T Minus 1 Month

One month from today I'll be sitting here to debrief you on my first marathon experience. I'm so ready for this next month. After running with my group yesterday, I found I'm not the only one struggling. The experienced runners told me if you can make it through this week, "you're basically in the clear". Seems they forgot that looming 21 mile run 2 weeks from now. I've been told this is called a "grad" run. People wear crazy outfits and apparently there is beer or some other fun surprise when you're finished :) Basically a grad run means you've graduated to higher mileage. And for those of you who have asked why I don't ever run 26.2 miles to actually prepare for the race, I finally found out why. 1. If you can run at least 20 or 21, you should be able to run 26.2 on race day because the adrenaline and racing atmosphere will carry you the additional 5 - 6. and 2. You don't want to overtrain.

Of course this week, one of the highest in mileage (44 miles in total), has to be one of those weeks. First of all I'm working on a short week. On Friday I'll be heading to Chicago for Jacq and Mike's wedding. So excited :) There is no way I want to jeopardize having a good time. I can't repeat last weekend- 19 mile run and then trying to keep up with the party...equals an exhausted Courtney- so I'm determined to cram those 44 miles in to 5 days. I think what I'm most worried about is 19 miles by myself. That is a long time to be left with my thoughts ;). With the group at least we're talkative for the first 13 and then the last few. That leaves me with just a few miles to myself. We'll see how that goes. So in addition to the mileage there is life outside of running, sort of ;). I've been doing some critical analysis and planning about how to tackle this week. I've got some fairly early start times at work, so I'm anticipating my runs having to be split, and then there is class twice this week. and a late afternoon haircut (which will be a nice pampering moment). I'll just tell myself the light is at the end of the tunnel. Especially when I get to see all my college girl friends this weekend!

We were a really strong group of runners yesterday- we had to be to tackle all those hills! And boy are my legs and butt still paying for it today. Check out this awesome pic. We were missing quite a few of our group members but you get the feel for how close we are.

I mean that looks like a scary offensive line right? We would have really been a sight to see around miles 13-15. We were so huddled in together we looked like a school of fish. What made it even better is that we were all able to keep up- every other time we've been at this course one of us has struggled in one way or another- and we are definitely feeling strong and well prepared for the race up to this point :)
I guess you could say I'm back in the game. I'm feeling renewed and ready to move forward. I'm finally able to start thinking about the race, but not too much. I'm excited for the experience and to see how my dedication for the last 14 (will be 18) weeks will pay off. Kim and I have decided we'll volunteer at the Race Expo the Friday before. A half day off work to get the in the spirit? Sign us up!

So if you are signed up for the race and need to get your packet, come get it Friday night between 2:00 and 7:00. Not sure what we'll be doing, but come find us and say hello :)

Well my fiance made his dad's famous chili recipe, so I'm going to chow down and then we're going to watch Bridesmaids. Definitely a great way to end the weekend.

Don't forget it's not too late to donate to the American Cancer Society, on behalf of me: Click Here. I'm ony $9 away from raising $2500 dollars.