On your recommendation...

First things first: I thought you would all want to know that I have banned Statement Tees from my running wardrobe until L&C and the US Half are over! A few of you recommended this move and I think it's a good call. :)

I also decided to do more of my mid-week runs in the park, which has neither concrete slab sidewalks to trip on nor traffic. So I headed down there on Wednesday. It was one of those days...I got to the edge of the park and realized I was grinning ear to ear. The weather was gorgeous. The trees were beautiful. The park was calm. And I was just gliding through it. I didn't set out to do a tempo run, but when I realized how comfortable the run was, I turned it up and did a tempo run for the day.

Friday morning I got up super early to run before a hectic day at work, only to find that it was raining just a *smidge* too hard to run. Coach Paula told me to rest up last week anyway, so I figured it was all good.

I'm so anxious to get to this part of my week, I'm sitting here smiling. After work on Friday we packed up and headed back north to C-U to visit friends! We had a baby shower and a birthday party to go to. It was a fantastic weekend. I got to see Ears (& her hubby, who I don't have a nickname for), RunningFirst, The Minnesotans, MJ and a group of people I'll collectively refer to as the World's Biggest Illini Fans. I think this is my favorite pic from the weekend--Ears playing with the babe while I got The Princess of Detroit's birthday present in the mail.

It was a great weekend. It was so comforting and fun to see our friends, laugh, gossip and catch up. *love you all*

So that left me this morning to get my all-important 20-miler done. How to put this positively...I am going to have to trust the logic that a bad dress rehearsal makes for a good race day.

Miles 1-6ish were fine. But the energy just wasn't there after that. I totally hit the wall at mile 12 (scary early, I know) and took 2.5 more miles to snap out of it. Miles 15-20 went easier than the middle chunk at least. The whole thing was slower than I'd have liked. I don't know. I'm nervous now about L&C. I don't know if I'm ready. I don't think I've done enough speed work. I think I had an insufficient base and didn't average enough mid-week miles through this training cycle. On the other hand, I'm WAY more prepared than I was before Detroit. No question about that. I'm just...nervous. That's normal...right?

So stay with me through the taper! It promises to be hilarious. I'll keep a list of all the crazy things I freak out about. We can laugh together. 21 days until L&C!!

485.8 + 4.0 + 19.9 = 509.7 (and YEAH let's hear it for breaking 500 miles!!)