25° Makes All the Difference

So. We missed you last week.

Why?

It's a good question.

We ran our 12 miler. It was hot. Humid. Gross. Seriously. It was gross. In the upper 80s when we started at around 6 a.m. And it only got worse once the few clouds burned off and there was nothing but sun.

To give you a better sense of what it was like to run last week, Ross weighed in beforehand. Throughout the run, he drank about 70 ounces of fluids and "ate" five gels (another 5+ ounces of fuel) and returned from the 12 miles trek down 3.5 pounds. (Seriously. That's a freaking watermelon.)

So in addition to feeling like we were shells of ourselves after last week's run, Ross still had Lollapalooza to attend, Joy had her 20th high school reunion, and then both of us had a date with Coldplay later in the week.

This week? Different story.

Perfect weather. We started out our 14 mile run in the low 60s. Nice lake breeze. Sunshine, but Sol wasn't all obnoxious about it. Low humidity. Just perfect.

Remember a couple of paragraphs ago where it says something about 75 ounces of stuff just to keep from frying? This week's tally was less than 40 ounces of fluid and two gels (again, this is for Ross).

To illustrate what a difference 25° makes, here's something that caught our attention: Last week, we "ran" 12 miles in about 2 hours and 48 minutes.

This week? Different story. (Sorry if that's repetitive.) 14 miles in about 2:38. We ran the whole time. And Joy's relieved to have her longest run ever in the books—until next week's 15 miler, that is.

In case you're as bad at math as Ross is, that's two miles further, ten minutes faster.

We're 55% done with our training now that we've just completed week 10 of our 18 week schedule. It's hard to believe that something that was eight months away when we first signed up is now less than two months away.

Meanwhile, we're about 99.5% to our fundraising goal, and are so grateful for the support of so many of you. (Of course, even once we reach our goal, we'd like to blow it away, so feel free to pledge some cash on our behalf if that's something you'd like to do!) Thanks!