the worlds largest moving bar

last night was the nike run hit remix. the premise of the race is a 5 mile fun run where they have a bunch of one hit artists from the 90's at each mile marker. Young MC was there (and was phenomenal), gin blossoms (could have been a cover band...not sure), de la soul, and a bunch of other bands.

last night was the first time i didn't take a run seriously. normally, i'm out for blood even if it's a training run. given the recent state of my body and the whole premise of the race, i decided to make this one different.

enter the camelbak.

1/4 bottle stoli raspberry
1/4 bottle triple sec
1 32 oz. bottle lemonlime/strawberry gatorade

the gatortini!!!

by the time the 5 miles was over, i was wrecked. by the time we stumbled to the post race beer tent (goose island), i was three sheets to the wind.

what a fantastic run. and yes, i'm hungover.

half ironman photographic evidence

beginning of run - feeling good and looking good in that orange and blue


end of run - out kicking hebda and not looking as good as before








post race - guys, i can't stand up any more

yup, i'm competitive alright

on sunday, i earned my competitive start for october 22nd by a running a 1:25:34 half marathon (6:32/mile). it was probably one of the ugliest runs i've ever done. i ran with a pace group to help get me through it.
at the third mile, i was hurting and conceding defeat.
at mile 4, i convinced myself to just stay with the pace group as long as possible and see where i would be.
at mile 6, i actually gave consideration to just giving up.
at mile 7, my legs were begging me to stop.
at mile 9, i started to lose the pace group.
at mile 10, i could no longer see them.
at mile 11, i started checking the watch and calculating what i'd have to run to hit my goal of 1:25:59.
at mile 12, i just started repeating 'just 1 more. just 1 more. just 1 more.'
at mile 13, i finally got a bit of a kick to get me up the final hill to the finish.
at 13.1, i was done. finally done. the whole run never felt good. i normally get into a rhythm and just kind of zone out and cruise along. not this time. no rhythm, no gliding along.

even worse, ever since the run, i've felt horrible. normally i eat 5 or 6 meals a day. yesterday i ate twice. today once. and i spent the greater part of last night shivering under a pile of blankets. i've got no sniffles. no fever. i just feel like ass. oh yea, and if i walk around for more than ten minutes, i start looking for a chair. needless to say, i'm taking the day off from working out. maybe a swim tomorrow, but that's it.

there are a couple things that make me feel better about the day though.
-pre-race massage from holly.
-quality personal photog by timmy. yes, i even got the obligatory moon-shot in there.
-a stellar post race breakfast with fantastic food and even better company
-hanging out with friends that i haven't seen in a while.
-zack's comment about my mental state.

i guess hitting my goal wasn't too bad either. =)