Newsletters

Greetings Fellow Runners –

 

 

I’ve been anticipating this Saturday’s run since we started our season.  It will be our first time in Barrington this year. It will be my first time there in over a year since I had to skip last year’s trips.  I encourage those who have never run out there to try it.  It is very helpful for runners training for Boston and Big Sur.  Others may not need the hill training, but the change of venue is refreshing.  As much as I love running through the streets of Lake Forest, I also enjoy running on the hills of Barrington.  LF offers traditional stately mansions set across a backdrop that includes Lake Michigan.  Barrington provides estates and horse farms, nestled amongst the rolling hills in the country.  We make 2 road trips to Barrington each winter.  If you can’t make this one, I’d encourage you to try on March 10.  We still hold runs from Lake Forest on Saturdays that we head out to Barrington.

 

 

Last week’s and this week’s run – Last Saturday was our first real taste of winter running.  Any time that your mileage exceeds the temperature, in degrees F, it’s gonna be challenging. Saturday’s run started at 8 F, and we were scheduled to run 15 or 17 miles.  Any you know what?  It wasn’t that bad.  Somehow I reach that conclusion after most runs after starting them with great trepidation.  The toughest part was running into the wind back to the train station at the end.  I really feel for the runners running 16 miles, who had to deal with it all the way from Old Elm.  But, they got through it and probably thought that ‘it wasn’t that bad.’  As stated in the introduction, this week we are running in Barrington and Lake Forest.  It’s a cut back week.  The travel and logistical details for Barrington are below.  Runners in Barrington will have an 8 mile loop and 12.5 mile loop (with over a mile optional extension) to choose from.  Lake Forest runners will have 10.8 or 13 miles to choose from, running the Lakefront Bridge Loop, and optionally adding on the Old Elm Extension.  To make things interesting, the route will be run in reverse.

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Greetings Fellow Runners –

 

 

Truth be told, my worrying about this abnormally warm winter may have less to do with concerns over global warming than having nothing to write about in the newsletter.  How much drama is there in stating ‘last week’s run was in the upper 30s with no snow anywhere?’  It would be better for me if I could write ‘my face froze off’ or ‘we had to trudge through a foot of snow.’  Plus, don’t we all sound a bit cooler when we tell our non-running friends that we ran 16 miles in winter weather that they’re afraid to go out in?  It makes us sound much tougher to say we ran more miles than the temperature in degrees F.  It wasn’t difficult to find many instances last year when we ran double digit miles in single digit temps.  This year, we’d have to be running almost 40 miles to accomplish that task.

 

 

Last week’s and this week’s run – As stated above, what can be said about 14.5 or 16 miles with temperatures in the upper 30s and no snow?  The worst...

Greetings Fellow Runners –

 

 

Do you realize that last year at this time, you were shoveling out from 21 inches of snow?  The Blizzard of 2011 started on 1/31 and lasted through 2/2.  This year, there isn’t even any snow on the ground.  The night time lows have been higher than typical high temperatures.  And I ran in shorts a couple of times this week.  Does anyone else find it bizarre and a bit scary?  If it’s this warm in the winter, what is it going to be like this summer?  Last summer was brutally hot.  I’d rather have a repeat of last year’s blizzard if it meant we’ll have a cool summer.

 

 

Last week’s and this week’s run – Most runners’ take away from last Saturday’s run was the wind. It was delightful heading out but brutal heading back.  My take away was the next.  Not the red tailed hawk’s nest.  That was interesting but not as fascinating as the gunner’s nest on Cliff Road on the detour down to the beach.  It amazes me that there is one of these on the North...

Greetings Fellow Runners –

 

 

I’ll open with some humor.  It’s not my joke, so you may actually find it funny.  I didn’t.  Frankly, I find those ‘Sh*t various types of people say’ youtube clips frivolous and not very clever.  But, I’m sure that the people who produce them would feel the same way about my newsletters.  The one thing I did like about it was the soundtrack.  It was from the best DJ on earth– Greg Gillis aka Girl Talk.  The video can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef3cF6rln30&feature=related.  Maybe you can explain the humor to me during Saturday’s run.  Then, I can explain why Girl Talk rocks.

 

 

Last week’s and this week’s run – Be sure to thank the city officials and taxpayers of Lake Forest the next time that you see one of them.  How awesome was it that the streets and bike path were already plowed by 7 am last Saturday morning after the snow ended around 9 pm on Friday night?  The path was much less slippery than the previous week.  My theory is that the previous week, it snowed on Thursday, proving a couple of melting and freezing cycles before our run.  Last Saturday, it was fresh snow, which hadn’t yet melted and frozen over again, which provided excellent footing.  I really have no idea if my theory is valid or not, but I’m sticking with it until proven wrong.  Based on the current forecast, we may have a little snow on the ground and in the air for Saturday’s run.  It shouldn’t be a problem based on the plowing from the fine folks from Lake Forest.  Even if the path isn’t clear, we only have a 9 mile cut back run.  All runners are scheduled to run the 9 mile Fort Sheridan Loop.  The street names have been corrected on the directions posted on the NSDRC website, found at: http://nsdrc.net.dnnmax.com/Training/Routes.aspx.  I would encourage everyone to cut and paste these and e-mail them to your smartphone to cut down on using paper.

