Sunday, October 10, 2010

Chicago Marathon & The Elk Farm Loop

Spent the morning watching the Chicago Marathon online, which was a real treat. Wanjiru and Kebede provided an edge of the seat battle there at the end, with Wanjiru surging and Kebede fighting him off in the last few miles. Then, reminiscent of Nordic skiing god Petter Northug, Wanjiru put on this insane kick and left Kebede in the dust in the final stretch. It was unreal to watch. Amazing how those guys crank out average paces of sub 5:00/mile.

Photo ripped off without permission from
the Chicago Tribune, so please buy their newspaper.

Shortly afterwards, I geared up for my final double digit run before my own marathon next week. I set out on the elk farm loop in the opposite direction I normally go. This would get a relatively boring three miles of flat and uneventful roads out of the way and then allow a long, pretty steep climb up to the ridge. 

Ran with a handheld water bottle to get used to it again. I had lost my other one a few weeks ago and bought a new one yesterday. I plan to use it at times during the marathon next week, and fortunately it felt comfortable today. I also downed a Gu right before the run just to get reacquaint my body to them. Gu has never given me problems, but I also don't use them often so I decided downing one would be a good idea. 

Felt a bit out of sync at first on that first flat section but much better once the uphills began. Reached the really cool elk farm at the top of the hill, along with some high bush blueberry fields. Still kept the pace pretty easy and just enjoyed the fall foliage on the downhills, which is now pretty darn colorful. Wish I had a camera with me. 

Ran 11.3 miles @ 7:38/mile pace. 
Paved roads. 
Very hilly. 
Lower to mid 50s, mostly cloudy. 
Saucony Kinvara, shorts, short sleeved shirt, Moeben sleeves, cap, handheld bottle (diluted Gatorade).

2 comments:

Trevor said...

Good luck next weekend! Perhaps the Tide loss yesterday was a good omen ... oh wait ... forgot about the Gator's ... sorry. Perhaps I'll see you in Bar Harbor!

Jamie Anderson said...

Ha ha, veeeeeery funny. :-) Glad I didn't stay up for the duration for the Gator game, I would have been so ticked I wouldn't have gotten to sleep. Oh well, next year. I'll keep an eye out for you at MDI, Trevor. Best of luck in your final week of tapering.