something new

i've been running for... well, for a really long time. Since the 4th grade, in fact (with a 4 year hiatus in there for college drinking). and I don't think i've never actually started a training run after dark.

until Saturday, that is.

Dice got us lawn seats to the Feist concert at Ravinia on Friday night, so boss told me to take off from work a bit early to head downtown to meet him and check out his new office digs. From there we headed over to catch the train up to Highland Park. KTG's grandma lives right down the street from Ravinia, so I had been there before, but it was Dice's first experience. It was close to a perfect evening, and if it weren't for the stupid people sitting next to us who were more interested in screaming at the top of their lungs than listening to good music, it would have been absolutely perfect. Wine, cheese, bread, pasta, spread out on a blanket with good company, good weather, and good music. Can you get any better than that?

We caught the first train back into the city, but still didn't make it home until late on Friday, which meant no early rising for a long run on Saturday. (ok, the wine didn't help either, but whatever). It was a bit warm for the run in the middle of the day, plus there would have been oodles of beach-goers out by then (especially with the AVP tour happening right down the street) so we opted to delay our run until that evening. We ate dinner and settled in with a movie and when all of a sudden it was 8:30 we looked at each other with a dubious look and I think we both suspected that we'd ditch the idea of doing our run that night.

Then all of a sudden dice said, "come on. let's do it." and, well... we did. So out the door we walked at 8:45 to get our long run in. We realized quickly that if we headed south we'd get to see the fireworks over Navy Pier on the way back. The added advantages were that we ran out to the end of the peninsula where Northerly Island is at and saw that Al Green was playing at Charter One Pavilion. We stopped and listened to the music for a few minutes before turning around and being greeted with the most beautiful skyline shot you could ever imagine. The city looks absolutely breathtaking at night from that point of view.

About a mile before we hit Navy Pier on the way back the fireworks started, so we got to watch them and simultaneously slip past all of the crowds of onlookers. It pretty much would have been a perfect run if it hadn't been for the horrible stomach cramps that I kept getting. I guess that's what I get for eating so much before a long run, eh? By the time we got back to the inner path I was tired of fighting the cramping and I was also dealing with a severe case of painful legs, so we cut it 2 miles short for a 13 mile long run instead of our intended 15.

I've been dealing a bit with a recurring case of PF, and Saturday's run reflected that (i'm just about positive the unusual pain in my legs was from me adjusting my form to take pressure of my heals) so I've been making sure to ice, stretch, and wear appropriate footwear whenever I'm on my feet. The sock thingy that I got last summer and wear to bed has helped a lot too, and I'm happy to feel no pain in my feet/heels today, just a bit of residual soreness in my calf muscles.

We'll see how tonight's run goes!