Negative Split At Chicago half marathon

Originally, I planned to run the Chicago Half Marathon on September 27 with an eye towards breaking 1:40:00 and threaten 1:30. Due to illness throughout the summer, I had to run slower.

Ironman triathlete, Dan Tun volunteered to guide me. It was chilly when he and his sister, Erin, picked me up, but it had warmed up by gun time. We made our way across the start line. Dan yelled out to fabulous photographer Ali Engin, but Ali did not hear him. I hanged on to Dan’s elbow for all of the opening mile. He was confident the course would eventually open up. I ran this event with Todd Smith four years ago when he too felt it would eventually open up only to run 13.1 miles of misery never breaking free of the bottleneck.

Jenna Parker wanted me to ease into it and negative split the race. I ran the first mile faster than I wanted. At the start of mile two, I let go of Dan’s elbow. I slowed my pace. Runners yelled to us, “You’re running strong” and “You’re an inspiration.” Having slowed to 9:45-9:50 pace, I was not running strong. I did not feel like an inspiration. At mile four, I heard two female pace leaders chatting. “Look at his shirt. It reads Sexy Isra.” They laughed. One said, “You’re looking great Sexy Isra!” The group cruised by us. At mile six, a fella called out, “Antonio, I’m with the Chicago road Runners. I’ll take pictures of you, okay?” I smiled. He snapped some photos. Off to my right I heard a male runner ask his friend, “Did you see that? I photobombed Antonio’s pictures. I’m awesome.” At mile seven I picked up the pace to 9:30.

Seven miles in the books. Time to go to work. Dan, “This is the turn-around. Less than six left.” During miles eight and nine, I ran 8:45 pace. I went for the negative split. 8:25 pace. “You’re flying by all those who passed us in the early miles. It’s like they’re standing still.” Footsteps ahead. I raced to catch and fly by them. Runners huffing and puffing. I reeled them in then drop them quickly.

Final mile. 8:20 pace. Could I hit 8:00? Dan, “There’s a pace group about 400 meters ahead. Let’s catch them.” I pushed. Half a mile left. We caught them. One of the pace leaders, Cynthia, spotted me. “Hey, it’s Sexy Isra!” We crossed the finish line.

Afterwards I saw friends, Lisa, Dana, and Mike. Ali Engin came up to me. “Isra, you ran today? I didn’t see you.” Turns out, he heard Dan at the start, but did not turn around in time. I had a wonderful conversation with the Chicago Half Marathon race director. Thank you Dan Tun for guiding me. Thank you Jenna Parker for coaching me. Thank you Pinnacle Performance Company for sponsoring me.

Merry Christmas

For unto us a child is born. Merry Christmas! If you recognize and celebrate the birth of The Son, I hope you have enjoyed a splendid day with family and friends opening presents and making memories. If you do not celebrate the religious significance, I hope your day has equally been a splendid one with loved ones.

Thank you for reading my blog entries. Your taking the time to read my reflections and recaps means plenty. Your readership is a great present. As we near the end of 2015, I hope you will read my final posts of the year and you will be ready to dive into the ones to start 2016.

Merry Christmas and to you, a good night.

Caroline Combines Passion And Purpose For Others

I first met the beautiful and talented, Caroline Gaynor in July of 2008 in New york city. I have always been a runner, especially a sprinter, at heart, but Lokelani McMichael becoming the youngest person to complete an Ironman triathlon at age eighteen inspired me to do triathlons. Besides spending a weekend in NYC with my long time dear friend, sexy, Sunshine, I walked away from that weekend excited from finishing a triathlon and meeting the fabulous, Caroline Gaynor. A month later, I saw Caroline in Chicago during the Chicago Triathlon. Caroline was and remains so beautiful, sweet, funny, kind, and magnificent. Over the years, I have posted and raved about how magnificent Caroline is, so permit me to step aside and allow someone else to sing her praises.

Please take some time to visit the following link where Kelly Krause, Camille Styles’ Contributing Editor, praises lovely, Caroline as well as providing a Q and A section.

Katie-Do At Funny Women Festival

The sketch comedy group, Cake Batter, puts on a fabulous festival called Funny Women Fest which spotlights and celebrates strong, independent, funny women. Today, December 5 at 7p.m. at the Del Close theater in Hollywood is another chance for audiences to witness funny talented women showcasing their abilities. Best of all, there is a competition taking place and those who attend can vote on their favorites. Among the categories is Video Shorts in which one of the finalists is Katie-Do written, produced, and starring my friend, Kate Bergeron.

