Chicago Half Marathon: Registered

After I returned from Houston in January where I ran a half marathon and set my new PR at 1:57:08 beating my previous personal record by twenty-seven minutes, I was satisfied in knowing my athletic performance was heading in the right direction. With each race, I continue to improve on my finish times. I would hope that the next time I run a half marathon I will be able to improve by leaps and bounds again. Then again, maybe my finish time will only be better by five or seven minutes. That will be okay, right? I guess yes since I would show improvement. On the flip side, I can argue no, that would not be alright because I would want my time to improve by fifteen, twenty, or more minutes. All I can do is take it one day at a time. I simply need to remain focus on both a short term and long term plan of what I am expecting to achieve with my next event and this year. I received a note from my friend, Todd,congratulating me on my accomplishment in Houston. He instructed me to pick a race that he and I could crush this year. I immediately thought of Chicago Half Marathon on September 9. It helped that Todd said he would be open for a race later in the summer. Perfect. We agreed that would in fact be the race he would guide me. Hopefully by then, I would have run one or two more 13.1 mile races and would have a different PR than the one I set in Houston. I remain hopeful that I will run in either, if not both, Chicago Spring Half on May 12 and RNR Half on July 21.

Todd and I first met on a Sunday morning last June when he guided me for the Pleasant Prairie Triathlon. Actually, we did the duathlon which was a bike, run, bike race. It was the first time I had ever push upwards of 30 miles per hour on a bike. Todd mentioned to me that when he competed in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, he saw blind triathletes and their guides making their way through the course. This inspired him to volunteer as a guide. I smiled as I wondered if these blind triathletes and their guides were in fact associated with Matt Miller and the C Different Foundation. I am guessing they were. After Todd and I agreed to run the Chicago half Marathon in September together, I decided to reach out to the organizers to explain my interest in running and inquire about any papers or wavers for Todd. I prepared to craft an e-mail when I received a note from Jemma Lotzer of Imerman Angels informing me that she had been in contact with the organizers of the race about getting Imerman Angels to join the charity groups as well as getting some members of Team Imerman into the field. Jemma asked if I would be interested in running the event with Team Imerman. If so, she could work on any issues and legalities. I immediately told her yes. She let me know that organizers had agreed to get me into Coral A for the race. This is where the elite start. One must fly out of the gate! I was so grateful that Jemma worked this out. It is seven months away, but I am thrilled because I am confident by race day, my PR will indeed be faster than my current PR so Todd and I will truly be looking to fly out of the gate with any of the elite in this field. A couple days ago, I registered for the race. I am officially in the field. I am so looking forward to this. Of course, there are many races between now and then. My PR time will be different by that day. Thank you again to Todd for volunteering and Jemma for working out the details for me. A big shout out to Imerman Angels who have allowed me to return for another season of events. Last year, I only did one event with Imerman. In 2012, I am already signed up for two. It looks like I will be running the Chamrock Shuffle in Chicago for the first time ever next month when Jemma will guide me. That will make it three events. I am sure Imerman will find other events in which I can run while sporting the Imerman top with the name which reads Sexy Isra.