Jen's Marathon Training: Near death experience!

What a weekend! I completed my longest run ever - 16 miles. It always feels good to hit new milestones. Though I am still struggling with pain in my ankle and trying to balance training and recovery so I don't injure myself too badly. But it really hurts just to walk on it now. I am going to get through this - less than two months to go!

So, the near death experience was absolutely crazy! The run group headed out down Prairie Path Saturday morning. It was raining and windy - but the thunder and lightning had stopped. We were about 2 miles out when we heard a very loud crackling sound - like someone had lit a brick of firecrackers right above our heads. Of course your first instinct is to duck and cover your head. Julie, our fearless leader, took one look back and yelled "RUN!" We all started sprinting as this tree cracked in half and landed right behind us! The last guy in the group was just grazed by one of the branches from the tree. Check out these pics - they were taken on the return trip so someone moved the big tree off of the path. Enlarge if you can - the small pic doesn't do it justice.

Now, when you think it might be "your time" it is amazing how many things can get through your head in a split second. While running away from this falling tree - which was probably only 3 seconds tops - the following thoughts went through my head..."perfect timing on getting the life insurance paperwork signed", "did I tell my family i loved them before bed last night?", "will they be okay without me?". I am delighted to say that everything worked out okay and no one was hurt. One thing that did come out of it...if you read one of my first blogs about the run club I mentioned how Julie said she was going to have us all running without headphones before training was over. Guess what - she made her point! Once the panic ended she made it a point to let us know that if we were wearing headphones and didn't hear that it could have killed us. Do you think she staged that just to make this point??? Hmmmm.....

And I just want to say once again - 16 miles - yep, that is SIXTEEN!!! Hell yeah!

On Sunday Jeff did his first triathlon. He did a fantastic job and we are so proud of him! The race was in Naperville and consisted of a 400 m swim, 13.3 mile bike, and a 5k run. What an awesome way to start the day! His total time was 1:32:14. That breaks down to an 8:47 swim, a 49:39 bike, and a 29:11 run - the difference is in the transitions. Here are some pics.