Run This Town: Chicago Marathon 2015

Two more days until the Chicago Marathon! I've been training for roughly four months although it seems as if it has been year round since I ran the Illinois Marathon in April and haven't had much downtime since.

This past week I've kept my exercises relatively easy with minimal weight training to avoid being sore by start time and doing different types of cardio. I've mostly done the stair stepper although earlier in the week I did sprints and ran a few miles at a comfortable level.

There were a couple of things I've done much differently with this training versus previous ones such as incorporating weekly yoga into my schedule to help sore muscles, cut meat out of my diet (thanks to advice form my Uncle Jon), drank alcohol minimally, and truly have stuck to my goals I've set for myself.

I wanted to achieve dropping 20 pounds and finishing around 4 hours. Since June I have lost 15 which isn't necessarily where I wanted to be although improvement is improvement and I'm proud I've made it this far. In The Twin Cities Half Marathon I finished in ~1:55 which sets me up for a sub four for Chicago although my time my fluctuate a bit due to how I'm feeling day of.

Gear for the race:

Zansah Compression Sleeves
I'll use these the two nights before, the day before, pre-race, and post-race. Great to use if you have ever suffered from shinsplints. These were given to me as a "pass it on" gift from a worker named Clint from Often Running when I was buying my first real pair of running shoes. I've been extremely thankful for these, it was an surprising act of kindness I'll never forget.

Lululemon headband
I've worn this headband for each race therefore it's fitting to keep the tradition going.

Brooks Ghost 7 Running Shoes
I got these on sale for $70 from Often Running although the fit has been wearing and my feet slide now. I wore the vertex version for the Illinois Marathon and they absorbed too much heat. I probably will not buy this version again.