seeing the two of them was a great pick-me-up!  Later in the course, around miles 17-18, I got to see two college gal-pals of mine, Kelly and Bridget.  They both gave me lots of good tips prior to my trip, so I was just tickled when I saw them on the course cheering me on.  Then, toward the end of the course, in the very colorful Crystal City, I saw my parents and Connor hanging outside our hotel.  It was great to see them, too, for I know that I was almost to the homestretch and that we’d be reunited soon.

Seeing all the Marines and other military women and men was both cool and a bit unnerving.  Granted, they were doing a top-notch job at the water stations (I was routinely called “ma’m” and told that I was doing a “good job, ma’m”), but it was still a *different* sight than what I’m used to, living in Chicago and all.  There were good portions of the course that I truly didn’t care for, especially when we were running on a highway to get back over to Virginia from DC and vice-versa.  If memory serves correctly, I think we did this once or twice at the beginning of the course and then again at the end, toward miles 20-22 and then 24-26.  All in all, though, the race was well done and a pretty cool experience overall.

And how did I run?  Great, considering.  The primary goal of the day was to run sub-4.  If I felt great, I’d shoot for 3:50.  If I felt like a rockstar, I’d shoot for 3:40.  I lined up with the 3:40/3:50 pace area and never found the pace group leaders, so I just ran my own race.  All told, I clocked in around 3:57 and felt great.  The slowest splits (towards the end, and when I was ingesting fluids and drinks) were in the high 9s, but I never broke 9:59.  The course was hilly, but not too bad, and definitely not hilly like Akron or Boston.  I think if I had done speed work over the summer and trained for the race like I had trained for the springtime races, I could have done better.  But for now, I’ll gladly take a 3:50.  I have been thrilled, and I feel elated to see that 3 of my 4 marathons this year have been sub-4: 3:47, 3:39, and 3:57.

The MCM was a great way to end my racing year and also a great little mini-vaycay for my family and me.  Put it on your list of races to run someday.  I don’t think you’ll regret it.

What’s next?  Not certain.  I’m signed up for Boston in April, and though I’d like to run another marathon prior to, I need to build up my savings account (having used a considerable portion of it for my upcoming travels to Kenya and the DR).  We’ll see.  Until then, I’m just reveling in the love and joy that is running… for no other reason than to simply do it.

A very excited me after finishing the MCM and having lunch with C and my folks. Our hotel was right around miles 23-24 of the course, and this signage was outside our hotel. Fun!
A very excited me after finishing the MCM and having lunch with C and my folks. Our hotel was right around miles 23-24 of the course, and this signage was outside our hotel. Fun!