Delusions of Grandeur

The Fox Valley Half Marathon is in two weeks. I can't believe it! Man this summer has flown by. I have been so busy training, working and volunteering that I haven't had a chance to blog. So much great stuff has happened and I've been dying to get it all on paper (well, virtual paper that is).

Aside from cool stuff like two of my friends doing their very first 5Ks (way to go Ann Marie and Sarah!) I have been training like a beast for this Half Marathon. Oh, and eating like one too. I don't know if it's psychosomatic or what but I feel like all of this training is making me hungrier than normal (and I'm always frickin' hungry) but I can't get enough food in my gob. I'm fighting it every day but have gained about 5 pounds. I've leveled off but am working really hard (still effing trying) to get below 200 pounds. I know someday I will get there. I just have to keep plugging along.

My friend Sarah and I at her first 5K. I didn't get to do Ann Marie's with her but am doing one with her in November!

Last Sunday, I was scheduled to do a 7 mile training run. I usually try to run with friends when I can but sometimes end up doing it by myself. Since I can't run to music (it screws up my pace), I've been listening to audiobooks to help the time go by. It's actually really effective. Anyway, because I wasn't meeting anyone, I kept hitting snooze, and kept hitting snooze, and kept hitting snooze. My friend and running buddy Sue was doing the Chicago Triathlon that morning and on my third snooze I thought of her and told myself to get my sorry ass out of bed. Sue is 50-something and this time last year was a relatively new runner like me. And this time two years ago, she couldn't walk up her stairs without having to take a break half way through. The woman rocks and here I was slacking on a training run. So I got up and I did it and thought of her swimming in Lake Michigan and thanked my lucky stars that all I had to do was 7 miles.

(Left) Sue and I last October at the NAMI 5K. (Right) Sue and I this year at the Batavia Triathlon.
P.S. I look like shit in hats.

When I finally made it out on my run (an hour later than I had intended) I inadvertently got mixed in with a different Half Marathon that was going on in my town. As I left my house and started out on my running route, I noticed all of these volunteers and police in my neighborhood looking anxiously down the street. I asked them what was going on and they told me about the "Other Half"going on and that I was in front of all of the runners so just to keep an eye out. Coming out of my neighborhood and heading toward the running path on the Fox River, I started down this huge hill and realized as I was coming over the peak of the hill that at the bottom of it were about 50 people waiting for the runners to come by to cheer for them. Now, remember that the volunteer about two blocks back told me I was ahead of all of the runners. So, these spectators see me plodding down the hill and start slowly clapping and looking at me quizzically like "you are the head of this pack?"   I was so embarrassed so I took my headphones out and (breathlessly and sweatily) start awkwardly explaining that I was just out on a training run but, ha ha, thanks for cheering me on for my training, ha ha, red face, cough, cough, wink, wink. Some people got the joke and then cheered me on anyway, others rolled their eyes and were like, "where are the real runners?" Well, they didn't say that but were probably thinking it.

So now I'm about a mile and a half in and the fast runners start zooming past me. I've never been at the front of the pack in a race so I started pretending that I was beating them. Then again started to make awkward jokes to the spectators that "hey, I was just beating these guys, what's going on?" Delusions of Grandeur? Sure. But hey, if I had to be out there for an hour and a half running by myself, I was going to make it entertaining. It was fun seeing all of the runners and got me so excited about my upcoming Half. 13.1 miles. Damn that's far.

In addition to doing this Half Marathon for myself, I also am raising money for an amazing organization called The Gateway for Cancer Research. If you can, please check out my story and donate to this very worthy cause if you can here.

And, one last favor (and this one is FREE and easy). The philanthropic organization I am currently president of (Les Dames d'Escoffier - Chicago Chapter) is holding a huge fundraiser next weekend to raise money for scholarships for female culinary students and for our other community outreach programs (you should try to come if you can, it's going to be fabulous!). One of the ways we are raising money is to ask people to please sign up for a free newsletter from Make it Better. For every person who signs up for this free e-newsletter, Make it Better will donate $5 to our charity. Would you please do this for me? I would really appreciate it. You can sign up here: http://makeitbetter.net/lesdames-fundraiser (please share this link as well and ask your friends and family to do the same!)

Okay...more stories to come but wish me luck in these last two weeks of training!