Update

I feel like it's been a while since my last update - but there have only been two runs:) I will begin with a "lesson learned (or not)".

Every Saturday for the past 5 weeks and the next 11 have been and will be the same. 5:30 alarm - get ready - meet the group for the long run. I feel like I have sabotaged 2 out of the 5 so far with Friday night festivities. I have 11 more tries to get it right - should we place bets on how many more times it will take before I learn the lesson "playing on Friday night makes Saturday run miserable"?

On Friday we went to see the US World League Men's Volleyball tournament play against Italy. It was fun - seats were great - we had access to the "good bar" where we could get non-miller products. Then we went to the Sugar Toad in Naperville to find out what it was all about. The wine was yummy but the food was too fancy for a burger eating gal like me.

Saturday was only 8 miles so I didn't feel there was too much to worry about. OMG was I wrong. I am not sure how many steps you take during an 8 mile run...but that is how many times I said to myself "oh this sucks, I want to quit!" That is the beauty of running with a group. If I was running alone I would have quit before I rounded the corner at the end of the block. But, there's no way I am going to let my group see me quit and fail. Though, I bet if I tried I would be pushed to finish by our fearless leader. And if she knew why I was in so much pain she would have made the run even harder. Maybe that is why she has 25 marathons and and Ironman under her belt. I bet you don't get to brag about stats like that by being a quitter.

Justyna, Jeff and I did some jogging around the lake in Michigan on Monday. It was a beautiful morning - we didn't push it too hard - got to run some hills - a no pressure, easy does it jog. Justyna is going to run her first 5k in a couple of weeks and I'm sure she will do great. If she survived the hills in Michigan she will be a superstar in the flats of Chicago with the added excitement of a race. I'll send a post-race update.