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Greetings Fellow Runners –

 

Its weeks like this one that makes me glad that I write a running club newsletter in Chicago, not San Diego.  I can write about how cold it has been to run outside this past week or how difficult it will be to run in Friday’s predicted snow.  What can someone writing a running newsletter in San Diego write about?  ‘Greetings Fellow Runners, it’s been in the 70s, sunny and beautiful to run every day this week, month, year….?’  In Chicago, when I have nothing substantive to write about (which is virtually every newsletter), I have that old standby of weather to break my writer’s block.

 

 

Last week’s and this week’s run – The bike trail was treacherous for last Saturday’s run.  From what I heard, there was a lot of slipping but fortunately no incidents of falling.  Other than mine.  And my falling incidents were more embarrassing than painful.  They happened when my pants kept falling down while running.  My running pants didn’t have a drawstring...

Greetings Fellow Runners –

 

 

 

It’s been several months since I’ve written anything about the weather and now I finally have something to write about.  How about today’s weather?  Cold, wind, snow…not too unusual for Chicago in January.  What had been unusual is the weather that we’ve had this winter up until now.  Did anyone else find it kind of disturbing?  While I don’t enjoy running in the snow or cold, I’ve become accustomed to it since I live in the Midwest.  Having highs in the 50s seemed to indicate that global warming was in full effect.  Well, I guess it isn’t an issue now.

 

Last week’s and this week’s run – It was great to be back running with (mostly behind) all of you last Saturday.  What an enjoyable run.  It was almost perfect winter conditions – clear blue sky, dry, light winds, with temperatures in the 30s.  The course (Military Out and Back) was mundane, but I loved the run.  I loved it so much that I ran a much faster pace than I had intended.  Sometimes,...

Greetings Fellow Runners –

 

 

Happy New Year!  This newsletter is being sent out by the ‘other’ Bill.  Not the Bill who has been making announcement this season.  I’m the Bill who hasn’t even bothered to show up for a run yet.  The Bill that you know – Bill Beshilas – has done a great job in my absence, plus he’s been working on financial issues in the background.  Carolyn Moore has helped immensely handling the membership.  Dan Kraft has all of the hydration under control, as always.  And, Jackie Splinter did a wonderful job of coordinating the Open House.  Thanks to the NSDRC Board Members for all that they did in my absence.  They handled things so capably; I now realize that I’m no longer needed.  So, I’ve decided to stay on vacation and just send out these silly newsletters.   Unfortunately, I had to come back for my job.  As long as I’m in Chicago, is it OK if I run with the club on Saturdays? 

 

 

Last week’s and this week’s run – I heard nothing about your...

Greetings Fellow Runners –

Welcome back!  As we begin our 2012 winter session, we are entering our 12th year of existence as the North Shore Distance Running Club.  It is a testament to the ambition, drive, and endurance of our members to have been in existence.  Thank you to all of our members for helping to bring us to this point.  Special thanks go out to our Board of Directors – Bill, Carolyn, Dan, Jackie, and Sharon – along with past Board Members, for the help that they have provided to keep the club strong.  This newsletter is going out to all 2011 NSDRC members, as well as 2011 CARA Libertyville Marathon Training Program participants.  After this newsletter, the distribution list will only include 2012 NSDRC members.  If you are not planning on joining this session but still want to be kept on the mailing list, please let me know.

Last week’s and this week’s run – From what I saw and heard, you all had a magnificent day for your first run.  The conditions were very good for winter running...

Greetings Fellow Runners –



Congratulations to all the NSDRC members and CARA Libertyville MTP participants who ran the marathon today. It was great to see many of you at the CARA Compound and on the course. You all ran well, especially under the difficult weather conditions. And, thanks to all of our volunteers at the 1.85 mile aid station and all over the course. Way to give back to the running community.



We’re still in the process of compiling everyone’s results, which will be shared when they are complete. As a reminder, we start our offseason runs this Saturday, 10/15. It will be a great opportunity to retell stories of your race to your fellow runners. All off season runs start at 7 am from the Panera in Lake Bluff, at the southeast corner of Waukegan and Route 176. These are casual, fun runs. They can be at whatever distance and pace that you feel like running. We have plenty of trails and bike paths to choose from. CARA Marathon Training Program participants are welcome and...

Greetings Fellow Runners –



This is our time, our season.  Whether you’ve already run your marathon in St. Charles or Milwaukee, or plan to run it Sunday in Chicago, or even later in Grand Rapids or New York, late September through early November is marathon time.  For most of our group, those running Chicago, the moment that you’ve been awaiting, is almost upon you. You can go to the Chicago Marathon web site and see the days, hours, minutes, and seconds clicking down before your eyes. I’m sure that you’re just a bundle of emotions. Don’t worry, you’ve trained for over 19 weeks and are ready. It’s just a matter of time until you prove it to yourself. That time will be Sunday morning at 7:30 (perhaps a little later depending on how long it takes to cross the starting line).





Last week’s and this week’s run – For most people, last week’s run was a simple 8 mile taper run, our last run together this season. For me and quite a few others, it was a 26.2 mile jaunt from Grafton to...