Category: Marathon Monday

5 Things I do NOT miss about running races

A couple weekends ago, I saw a lot of posts from friends who ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon I’ve run this race before in its various earlier incarnations and I can tell you, most of the time it was too F-ing hot to run. One particular year added insult to heat because the... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
August 10, 2015 at 9:36 am • 

Are you running the Soldier Field 10? Some potential race strategy and situations to consider

Julia at Lipsticks, Lollipops & Life wrote a post the other day that got me thinking about a situation a lot of runners find themselves in when they run a race with a friend.  What do you do if, during the race, one of you is having a rough time?  Do you stay together or... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
May 22, 2015 at 12:08 pm • 

Why I didn't run the half marathon I trained for

The Ides of March came and went and I had to pass up the chance to run the March Madness Half Marathon even though the weather was perfect and I had trained fairly diligently  throughout winter.  They were even giving finisher medals, which  I don’t believe they did the last time I ran this race. ... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
March 23, 2015 at 12:34 pm • 
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Winter Marathon Training Blues

I am training for the March Madness Half Marathon to be held on the Ides of March in Cary, IL.  I’m using a custom training program designed with the help of Runner’s World’s Smart Coach app, found on their website. I KNOW it’s only a HALF marathon, which is just a baby marathon but The... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
February 17, 2015 at 6:06 am • 

My Secret Winter Marathon Training program

On the morning of New Year’s Eve I signed up for the March Madness Half Marathon in exotic Cary, IL on March 15th.  Online registration opened at 6am that day — so I cannot even claim NYE drunken shenanigans — and this race always sells out quickly.   I told myself if I were up at... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
February 17, 2015 at 6:03 am • 

10 years of Marathon Training experiences: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

While I’m not training for the Chicago Marathon this year, I have run it a dozen times since the noughties  began.  That means Marathon Training has consumed most of my summers over the last decade. This part of the season known as The Taper, was always my favorite part of the training season.  Because when... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
September 29, 2014 at 4:41 pm • 
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Marathon Training: Group Leader Confidential

Every summer thousands of people train for the Chicago Marathon and many of them join running clubs like CARA. Although I’m not doing it this year, I’ve group leader since 2003 and have trained for both fall and spring marathons, so I’ve led a lot of different groups of runners over the years. Two of... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
September 22, 2014 at 7:15 am • 

Seven things to expect when dating someone training for the Chicago Marathon

<strong>Going to bed early</strong> <br><br>Chances are good your partner does her running early in the morning to beat the heat and get the mileage out of the way.
So you met that special someone this summer, perhaps at a street festival, a sporting event or even a friend’s annual 4th of July Party. You hit things off and everything is going great except you are starting to notice they have this hobby which borders on addiction. It probably started out as a minor... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
September 16, 2014 at 9:31 am • 

Respect the Run and The Test is Easy When you do the Homework

One of the tenants that many experienced veteran runners adhere to is the phrase “Respect the Run.” What this means is that any time you go out for a run, whether it is a 8-10 Long Run or a simple 3 mile recovery run, you have to respect it. Respect the distance, respect the weather... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
August 4, 2014 at 10:04 am • 
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Three Things I may NEVER Accomplish but have NOT Given Up on

In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell studied the lives of extremely successful people in vastly different fields to find out how they achieved success.  Apparently Gladwell determined one common denominator was that the best and the brightest spent roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. The following are things... Read more »
By Michael Messinger,
June 8, 2014 at 7:23 am •