Of course it's about running.

After I got back from Washington D.C., I planned to take a little time off, then changed my mind and thought I'd jump right back in and work on getting ready for the Indy 500 Mini-marathon next May. Instead I ate poorly and didn't run for two weeks. Then I ran five miles on a Sunday morning and followed it up with Burger King for breakfast. Delicious, sure, but hardly the ambitious training program I claimed I'd be starting in my last blog post.

Then again I did no running and ate poorly for the following week, bringing me to Sunday 11/18 and the Lincolnwood Turkey Trot 10k. Here, after eating a "Super-Size Me" diet and running 5 whole miles in the previous three weeks, I set a new personal best of 47:38 for the 10k distance. The morning of the race I was almost hoping for a very poor time to kick-start me back into working out, and instead I ran really well.

I followed that up with doing the exact same thing (too much food, no running) for the next two weeks. *Now* I'm going to get started working out and putting in those cold, wet, windy, uncomfortable, boring workouts that will pay off months from now. Next week brings an 8k and a chance at bragging rights - I have raced a former co-worker twice this year, splitting the two races. This will be our last chance to race each other so I've got to go hard to avoid being embarrassed. We'll see.

First post in a year - here's what's happened: In January, Heather and I ran the Walt Disney World half marathon, then the next day I ran the WDW full marathon. Do them both and it's called the "Goofy Race and a Half Challenge." Then I took some time off running. Then in March I ran the LaSalle Bank Shamrock Shuffle (8k) and set a PR, then got injured later that week and had to go easy for a while. In April I ran a 10k, again a PR, and didn't get injured.

During this time I was training for the Green Bay Marathon in the middle of May. Two weeks before that race was the Indy 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, which I ran with Jill and Ryan (Mom & Dad and Heather's Dad also ran). Fortunately that half marathon came two weeks before Green Bay, when I was scheduled to run the half distance anyway. It was a tough day (we walked some as it got warm and a little humid) but we all finished together.

Two weeks later at Green Bay the weather was windy and cool to cold. I wore long sleeves the entire race and running tights for the first 5 or 6 miles. I paced well and finally reached my goal of a sub-four-hour marathon, another PR. Then I took more time off. In July I ran my first 5k, a run for the Chicago White Sox Charites which finished inside U.S. Cellular Field (New Comiskey Park). Later that month, Heather's Dad and I ran the San Francisco half marathon. We ran along the waterfront and Fisherman's Wharf before crossing and re-crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, then finishing in Golden Gate Park.

After returning from the west coast I regrouped, then began training for my fall event, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. Just as I began the high-mileage phase of the training I injured my left IT band (which runs down the outside of the leg) and had to not only take two weeks off but also return to running very gradually. Earlier in the year my Green Bay preparation included runs of 17, 18, 20 (twice) and 22.5 miles, this time I was only able to do a couple of 15-milers and an 18.5. However my leg gave me no problems during the race, and even with a hilly course I was able to run my third-best marathon (just over 4:13).

For my fall race I also ran to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and while I did not reach my fundraising goal the support and encouragement I received out on the MCM course made me want to run with LLS again next year.

So what's next? Next year's Indy 500 Mini-Marathon is almost exactly 6 months away. I was originally planning on some casual fitness and running during the winter, then ramping up at the start of February with the goal of improving my half-marathon PR from 1:49 to 1:39. However after watching the US Olympic Marathon trials this past weekend I'm ready to start preparing now. I will update here once I solidify a training plan, plus I'll post any event results I have.

Joel's 2007 Results

WDW Half Marathon - 1/6/07, 3:13:29
WDW Full Marathon - 1/7/07, 4:44:30
Shamrock Shuffle 8k - 3/25/07, 39:44
Wrigley Start Early 10k - 4/21/07, 47:52
Indy Mini (half) Marathon - 5/5/07, 3:02:06
Green Bay Marathon - 5/20/2007, 3:57:44
Chicago White Sox / Nike+ 5k - 7/14/07, 22:31
San Francisco Half Marathon - 7/29/07, 1:53:14
Marine Corps Marathon - 10/28/07, 4:13:24

Finally the Chicago pictures are available, so here's a half-dozen starring me: Chicago Marathon Pictures. They're the free ones taken by the race photographers, so they're tiny. I'm in the purple shirt.

So it's been a couple days now, plenty of time for thoughts to settle. First, how'd I do? I finished in 4:17:25 (overall & 5k split times here), not quite what I was hoping. Context: last year I finished in 4:57:55, and this April in St. Louis I finished in 4:08:53. Much better than last year, though not a personal best.