If you attend the festival, please vote for Kate's Katie-Do entry. For more information, please visit the beautiful and talented, Kate Bergeron's site at the following link:

GLASA Twilight 5K 2015

I lost some much training time to illness this summer which makes me nervous as Chicago Marathon nears. I have three races prior to Chicago which will be glorified training runs. Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association’s Twilight 5K is first.

Ryan Nord was set to guide me. Ten days prior to the race, he suffered an injury. Realizing he could not guide, Ryan reached out to best friend, Phil Jones. Phil is a sprinter who looked forward to the moment in the race when I would lay the hammer. At Rock The Night 5K in July, this was when I topped out at 5:55 pace.

Saturday, September 12. Phil and I met hours before the race. We did a two mile warmup. Ryan wished us well. We walked to the start. Gun sounded. Almost immediately, we hit 7:30 pace. We raced up a hill then down. I realized I did not remember this course as I thought. I remembered a hill late in the race near the finish, but I did not recall that most of the course was up and down hills. I pulled back for a bit. On flat ground, I picked it up to 7:00 pace. Hills again. I slowed. I could not find a consistent pace. Phil and I reached mile one in 7:55. We reached mile two in 16:02. My paced slowed. I was winded. My mind wandered. If I am struggling and stressing out now, what will happen when I have to run 26.2? Phil encouraged me to finish strong. My quads were on fire. My stomach hurt. A side stitch. I tried to get rid of it. Half a mile left. I have run 800 meters in less than 3:30 during track sessions. I could do that here. I turned over my legs. Phil sprinted. My quads and hamstrings burned. I ran strong yet I felt out of control as though my form was off. I heard the PA announcer, “Here comes Israel Antonio. Our first sight impaired male and first sight impaired athlete overall.”

Phil and I finished in twenty-four minutes and change. I believe it was a personal best for this race and course, but a couple minutes behind my overall 5K personal best. We ran a two mile cool down. Thank you Phil Jones for stepping in last minute, Ryan Nord for cheering us on, Jenna Parker for being my friend and coach, Pinnacle Performance Company for sponsoring me, and Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association for another great experience in the annual Twilight 5K.

I Need Training Run Guides: Fast, Slow Experienced, Novice

When I toe the start line for GLASA Twilight 5K on Saturday, September 12, it will be the first of four races I plan to run in five weeks culminating with my sixth consecutive Chicago Marathon on October 11. Over the years, I have done about ninety-eight percent of my runs on a treadmill. Every so often, a friend volunteers to guide me for an outdoor run, but due to schedules, that does not happen as often as I would like so I gut out runs, even long ones, on the treadmill. Friends have thankfully stepped up this year offering to guide me for easy runs and track workouts. Special thanks to Mike Casey, Ryan Nord, and Wendy Jaehn. Recently, I have been having problems with my treadmill which frequently turns itself off while I am in the mist of a run. Some times, it happens thirty seconds into my session. Other times, it happens ten minutes in. It has become unreliable. Unfortunately, I probably will not be able to get it fixed until my 2015 season is complete.

I turn to you my blog reader, Twitter follower, and Facebook friend asking for volunteers to guide me for training runs. I need runners of all abilities.

• Speedy rabbits for track sessions or faster runs
• endurance experts for my long/easy runs where goal is simply time on my feet/miles under my belt

I need guides of all levels.

• If you have guided me before and are interested again
• If you have always wanted to try guiding, but were scared to volunteer

I am going to have to put in many miles on an almost daily basis so the more volunteers, the better. You may try it once and not like guiding. You may love it, but your schedule does not permit anything beyond a couple runs. I might get four volunteers able to get together once a week. I might get two runners who can run a couple times a week. Whatever your availability, interest, pace, and experience, please reach out immediately because I can not afford to miss my sessions.

Please feel free to reach out to other runners you know who might have the time or interest. Thank you very much!!

Vote Wendy/Israel For Chicago Athlete Magazine Cover

Last Thursday, lovely, Jen Pfaff tagged me in a Facebook post requesting people vote for Wendy and Israel. Unbeknownst to me, Chicago Athlete Magazine was running a contest on their Facebook page asking people to “like” the one picture from the three under consideration to end up on the Chicago Athlete magazine October issue cover. One of the options was Ali Engin’s photo of Wendy Jaehn guiding me at last year’s Chicago Marathon.

For anyone interested in viewing and voting, please follow the URL below and scroll down to a post from last Thursday. Press “like” on the photo of your choice. Voting ends today.