Naperville Running Company – No Crappy Excuses

NRC April Fool’s Run (4/2/18)

Since I had started running in 2015, I had continually used a hand tether. It was the most comfortable for me for almost 4 full years. I had tried using my v1.0 swim tether for a run tether, but I chucked that after a couple tries since it kept slipping down. But after several people had suggested the race belt method, I decided to give that a try.

So when Mark and I went out to Wheaton to do the April NRC Pub Run, I decided to give it a try. While it wasn’t perfect, it seemed to work much better than the hand tether. And even though we got stopped by traffic a couple of times, it seemed to be a solid run.

I’ll continue to work with the running puzzle and see if I can find a solution to this Rubik’s Cube before June.

NRC Pub Run – 3/15/18

Yes, March Madness… the most fun (or agony if you picked Virginia) you can have. Oh wait, I was talking about my March, not anything to do with basketball. And yes, there is a method to my madness…

As I’ve mentioned before, the run portion of the Tri is still a struggle. And since solo runs haven’t worked out well (as I’ll do the 1st mile in < 11:30 and be burnt out), I am trying something new this year. That’s using 5Ks as a way to work out the kinks and also improve. There are several different things that I will be trying between now and my next outdoor Tri. The focus the last two has been on the shoes – going to a thicker pad in the New Balance shoes. While it hasn’t been a magic bullet, it has helped – and I would have been SOL without it for Thursday’s run. This was the second March run that Achilles helped with a guide. I was able to find the other through NCC’s Tri Coach. At Natalie’s suggestion, she and I did a 10-15 minute warmup prior so I wouldn’t be as cold going into the run. The first 2 miles weren’t that bad and were on pace. But the 3rd was a bear between being tired and my feet going numb. This started slightly somewhere around 2.5 miles and got really bad in both feet shortly before the end. Even with all that, I kept going because of the support from Mark and Natalie. It helped me to hold off on fully walking until I felt like my feet would fold under even though I was in pain a lot earlier. The post-party, which was sponsored by Hoka was a lot of fun. And as I’ve said before, beer heals all wounds… 🙂 I’ve got two more races in March, and will be adding in compression socks to one of them. It was suggested to help with the numbness, and I’m willing to try anything within reason. I just want to get the times down.

Cold Heart Run – 2.9.16

I know that the USPS mantra is “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. ” Ihat seems to also aptly apply to many of our runs since the Chicago winter really began.

Tonight was no different – a run in the cold along snowy streets in the dark. While I couldn’t see much, Terri and I were tethered, so everything went well. There was a small part of it where we were running right into the wind, which was not that fun. But it was only 2 miles, and we made it back okay. To chocolate. 🙂

Thanks to Naperville Running Company (North) for putting the run together, and to Brooks for sponsoring it!

Final 2015 Media Snowball Piece

In late July, a media snowball was started by Marie Wilson of the Daily Herald, and has been continually pushed down the hill by many others, starting with the Bev Horne and Bob Susnjara, continuing with Kim Weeks of Naperville Running Company, and now this.

I will be having someone record my talk, and will share the video once I have it.

Media Snowball – 8.25.15

The media snowball continues to grow and grow. The current full list is below. There are still a couple things in the works, and I’ll add to this article as they do.

Daily Herald Article by Marie Wilson

Video by Bev Clark

Marie Wilson talking about us on ABC7

Post-Race Article by Bob Susnjara

Naperville Running Company article by Kim Weeks

Western DuPage Chamber of Commerce Speech (added 12/5/15)

Chicago Triathlon (Bill Bird) (added 07/15/16)

Camp NoSightNoLimits Video (NBC San Diego) — in background (added 1/28/17)

Sausage Races…

No, not sausage races like in Miller Park. Rather a fun run ending with sausages. Thanks to Kreger’s and Addidas for sponsoring the Naperville Running Company Grub Run on Tuesday.

This was another 3 mile fun run, and there were many familiar faces from the Pub Run last month. These runs are always a good time with good people. And they provide good learning experiences for us.

In the last one, I learned that I can’t run in compression socks even though that may help in the long run. In this one, I learned that I have to find a plan B (band aids or tape) instead of an undershirt to deal with chafing. I was overheating during the run because the cotton was trapping the heat in.

One final point – Kreger’s is an amazing place that I never knew existed. I’ve lived here for almost a decade and this past Tuesday was the first time I’d even heard of it.