Saturday

Monday felt like Friday. Jordan had the day off and I wrapped things up at FTD with a feeling that tomorrow held no schedule, no work, and a road trip. We headed out to dinner. Tomorrow must be Saturday. I was immediately reminded of "A Map for Saturday", a documentary that we watched countless times and have shown to many friends. In the documentary, a similar feeling is discussed, this isn't quite a vacation. Vacations are an event, with hotels, planes, amusement parks, natural wonders, and a knowing feeling that, on Monday, you'll head back to work.

On Monday, I said goodbye to dozens of people and had ice cream cake (thanks everyone!), but really it felt like just another day. As I left work, sans laptop and blackberry, it began to dawn on me, I was finally finished. There was an odd juxtaposition, a sense of finality for me, but for everyone else, it was just another Monday and everything just kept… going.

We spent our first "Saturday" leaving Chicago behind, bound for beautiful Toledo, OH to visit my brother Marcus (picture to the right) before we leave the country. After lunch we continued onward to Zanesville, OH where we'll be spending the next 10 days.

What about tomorrow? It's Saturday all over again.

The Wind Down, and Plane Tickets

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. As I'm sitting at home in my hotel room, it seems a bit surreal to think about. Our time left in Illinois is coming to a close. I've been a bit nonchalant about the whole thing, mostly because it hasn't actually hit me yet. I think this is why my posts have been slowing down a bit... I'm still going about my day to day like like this isn't really happening. My guess is that I won't REALLY feel it until Thursday night, when I close the pharmacy gate for the last time. Last week, we each had a going away party with our coworkers. On the drive there, I felt like I should be nervous, excited, anxious, sentimental, freaking out... something. I made the comment, "I can't believe we're going to our going away party" more than once, but nothing felt out of the ordinary. We socialized, ate, had a good time, reminisced about some good times, said some goodbyes, and ended with "See you at work tomorrow!" My last day is Thursday. Three more days. It will be the first time I haven't been working or in school since I was sixteen. I still have a few things left on my to do list for work, like figuring out how to roll over my 401k, finishing up some continuing education, and getting my resume up to date. For the most part, I plan on enjoying these last three days of work as much as possible. I have been lucky enough to work with some great people.

We are leaving Illinois on May 15. I have one run left with my running club. We will visit our favorite Thai place one more time. One more breakfast at Omega. One more weekend in the hotel. One more haircut. Daniel has one more birthday. One more holiday at work. We have to drive to Ohio from Illinois one more time in our falling apart (literally, there is duct tape involved) car. I don't want to get too sentimental about things, but I do hope to snap a picture at each of our "lasts".

Plane tickets have been purchased and the timeline is final. May 15 through 24, we will be in Ohio. May 25 through 28 will be spent in Florida. Our one way ticket from the US departs on May 28 and lands in.... Bogota, Colombia! What happens when we get there? I have no idea. We haven't planned anything, booked accommodations, or figured out what our next stop will be. All I know is I am ready for the adventure!

Illinois Marathon Race Recap

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The Illinois Marathon was held last Saturday on the U of I campus. It seems like forever ago that I decided to squeeze in a marathon as my final hurrah before quitting my job to travel the world. The weeks of training were over and it was time to tackle some unfinished business: breaking 4 hours. I describe myself as a recreational runner. I am not naturally talented, I am not extremely fast, I don't have the perfect body, and I don't log 100 mile weeks. That being said, I am very competitive against myself. The goal of breaking 4 hours has been hanging over my head for awhile now and it is time to put it to rest.

Leading up to race morning, I couldn't find my favorite shorts. The forecast called for rain (then heat, then cold, then wind). I started to doubt myself and if I really put in enough work. Taper madness set in. I felt sluggish. The brakes on my car started grinding. You get the idea... I wasn't feeling completely confident. I didn't even get excited about the race until the day before. Once race morning came, I got rid of the negative attitude and went into it feeling good. Daniel got his signature spectating sign ready and we drove to campus.

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At the start, it was in the high 40s, overcast, and windy. I found my running partner in the corral and we waited around until the gun went off. There was a wave start, with a 2 minute pause between releasing each corral. It worked out wonderfully and relieved a lot of congestion in the early miles and aid stations. "We are going to break 4 hours" was our mantra. I became the Pace Nazi. Nice and steady was the plan: no miles faster than 9:00 or slower than 9:15. We stayed in a nice pocket between the 3:55 and 4:00 pace groups. The spectators were fantastic, the course was nice and flat, and I felt great. The first half of the race flew by and I clocked in right on pace at 1:59:05.

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It started getting extremely windy and cold around mile 16 or so, but I managed to stay mostly on pace. I started reading spectator signs to distract myself. A few favorites were "Your training lasted longer than Kim Kardashian's marriage", a three person series of "Go harder.. Go faster.. That's what she said", "Official marathon shortcut maps: $1", and of course Daniel's "Worst. Parade. Ever." Around mile 18 I started to get excited, because it felt like I could actually make it in under 4 hours. At the 24 mile point, I got a burst of energy and took off. I made the turn into the stadium and hauled ass to the finish at the fifty yard line.

I crossed the finish line in 3:58:22. It is official: I am a sub-4 hour marathoner! My last two miles ended up being my fastest all day. I had a fantastic run and a great time. The race was extremely well organized, the volunteers and spectators were top notch, and I enjoyed the course. Daniel was able to see me at 4 different places along the course - he's basically a professional spectator at this point. He had a great time cheering; a runner even tossed him a jellybean in response to his worst parade sign! Marathon number three is checked off my list as a huge success. South America, here I come!

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