Hola friends!

I can hardly believe that I'm in week 8 of training for the Soldier Field 10 mile run coming up May 26th. That's only 17 days away...eeeeek! I have to say though that all of this running and working out has been great. Challenging, but definately an encouraging experience so far.

I suppose, however, I should give those of you whom I don't get to talk to often a little background on what I've been doing (those of you whom I see often you're probably sick of hearing about running by now. Please skip to question #3)

So in October 2006 I move back in with my folks to re-group after a difficult break-up, (blah, blah, blah) and it occurs to me that my mom has a really nice treadmill that doesn't get used very often. One day in January I just decide, "This thing is just going to waste and collecting dust. I'm going start running!" Hey why not right? I mean I'll lose some wieght, get back in shape, maybe I'll actually like running? I liked basketball and football, both of those require lots of running...haha, yeah i forgot to remind myself that the last time I played a real game of basketball was in 8th freakin' grade. And football? Well we'd play in the field next to the Art Institute in college durring lunch, but lunch was only an hour, that hardly counts. (Yes, I played football....jerk )

Anyways, so I start running about 2-3 times per week, was doing ok and in a moment of bravery I signed up for a 5k on St.Patrick's day. It was my first race ever and I was pumped! How pumped you ask? So pumped that I even sent a friend a text message in the middle of the race to find out if they were at the bar yet & what kind of crazy line I should expect! (One must always have their priorities in line you know!) btw-I finished the run in 40 minutes and had to wait in line for an hour at the bar...last time i sign up for a race on St.Paddies Day!

Then durring a meeting at work one of my clients tells me about this 10 mile race she's doing in May and it sounds really cool. The finish line is the 50 yard line of Soldier Field and you get to be on the JUMBO-TRON. That's worth a little pain right? So I sign up for the race as well as training through CES.

Question #3-
It's now week 8 of training and there's some kind of activity I'm supposed to do everyday now except for Sundays. (Lord knows we're supposed to rest on Sundays right?!) Monday & Wednesday are cross training days in which I do yoga; while Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are running days of different difficulty levels.

Thursdays are the official "group runs" where I've met a couple of great running buddies! If you ever decide to do a long run it's so much easier when you have great people along side you to keep your mind off of how much farther you still have to go! They've been so great that my running buddies and I now run together on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Saturdays are the long runs and this Saturday...well this is going to be the toughest yet...8 whole miles.

This past Saturday we were supposed to run 7 miles which we thought we did. But when I got home I looked it up on that thing...you know...the interweb? only to discover that runing from Oak St. beach to Belmont Harbor and back is only 6 miles!? Arg...we were 1 mile short!!!!! I was so pissed that I didn't do the 7 miles I woke up the next day and ran another 6 by my house. It was gorgious outside and I was just glad I could enjoy it! (If you can consider running in the forrest with sore legs, being stinky, and having difficulty breathing on occasion enjoyable...it wasn't really that bad I just like to bitch)

What's even more exciting though is that I picked up my Chicago Marathon training packet yesterday!!! Wa-hoo! That shit starts next Saturday, so I'm gonna be SOOoooo busy/tired/crabby for the next 2 weeks while my training sessions overlap. Please accept this as a pre-emptive apology.

So yeah...8 miles this Saturday...5 miles the following Saturday...and then...the 10 mile race! Look out Jumbo-tron here I come!

I just wonder...can I keep this training up through October though? Guess we'll both find out.