My First Marathon

The first race I ever ran (excepting an exceedingly lackluster middle school track career) was the Bix 7 in 2009. At the time, I wasn't sure I was even able to run seven miles. It turns out I could, it took a little over 70 minutes but I finished. Since then, I've always known I wanted to run a marathon.

It took a little over three years to actually take the plunge, but I finished the Illinois Marathon today in 3:48:16. My goal was four hours, so I'm very satisfied. I took the PE on the 13th of April (which studying for ate up a large chunk of my time), as well as departing for vacation in Hawaii the day after that, arriving back in Illinois on the 27th. This, coupled with a nagging hip injury had me concerned about even finishing the race.

I woke up at 4:45 and my parents were nice enough to come up with to see me start as well as watch the whole thing. This shows a level of patience I don't think I have. The race itself was pretty great. There were showers and it was about 50 degrees this morning, but the rain stopped and it ended up great marathoning weather.

I started out slow, hitting an 8:45ish pace (my running watch broke, this was all based off my normal Timex). The volunteers were great, and the entertainment was solid. We had a bagpipe player, skinny Elvis singing Johnny B. Goode, and no fewer than two houses playing The Final Countdown. I also got to spread the Fivefingers gospel to a guy around Mile 14.

I held myself back some after last year's half marathon disaster of totally hitting the wall at Mile 10. Mom and dad met me at West Side Park around Mile 14 and provided some timely graham crackers. Around Mile 18 I think I lost just a little off my pace and the miles didn't seem to slide away as quickly as they had. Regardless, I stayed pretty consistent and could tell by Mile 21 or so that I was going to finish and could probably finish strong. By Mile 24, I was able to set a good pace and start passing some people. At Mile 25, I hopped into the next gear and likely ran my fastest mile of the race. By the time we were coming into Memorial Stadium, I was in a full-on sprint to cross the finish line at the 50. It's always great to really put the hammer down to finish a race and especially for this one.

I could barely walk afterward, but sushi and rest have me doing much better.

Travel Shortlist

On Keith Law's blog, he posted his travel shortlist of ten places he'd love to go. The rules include: you can't have been there before, and time and money are no object. I figured I'd make my own list instead of start studying for the PE like I should. In no particular order:

1. Tokyo. The city sounds amazing. I've always found the Japanese culture interesting. Plus, the food sounds great. One of my favorite parts of Kitchen Confindential is when Anthony Bourdain describes his meal in Tokyo, complete with fish eyes.

2. Prague. Eastern Europe has always seemed appealing to me, and this is one of the cities whose names I know. I would hope to eat some good sausages and enjoy a lot of medieval Gothic architecture.

3. The Serengeti. A photo safari, especially one which included plenty of camping would be incredible. And, since it's nearby and I get to make the rules for this, this trip also includes summitting Mt. Kilimanjaro. It's apparently the only tallest mountain on a continent that doesn't require any technical skills to summit.

4. Vietnam. This one isn't as vacation-y as a lot of the others, but I'd like to go to Southeast Asia, and with as much as the war there is linked up in American history, I think it would be fascinating. I'd want to see and eat in some of the villages, just to understand what that kind of life would be like.

5. Vancouver. I've never been to our neighbor to the North, and this city has the reputation of being a great place to visit.

6. Peru. I seem to be trying to check every continent off on this list (except for absolutely zero interest in Australia for some reason). Besides picking up South America, I believe there are week long hikes/camping trips that end at Machu Picchu, which is a place I've wanted to see for a long time.

7. The Badlands. Actually a place that is very doable, since I could reach it in a day by car. The landscape just sounds great, and I would love to do a bunch of hiking and camping there. A pilgrimage to Deadwood would also be required.

8. Leadville, CO. This trip would purely be to participate in the Leadville 100. I'm obviously super-far from being able to compete in that, but someday...

9. French countryside. Paris was amazing, and while I'd certainly love to go back, I picture being in a rustic town, enjoying raw milk cheese (I've been missing that badly lately) and good wine. I'd be required to have a croissant and coffee as well.

10. Buenos Aires. Sounds like an intersting city, with the heavy European influence. Although in my mind, I picture it mainly as the setting for a good spy thriller from the 60's, so I could be setting myself up for disappointment on this one.

Sunday, August 21

Did the Du State Du today. It's a 2mi run, 14ish mile bike ride, and another 2 mile run. I took first in my age division (25-29) with a time of 1:17:06. Came home, mowed the lawn, felt great, then collapsed into a 1 hour nap. My body basically said we're doing this, NOW.

Fixed the rear cable on my mountain bike. It was looking pretty frayed to the point I figured I probably should replace it for safety concerns. Getting better at some of the bike repairs, but still had some problems with getting the brake "pull" right.

Going to try some butternut squash bisque tonight (recipe here). We planted some squash in the garden this year. It's kind of taken over everything, especially after my month in Omaha on flood duty. I ate some sauted, and realized neither Kate nor I really care for it that way. Tried to remember why we planted it in the first place, and I think it was right after we'd had some really good squash bisque at Front Street Brewery. So, we'll see how this goes.

Cincinnati

Here's a couple pictures from my trip to Cincinnati. It's a nice enough town, but as far as business travel destinations go, not at the top of my list.


Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds. Just a couple weeks until spring training starts.


Helpful English to SI conversion from the Hofbrauhaus.



Couple of nighttime skyline shots.


Eternal flame at the Underground Railroad Museum.


Here's a shot of the Roebling Suspension Bridge, named after its designer, who went on to design the Brooklyn Bridge. This is taken from the Underground Railroad Museum, and you can't help but think about the Ohio River separating free state (Ohio) and slave state (Kentucky).

Basement Workroom

Here's some pictures of the basement workroom. I installed the pegboard, and figure it will stay this clean at least until I need to use a tool.

The frame all put up.



Pegboard up. 1/4", the good stuff.



Just a couple shots of everything after I put stuff up.


Still need to get the workbench set up in the garage, and get that situated. I think that's more of a springtime project though.

The House

Here's a couple of pictures of the new house. It's a work in progress, but we're moved in and settled. Many thanks to our parents, we'd be living out of boxes and not have accomplished nearly as much without them.





You can't have Christmas without monkey bread.

It turns out all the actual house pictures are on Kate's computer. I'll add some of those later.