I don’t know if it was the weather, or if I wore myself out from all of the Indian wedding festivities (blog to come soon), but I had very little energy all week. I tried to run, and had all of the intention to do so, and every morning I woke feeling like a truck had run me down. I wasn’t sick but I definitely felt fatigued and exhausted.
My normal approach to situations like this is to push through, further exhausting myself and making the situation worse. My close friends have seen me do this, and even when I’m beside myself in this exhausting state, I just can’t quit. But I could tell I was past my limit and so I pulled back and took it easy all week. This was pretty remarkable for me since I had lots of goals I had to abandon. And I had to skip two workouts, which was unfortunate but I probably needed it.
I am proud to say that I completed my 8-mile run though—now the farthest distance I have ever run in my life. I decided to head to the Lakefront path because any distance more than six miles in my neighborhood Logan Square can be difficult to complete. So I drove over to the path and parked by Irving Park. I decided to run north, trying to avoid the crowds of people getting their daily exercise in.
It was an interesting run, and I liked the scenery, but I reached Sheridan (and thus the end of the path) before I reached the halfway point of my distance (aka 4 miles). So next time, I’m going to run south instead, so I can run halfway before turning around. In the end, I only had to run a mile past my car and back to complete the distance. It wasn’t until the last mile that I really felt worn out. I also experienced some chills, which I can’t decide if I overdid it with the running, or if the heat was getting to me. I kept experiencing the chills throughout the day, so I’m betting it was the heat.
I also was extremely dehydrated all day, though I did use my new hydration belt. I have trouble drinking water during races, or more correctly, every time I do I feel sick and nauseous, so I avoid drinking while I run. But now with distances like the half marathon, I’m going to have to drink water of some sort while running. So for these longer runs, I’ve forced myself to drink water every mile (or unless I’m really thirsty). I’m happy to report that I was able to drink throughout my 8-mile run with no problem. Hopefully this is symbolic of running to come.
Next week, my long run will take my 10 miles. I’m starting to get nervous about these longer distances, although that seems silly since I continue to meet the distance challenge each time.
I’m hoping next week, I’ll be able to complete the full week of training. I better rest up (and stretch) for the big week.
Schedule for Week 4:
Monday –Run 3 miles
Tuesday –Run 5 milesRan 3 miles instead
Wednesday – Off
Thursday –Run 3 milesFelt really tired
Friday – Off
Saturday – Run 8 miles
Sunday – Off
TOTAL:19 miles11 miles
Be inspired.
I met Kate through the Association of Women Journalists (AWJ) and immediately was impressed (and inspired) by her creativity, drive, work ethic and use of social media. Her passion for journalism, digital media and communications overall is evident in the projects she takes on, including LoganSquarist, an online news outlet that she founded that uses social media to socialize the neighborhood. What I admire about Kate is her vitality as well as her desire to keep learning and growing personally and professionally. Kate is a modern-day renaissance woman who is multitalented (ask about her travel, knitting and marathon exploits!) and who brings instant value to any team or organization.
One of the best things I've ever done in my career is work with Kate Hamilton. Her enthusiasm for all things editorial, not to mention her energy and passion for any project she's involved with, is contagious. In addition to being a natural born leader, she's also a creative type, a thinker, a stickler for details, and someone with incredible vision and the drive to get things done. I always marvel at how she is constantly teaching herself new things. She always seems to be ahead of the curve on anything related to social media, and she also has an eye for design. This lady rocks! And she continues to be a mentor to me and others in journalism and communications.
Kate is a real professional and a pleasure to work with. She is a great communicator and always put her client's (my company) interest first. She is tremendously personal and had a great understanding of our business and how she could help it. She is great and is a tremendous asset to any company.
I worked with Kate during my time as a community manager at Lightspan Digital while Kate was my direct manager. Kate’s communication practices really taught me how to navigate the sometimes complicated agency world. As an account manger, Kate smoothly orchestrated 10+ accounts at one time as well as help me manage and prioritize tasks in my role. Kate was a role model during my first few years in the professional world and continues to be so to this day.
Kate is a wealth of knowledge who served as a tremendous mentor for all of our team members while constantly improving processes and workflows. She’s a tremendous project manager, pays great attention to detail, and is able to demand results from her team with respect. At LoganSquarist she has built and led a team of dozens of volunteer contributors committed to her vision of a community resource. I would happily work with Kate again anytime!
Kate has been a fantastic resource for all things digital, whether redesigning my website on Wordpress, fine tuning my social media profiles, or understanding Google Analytics. She's an excellent communicator, and I will absolutely hire her again in the future.
Kate has an incredible amount of drive when it comes to LoganSquarist. In the six months that I’ve been involved, I’ve watched the site grow from a pet project to a respected community publication. This success can be attributed to Kate’s technical and leadership skills. From building out the site to off-hours community management and a consistent flow of content, the site improves by leaps and bounds on a weekly basis. When it comes to team management, Kate delegates tasks in an organized and efficient manner, making her an all around great and inspiring person to work with.
Kate did and excellent job with our website. We have received several compliments on how nice it looks and how easy it is to navigate. She also went above and beyond to make sure that we were able to update and the website ourselves through Wordpress. I cannot gush about how awesome she is and how happy we are with the site and her dedication to the project.