LAST 20 MILES AND NOTHING TO WEAR

LAST 20 BEFORE MARATHON
17 days and counting

The other night Alison called me and said "20 days to go!". I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night I was so excited.

On Saturday, October 14, we ran our last 20. Alison and I met up with Nancy, Lisa, and Marne at 7:30a.m. at the Park (with a capital "P"). Let me just take a moment to acknowledge the wonderful friends we've met through running. There's Ciara (marathon #3 for her this year and a friend for about five years now) and the whole Triple Town gang; Amanda, Sasha, and Nancy who we met in running class; and Lisa and Marne who Alison met in running class. Running with a group of positive, fun people makes a world of difference, and, last Saturday was huge.

So, we started at the west side of the Park at the entrance on 60th and CPS. The plan was one 6 mile loop, two 5's and a 4. I had two Gu's with me. I'll digress for a moment and say that I've discovered the Power Gels have way too much sodium for me; Gu works much better despite it's unfortunate name.

Our group was pretty gung ho except Lisa, who is just over training. She's a really strong runner and, typically, runs faster than us, but I think she's just beat. I was worried she'd give up somewhere along the way, but she didn't. Marne, unfortuantely, had to bail around mile 8ish due to IT band and knee problems that got worse as she went. Poor Marne. She's been trying to shake this for awhile; she has drugs, sees a PT, ices, but it's not gone away. She swears she's meeting us this weekend for our 15 miler, but I'm concerned.

And, I've also been worried about Alison, who's IT band problems have turned into tendinitis of the glutteous maximus. She's doing these marathon stretch sessions before and after every run, plus icing her butt and knees. Okay, yes, it's kinda funny, the frozen booty and all. But, I must admit, I have had moments of real concern. If Alison gets worse and can't run on November 5, I will be crushed. I want to cross the finish line with my main woman who has gone through every minute with me, and if she's not there it won't be the same. So far she's not even talking about bailing. I'm so proud of her. I think several months ago she might have considered it, but now she's really dedicated. I remember last year she'd come up with every reason in the book why we shouldn't run the marathon. Now, she gets pissed off at her doctor if he even suggests she can't run on an injury! I love it!

This last 20 was leaps and bounds ahead of the 20 before. It was fun! We talked the entire time, which kept me from focusing on my burning belly (around miles 6-7), my frozen hands (it was pretty cold and I didn't have feeling in my hands until around mile 15) and the very slight pain in my right ankle. Nancy told us all about her boyfriend, who she's madly in love with; Alison talked about her dating life; Lisa talked about her non-dating life; I talked about GREY'S ANATOMY, which made me cry last week. The end of the episode when Izzy reads the letter from Denny and you hear his voice? It was so moving. I miss Denny. Why'd they have to kill him?

At the end of the run I felt great. No real pain. I was tired, of course, for the next two days, and I skipped working out on Sunday. But, I really felt, and feel, that if I had to run the marathon now I could.

We finished in about 3 hours and 38 minutes, which is consistent with our other 20s. I'm beginning to think there's a real chance we'll finish the marathon in 4 hours and 40 minutes. If we stay at our current pace it should be no problem.