Hi Team!
Dave~ have a great race tomorrow! Kick some butt! Great job an the weight loss, between you, me and Robert maybe we can loose the equivalent of another person!
Margie~ Thanks for keeping track of me!
How is Hagen doing with his tummy?
Lynn and Scott~ I hope that you are taking lots of pictures on your trip!
AFM~ The Soldier Field 10 miler went pretty well! I wanted to be between 1:40 and 1:45 and really wanted to beat 1:40 !! It was cold and breezy in the morning as the sun was coming up and alot of people had long pants and shirts on. As the race started it got pretty warm with a slight breeze off the lake. I heard a few runners complaning how hot it was during the run! (sissies) The expo before the race was nice with about 12 boothes set up for different vendors and race sponsors. The American Cancer Society, who I ran for, had their own tent and food for their team and a private gear check. Everyone was really nice.
The stadium was open early and I got to walk around a bit while waiting for the start of the race. People were lining up outside to use the porto pots and I went inside and had the place alomost to myself. It's funny how people just follow others and don't think things out sometimes. Anyway, we lined up for the start in two corrals with the faster runners going first. They left two minutes before we did as I am a slowpoke. As our corral started and I crossed the start line, my footpod on my polar gave up! Grrrrr! I had just changed the battery!!! So, I had to pace myself by my time on my watch. I did okay at the beginning and at the three mile mark we passed the leaders already heading back to the finish! They were moving! At the turn around point they had a DJ and music playing to cheer us on. The return run was right along the lake front, which was nice because I was now starting argree that it was getting hot out there. At the eight mile mark I was at 1:18:30 which was a new personal best for me, so I knew I was doing good. The last two miles were tough and I did my best to keep moving. It was fun to enter the stadium and cross the 50 yard line! I was ready to collapse, but I never stopped running except for the two water stops that I used. I MADE IT!!!
And, as Margie has reported, I did it in 1:38:09 !!! I beat the ten mile and hour pace, with 9:49!!!! I finished 4435 / 8274.
I got some water, watched a few finishers and they shooed us off the field to make way for others. I collected my medal and headed back to the expo once I recovered a little. Then I went into the stadium and found a seat to watch some more people cross the finish line while I calmed down some more.
I stayed until all the finishers crossed and headed home to get Lizzie at work.
I learned several things: I can run ten miles today while I couldn't run the mile in high school, training pays off, and I love my new shoes that I bought for the race. I never wanted to quit, but I did want to drop my pace, which I forced myself into not doing. I set a goal and made it happen!!! As Dave says, I got my Grrrrrr on!
The weather really was perfect and things went really well. (although a couple of people ended up in first aid with heat exhaustion, dehydration, I.V.'s and blankets) I will probably do this race again next year.
This morning Liz wanted to do a 5K race and I joined her, as our Robert was with his Grandparents and we don't usually get to run together. I was a little sore at the start, but it was really hot today so I warmed up quick. I paced Liz as she wanted to break 34 minutes. We got her in at a new PR for her at 32:10 !!!
She did really well even though she struggled a little. The race was the Salute inc. 5k/10K in Arlington Heights IL. We met some people there that had run the 10 miler yesterday (I was wearing my shirt) and we exchanged email addresses, so we made some new friends!!
So, I guess I ran a half marathon between the two days.....I'm ordering a pizza and taking tomorrow off from training! Although, there is a local 5K tomorrow.....
-Mike
We are proud of you, very thankful for the sacrifices you and your family made while serving your Country!
Our sessions were split between deadlifting (30 minutes) and metabolic exercises with kettlebells and medicine ball exercises. It was nice to have my training sessions back to my PT and myself 
M it showed 1:38:09 for your chip time
Now I'm worried about what I've done to it and even more worried I'm not going to be able to run in the SF 1/2 in July. 
I think I will keep an eye on it and see how it feels. If it doesn't get to feeling better in the next day or so, or if it does get better and really hurts like this after my next run, I guess I'm going to have to break down and go the Dr. 
for your foot! 
