High praise for "recovery week."

If only the next 10 weeks were so easy.

After last week—a combined 29 miles that included a half marathon distance—this week was a breeze: A mere 21 miles. Five miles Monday, fours on Wednesday and Thursday, and then....

"What's your Saturday run?" people who read this blog and others who know what we're up to would ask.

"Just an eight miler," we would respond, with a more than a little bit of disbelief in our voices. A few weeks ago, eight miles seemed like a mighty goal. And now, here we were, with a bit of hubris in our hearts, thinking "Eight miles. P'shaw. That's nothing."

In case you're thinking we've become some Daedalus/Icarus cautionary tale ... no. Just also know that eight miles isn't "no big deal."

We woke at 4:30 yesterday, ate some breakfast, got dressed, readied our fuel belts and drove over to our home base for these long runs, FFC South Loop.

In the past, we'd head out on Roosevelt Road (over the last hill we'll run in October *immediately* preceding the finish line) and onto the Lakefront Path, through and past the Museum Campus and south toward the U of C,  Hyde Park, Promontory Point and all that.

But! They changed things up on us this week. While we still started off at the Museum Campus, this time we ran a loop between the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum, around Soldier Field, down Solidarity Drive and around the Adler Planetarium, around the back of the Shedd, and then north (here's a convenient map). Continuing on the Lakefront Path where it is—and we can't stress this enough—ridiculously crowded.

Still: New route! So exciting!

Following Lake Shore Drive, we ran past Grant Park (where set-up is well underway for Lollapalooza starting Friday) and Buckingham Fountain. Past the Columbia Yacht Club. And onward toward the relatively new Chicago Riverwalk: Under Lake Shore Drive, Columbus Drive, Michigan Avenue (DuSable Bridge) and Wabash Avenue, to Chicago's Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza, our turn around point.

We had fantastic weather. And though we each had our own minor-but-not physical discomforts to deal with, we were glad to have such a "short" run. The mileage starts to get silly pretty quickly from here.

A quick note on fundraising: We remain blown away by the support we—and by extension, Bright Pink—have received from so many. We're really close to our fundraising goal, but are happy to surpass it, too! If you (or someone you know) would like to make a donation to Bright Pink on our behalf, find our fundraising page here. Thanks!