Registration now closed for Chicago Marathon

All the spots are now taken for the Chicago Marathon – at the beginning of last week there were 4,000 left and by the end of the week 0.

Made it through my 5 miler last night feeling good (used a 3:30 to 1:00 run walk interval). It looks like it might actually stay warm from now on which should mean no more long runs on the treadmill. A little note on running gear – on my 4 mile run I made the error of wearing regular running shorts and had my first experience of extreme chaffing on my thighs. As a result of that experience I advise anyone doing longer runs, especially in the warmer weather, to wear lycra shorts or running tights since they cut down on the friction and can save you lost training time.

Since it is getting warmer out (finally) we all need to pay attention to hydration and sun exposure and I’ll be posting information on these areas in upcoming weeks.

Training starts for real

I began this month by starting over at week one of training, since I began a month early. Even though I’ve been determined to not miss a day I was forced to miss the 4th through the 7th due to a low back strain. Since then I’ve been very diligent about my training even though much of it has been on the treadmill. This Sunday I’ll be back to long runs, another 5-6 miles, so I really hope that it’ll be warm out (that’s just to long to be running on a treadmill).

From now on I will be posting every Sunday or Monday night.