The graphic we all know and love is back. My 10 mile run this past Saturday marks a new Personal Distance Record for me and serves as breaking the psychological "double digit miles" barrier.

I'm trying to be the glass-half-full guy and be proud of this long run (and I am) but at this point I'm still 16.2 miles short of a marathon. As far as the run itself I felt better on this long run in almost every way as compared with last week's 9 miler.

My original plan was to sleep in on Saturday and start my run close to noon when the weather would be warmer. I only made it until about 8:10 AM and was wide awake so I got myself ready and hit the streets. I figured it would be better to get the run done rather than hang around for 4 hours waiting for the thermometer to raise 7 degrees.

I wore the same clothes this week as last – three layers on the bottom and two on top – which kept me warm (after the first half mile or so) but not too hot. I also brought along my trusty CamelBak, iPod, and Garmin. Surprisingly my GPS grabbed a signal very quickly and allowed me to start my run close to my apartment. Usually it takes anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes to acquire a signal.


The first half of the outbound leg of my long run had me covering familiar territory. I ran across the North Ave. Bridge and south along the lake. When I got to Navy Pier I didn’t run out onto Olive Park or down the pier, instead I kept going south across the Chicago River and alongside Grant Park. My turnaround point was Soldier Field which is located south of the Shedd Aquarium.

I was a little worried I would get lost getting from Navy Pier across the Lake Shore Drive Bridge but the running path was well marked and it was no problem. My Garmin did lose its signal while running under the top part of the bridge but remembered where it was when I came out on the other side. Around mile 3 I passed a tent set up by the Chicago Area Runner’s Association who were passing out water but I didn’t know if I was allowed to partake as I’m not a member so I kept on going south.

I was semi-familiar with the route next to Grant Park since the 2005 Run Hit Wonder 10K followed this path as well. The trip back was into a light wind that didn’t affect me nearly as much as last time. I finished up the run feeling like I could have gone farther but was still happy to see the front door of my apartment.

After a shower, Excedrin, PB sandwich (boo jelly), and some banana yogurt I totally crashed. I spend two hours laying down watching TV and drifting in and out of sleep while I waited for my biological batteries to recharge.


Once I finally got out of bed much later, I went to California Pizza Kitchen for a real meal – 2 baskets of bread and a pizza – and felt MUCH better.

Sunday I did a cross training day (20 minutes on the woosher and a stretch) to cure my hangover from Friday night and this morning (Tuesday) I did 3 miles on the treadmill at Equinox (25:25).

I’m already getting excited for green beer this weekend.