Chi-City

Yeah, me and Kanye this weekend in Chi-city baby. I'm so freakin' pumped for Chicago. I'm a little bummed that I have to squeeze in a 26.2 mile run for my first trip out to Chicago, but I'm thinking we'll be able to pack enough in the first couple of days that it won't be no thang. I get to see two of my best friends. I don't have to be in stinky Utah.

I can't even really say that. Utah has been pretty good to me so far.

I had my first marathon dream last night. I dreamt that it was somewhere tropical, and Mike Reid and his roommates were all in the race too. The route took us along the beach, and then into a Super Walmart-sized supermarket. We ran along the inside wall by all the frozen food, and had to complete about 16 laps. But the store was still operating and people had to redirect their routes, and Doug was there and started having Mike and his roommates just skip out on running all the laps, and I was pissed because I had done the work to get in shape for the full marathon and thought it was lame that they were going to finish ahead of me because I refused to cheat. The worst part, however, was that running by all the frozen foods made my muscles feel so sluggish and I felt like I could barely move, so I was doubting whether or not I could finish the dang thing.

It was one of my most frustrating dreams ever.

I've heard other people mention that "training marathon is the best thing for your body, running one is the worst." I bought into it until I started training for the marathon. Is it really that much worse to run 40 miles in a week, with a long run of 20+ than just running the full 26.2? I ran 22 miles a couple of weeks ago and it hurt like hell when I was done, but I was playing soccer two days later and back running, so is 4 more miles really going to kill me?

Some people can either just handle the impact or they can't, I think. Not necessarily that they can't sustain the pain, but some bodies just can't sustain that kind of pounding. I generally think that if you're feeling a good amount of pain during the training, the marathon is going to be just as bad. If you're not feeling that so much, then I don't think the marathon is going to do you any worse. I read a guy's blog who runs 17 miles a day. Dean Karnazes, the Ultramarathon Man, runs a hundred miles or more at a time and has no ill effects.

Also, a lot of the soreness that you develop and fades away during marathon training beyond the expected muscles soreness is all the impact soreness you feel. Achey feet, knees, etc. When I started going beyond 15 miles, I would get incredible soreness on those bones on the outside of the knees, but not anymore. I had terrible shin splints when I started out, but that went away after about a month. I thought that kind of pain would be chronic, but your body learns to handle the impact. It's amazing how resilient the human body is. And I think eating right has a huge part in recovery, obviously. You can't minimize how important that is.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about the running.

I'm excited for deep dish. I'm excited for the Art Institute, like probably too excited for that part. I'm excited for the parks, the tours, for Wrigley...for everything. I'm excited to not have to set aside 3-4 hours for long Saturday runs. I'm excited to get this thing past me.