(Sunday Paper, Year VIII, Issue 43)

I keep reflecting on my Chicago Marathon experience and I can’t quite sum it up.

It was kind of just a matter-of-fact experience.

That isn’t a negative thing - I mean it in the most positive way possible.

I’ve said this before - the North Carolina experience was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.

I was always worried what would happen if I spend all of those weeks training and experienced a clunker on race day.

The fact that it happened and it was OK - I wasn’t shattered - kind of took the pressure off.

I knew things would have to go pretty bad for me to have a worse marathon in Chicago.

Of course, as it turned out, everything went pretty well.

Chicago didn’t go great for me, but it didn’t go poorly. It was just fine.

Which is notable in itself.

For my fourth time running a marathon I went to the start line confident I was going to finish, just wondering how long it would end up taking.

That was a major step because in my first two marathons I started and constantly worried, “What if I can’t make it?” (And in my third I was in the middle of it thinking, “What if I don’t make it?” And I made it.)

I ended up, of course, making it through all three.

But this time that wasn’t a worry heading in. So that seems like a significant marathon hurdle to cross.

So when I say it was matter-of-fact…it kind of carried the same kind of energy that I would have running a 5K. Show up for the run, ready to run it and complete…and not really compete with more than myself.

Overall there were a ton of things that I think went much more right this time than for my three previous marathons:

The other day we were walking the dog and Kathy said to me, “What is it too cold now for your sandals?” Because for a long time now I’ve been wearing almost exclusively sandals rather than putting on socks and sneakers because - I don’t know, maybe my feet have been swollen? They’ve just not been comfortable in socks and sneakers so I’ve sparingly worn them. But the truth is I took way better care of my feet this training session - I iced them after some runs, soaked them after most long runs, and I even grabbed some ice from the ice machine in the hotel and iced them after the marathon. I think I’m feeling the payoff now. Still lots of sandal-wearing…but also I don’t think twice about putting on socks and sneakers. I still don’t know that I’ll ever wear dress shoes again in my life, though.
Here’s another thought about the matter-of-factness of the marathon: I was very aware and present during the race. Knowing the Boston route as well as I did I felt like I could seek out the cameras and cheese it up as I ran…but in Chicago I was just looking around at everything. I took in the different neighborhoods, I read the street signs, when I felt like I was close to Wrigley Field I looked down some cross streets and spotted the light towers so that was cool, and, I don’t know. I just felt very present for the run. It was like my own personal tour of Chicago. It started to get hard after Mile 18, which I was hoping wouldn't be the case for this run since my 20-mile practice run went so well, so I didn’t really absorb a ton of the last few miles, but I’m kind of proud about how I gutted out those last couple of miles.
I did less strength training. I don’t know if this was a huge benefit - I wonder if I had done more if I would have been stronger for all 26 miles? But I think it kept my legs fresher and wasn’t a bad thing. Especially when you consider the following:
I did a really good job of stretching during this training cycle. Before every run I had a routine I would do that I really focused on - I didn’t mail it in like I might have a little bit in the past. I always did stretching before runs, but sometimes just one or two stretches. This time I did the entire deal, covering everything. And even though I didn’t strength train as much, I did a hip strengthening routine every morning and I definitely had less hip pain throughout this training cycle. Not unlike the foot care, it is a time-consuming process, all of this stretching and icing and recovering (in addition to the running)…but I think it paid off nicely. (And I recognize how lucky I am to be able to have a flexible-enough routine that affords me the time to do all of this.)
The one thing I did consistently do, part core work and part overall strength, was Pilates. I did it sometimes as exercise during the week, and mostly as a recovery activity the day after a long run. I think maybe it improved my flexibility - I would guess I am more flexible today than I was back in May. But I just think everything worked nicely in combination with one another.

So the long story short is: I enjoyed the run, and my body definitely felt better overall when all was said and done.

I have reached the point now in my recovery where I’ve started to think about what’s next and can start to envision myself investing all that time into another run.

I still think a sub-5 hour marathon is an attainable goal. I just need to figure out the right balance of all of the above, which is part of what makes this fun for me.

And for those of you wondering, yes, I do already have a target in mind…I’m thinking maybe Pittsburgh in May.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

I might not have watched this on my own but it was listed by a student as a recommended watch and I was curious what Taylor Swift might see in Travis Kelce (only half-joking) so I watched the Kelce documentary on Amazon. It was really, really good, I thought. I never much liked Travis Kelce watching him play, but my mind started to change on him when I saw that respectable personalities like Erin Andrews were endorsing him to Swift. Anyway, he comes off as very likable in the doc, but even more likable is his brother. A really good watch.

Notes

*Maybe it helps that the Jets beat Jason Kelce’s Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday before I watched the doc. I don’t know. What I do know is at 3-3 with a bye this weekend, the Jets have a competitive season ahead of them, which I didn’t think was possible after Aaron Rodgers went down. Lots of winnable games on the post-bye part of the schedule. Looking forward to it.

*I did get back out for a run on Friday. Wasn’t planning on going too long but, as will probably be the rule for my runs over these next few weeks, I was just trying to cross some streets off the map as I resume ‘Running Every Street in Framingham.’ Turned out to be 4 miles. Felt OK afterwards, which is a good sign almost two weeks after the marathon.

*The tricky thing now with ‘Running Every Street in Framingham’ is 1) I left myself a lot of the hillier streets, and 2) I kind of worked my way out from my house, which is kind of in central Framingham. So now I have to drive towards the edges and figure things out from there. It’s just a bit more logistical and time-consuming to get these final streets done.

*I, of course, have been writing about all of this on social media. Give the accounts a follow at the link below if you’re interested. Thanks!