It was chilly race morning with a little wind and some mist/drizzle during the first 8 miles or so. I was cold at the starting line but once we got going I felt pretty good temperature-wise. I was running at a very steady 8:30/mile pace through the first 10k and 15k and while I was able to keep it going through 20k I noticed it was getting harder to maintain. I passed the halfway point in 1:51:21, just two minutes slower than my best half-marathon time.

At the halfway point the course (Chicago course map in PDF) turns west for about 2 miles, goes south for one block, then back east for another 1.5 miles, a pretty boring stretch. This is where I started to slow down - my splits really start to trail off here. By mile 18, in the middle of Little Italy I was really dragging. I managed to slog through the next four miles but had trouble during 23. I was crossing the bridge over the Dan Ryan highway when my left calf and the innermost quads in both legs started to cramp. I managed to walk it off, but after that my shot at a personal best was over.

Coming up Michigan Avenue during 24 to 26 was long and tough, but I just put one foot in front of the other, regardless of the cliche factor, and kept moving. Finally I crossed the finish line just happy to get there under my own power.

So that's the downside: a colder, wetter, slower and more painful marathon than I'd hoped. But how about the positive side: I finished! I ended up 15874th out of 33633 finishers, and every single one of us got lots of encouragement from the bazillion people on the sidewalks cheering us on. All the effort and hard work and pain were totally worth it in order to get to go through that experience - almost every other race will be a step down. The crowds were universally positive and encouraging and cheered just as loud for us non-elites as they did for the winners.

Finally I had a chance to do some tiny bit of good by running with, and raising money for, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. The thousand or so people who ran and/or walked the marathon on Sunday collectively raised over $2.5 million for blood cancer research, and I was very proud to be a part of it - and one more big Thanks! to everyone who donated.

So what's next? Disney World, the Indy Mini-Marathon, Green Bay, then either Marine Corps or New York next fall. In between, some 10k and 8k events, or maybe even a 5k. Strength training, hill work, flexibility & stretching, maybe some speed work, and improved nutrition as always. My goal for Green Bay next May 20th is 3:59:59 or better, so I'll get started on that right after my final post-race indulgence: McDonald's for lunch on Wednesday.

With just one day left I can finally stop worrying about whether I've trained enough and finally concentrate on worrying about whether I'm carb-loading enough. Today is the expo (where you pick up your T-shirt, bib number, timing chip and loads of free stuff) so that should distract me for a while.

In other news I finally cleared my Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraising goal of $1400 - Big, huge thanks to everyone who donated. In some ways this was more difficult that training for the marathon itself, but overall I'm really glad I did it. Everyone on the Chicago North team (and I'm sure all the other chapters) is relentlessly positive and upbeat and always encouraging about training and fundraising. This has been a great experience and I will probably do it again sometime.

Now it's time to get my stuff together and start the last day before the race. Woooo!

A week from right now I should be eating a celebratory deep-dish pizza or something similarly prohibited from my current race-prep diet. This week that diet will consist of stuff like chicken, pasta, rice, potatoes, lots of fruit, oatmeal, bagels etc. Traditionally this packs on a couple pounds during the last several days before a race, but that's no big deal because it's mostly your body storing the carbs needed for energy. (Plus you're not burning as much via training.)

The tough part at this point is psychological, when your miles drop by a large margin (I'm down to 9 total training miles this week), plus it's now been over two weeks since the last long run. A year ago I was worried that I had lost fitness and would be underprepared for the race, but sure enough on race day I was rested, my muscles fully recovered from the long training runs and was fully carb-loaded and energized.

This year I'm looking forward to the race knowing I'll be in that ideal spot again, and this time the trick will be to avoid going out too fast in the early miles. I'll plan to follow the 3:45 pace team (very close to an 8:30 pace). I could go faster but again I want to ensure I don't start too fast.

Finally congrats to Jill for finishing her first marathon in Baltimore yesterday with an impressive 4:22. Wooo!

Less than two weeks until the Chicago Marathon. Two looooong weeks. This week is the worst of all, since it is too far from the race to really start getting ready (like planning those last few meals, getting gear together etc) but close enough that there are no more long runs (last Saturday was 12 miles, and until the race I won't go longer than 8) so I start feeling antsy about not spending time running. It's "taper madness" and it's annoying.

In the meantime I'll take this space to thanks everyone who has contributed (so far!) to my Leukemia and Lymphoma fundraising effort - see http://www.active.com/donate/tntil/joelcorbin for more information and my up-to-the-minute fundraising total. So far, runners in the Chicago area alone have raised over $750,000 for blood cancer research, and you are all a part of that. Thanks!