Chicago, take two

I've registered for the Chicago Marathon in October. I ran it two years ago, but the experience was marred somewhat by foot pain in the last six miles. I never did find out exactly what was wrong, but it probably wasn't anything serious, since it went away on its own after a two-week hiatus and a new pair of shoes. At the time, though, it REALLY hurt. There's good pain and bad pain, and this was most certainly of the bad variety.

So, even though as a rule I'd like to try new marathons, I'm redoing this one because I want good memories (and a PR, gosh durnit) associated with it. Michelle is doing the Indianapolis Marathon and Margaret, the Philadelphia Marathon, so the trio is splitting up this fall, but I'm pretty excited to hear about the different experiences training and racing these different marathons in different parts of the country. These days I REALLY miss the team aspect of running, but at least in some small way we can keep the team-ness alive.

I've stayed very motivated after the Country Music Marathon, and am hoping to translate this into some good 5K and 10K times this summer and fall. I've haven't run a good 5K since my 20:52 in college and for the 10K, it's really been since high school sometime, a 45-someodd. It would be really neat to PR in 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and marathon before the year is out...but, we'll see. Gotta get the training in, and beat the summer heat, first.

I started reading War for the Oaks and Seabiscuit. Both are enjoyable. I first heard of Oaks from Hannah's bookshelf in college, and always remembered it because I loved the title so much. So when I stumbled across it at the Caveat Emptor, I couldn't resist. If this is urban fantasy, I should get into some Charles de Lint. Seabiscuit is something I've wanted to read for a long time, and especially since I read an article about the author, Laura Hillenbrand. She's a journalist who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and vertigo; she can't really travel and sometimes literally cannot get out of bed. Yet somehow she managed to research and write this incredibly detailed piece of literary journalism/history. The story has always appealed to me. Besides, it's inspiring for me as a runner, even though the runner in this story is a horse. After what happened to Barbaro, I sort of gravitated toward this one.

I got glasses. So, now I can see, and I look nerdier than ever. SWEET. =)