One. More. Week.

17 weeks down. Just one measly week to go.

Since it's been just a couple of days since our last post, we've got a bunch of photos this week. Which we'll get to in good time. First, a re-cap of Saturday's final long run—our shortest long run since JUNE 17th, the second week of our training schedule, at a mere six miles.

Not just any six miles, but first a short reminder clinic about running form and stride cadence at the corners of Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road. Which started at 7:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. for the first time since the beginning of August. 

The Team Bright Pink and Team Diabetes gang get the 411 from 
Coach Chris (center) while Coach Joy (to his right) looks on.

The reminders and warm up over, we took off on a 1/2 mile loop around the southern edge of Grant Park; east up the hill at Michigan and Roosevelt—the last hill we'll run up before we run down to the finish—then south down the hill on the pedestrian path that mirrors the finishing chute, then west over the rail bridge just before Balbo, and south, past where crews were already erecting tents for next Sunday, to our starting point.

We did that four times. And we hope it gives us the confidence we need to get over the hump at Roosevelt that one last time next Sunday.

Last minute hill training over, we ran the hill one more time and shot down Columbus, past what will be the finish line, past the Art Institute, and past what will be the starting line, on into Millennium Park and up over the BP ("snake") Bridge.

"We are taking this thing VERY SERIOUSLY!"

Looking back over Columbus toward the starting line, the finish line, 
and the two high-rises where we've started all but two of our long runs.

The Teams on the snake bridge.

Mile 1 on Columbus will be just before the

tunnel and through to Streeterville.

East from the bridge to Lake Michigan just beyond the trees.

From here, we ran east and south through Daley Bicentennial Park and across Lake Shore Drive, turning south on the Lakefront Path, and onto familiar territory once again. Down to the Shedd Aquarium, around the back side. New this run: Up to Solidarity Drive and east for a lap around the Adler Planetarium, and back to home base.

Done and done.

Just 12 miles to run this week. Oh, and then another 26.2 miler on Sunday. (We drove the last 13.2 miles today, so we should be good to go.) No big whoop.

And we've raised MORE THAN $7,000 for Bright Pink. Having our minds continually getting blown by the generosity and support of all will never get old. THANK YOU. If you're just now thinking, "How do I make a contribution?" you can do that here.

Toeing the Line in 10 Days

Last weekend, our next-to-last training run, saw us split into two units for the first time since training began, with Ross running with the Bright Pink group at the Lakefront and Joy running closer to home at the gym. Thankfully, what was posted as a 13.1 mile run turned out to be a 2-hour timed run—so, all you can get in that time-frame.

For Ross, cool temps and the threat of rain proved to be a great motivator—especially when the rain started to fall with about 20 minutes left in the run. He ended up running the last 1.5 miles considerably faster than his now-usual pace.

Joy split her run into two one-hour runs—one of the great things about tapering is that you can pick and choose how you get your run in, as long as you're doing something—and managed to get it done even though the training is definitely taking a toll.

Then on Saturday night, we hosted a fundraising event at Silvie's Lounge. See video from that event here.

And on Monday, Bright Pink hosted us for a Spa Night. Which our legs and feet really, really enjoyed.

Now that we're tapering pre-race, things have settled down a teensy bit on the time management front. As every coach predicted, there's too much time to think. And while we're happy the physical toll has diminished somewhat—but only somewhat—the mental strain is beginning to show. Things we have too much time to think about:

"How many days until the race?"

"We only have four more training runs before the marathon!"

"Holy crap! Do I have everything I need?"

"OMG, what's the weather going to be like?"

"Uh-oh...my knee is creaky today...."

"We only have to run 45 more miles and we'll be totally and completely done! ... Wait? What???"

What began in January with Ross offering, "Hey, Joy.... Um.... Since we're in pretty decent shape and registration is Monday, I'm going to sign up for the Chicago Marathon this year. If you'd like to run with me, that'd be great. But if you don't, that's totally cool, too. Completely up to you."

"Well," she likes to say, "since you're going to be waking me up at ridiculous hours all summer long, I may as well run with you."

A couple of weeks later, Joy went to an informational meeting for Team Bright Pink, and we were on our way. Though training didn't begin until the end of May, here are a couple of stats we're proud of:

• As of this writing, we've run more than 425 miles since training began

• Of greater importance to us, and thanks to the stunning generosity of nearly 80 members of our circle of family and friends, we're probably going to raise more than $7,000 for Bright Pink

That fundraising number, to us, is mind-boggling.

We are so grateful for the encouraging words of support, the incredulous words of "I could never do that" (yes, you totally could), the financial support, and everything that goes with it. Thanks to all of you.

Bring on the Taper!

We're 15 weeks into this madness, and finally—FINALLY! Praise creator being of various mythologies!—we get to taper.

That's right, sports fans: We ran our 20 miler. We finished our 20 miler. And we fought through the insanity of our 20 miler.

It's not possible to be happier that it's over.

We woke before dawn, as we usually do for our long runs these days, dragging ourselves out of bed at 4:30 to eat breakfast and get ourselves ready to run. This week, instead of sticking with our Bright Pink teammates, who ran Saturday, we opted for Sunday's Newton Ready to Run 20 Miler, presented by the Chicago Area Runners Association. (Momentary aside: Whenever Ross hears "Newton," he thinks of these, or this guy, and not these, which were the actual sponsors, and not this, even though this.)

Right.... So.... We woke up. Ate. Got ready. Took this picture:

There is complete darkness outside over Joy's shoulder.

Then we hopped into a waiting cab and trucked over to the Lakefront at Wilson for the "wave" start in which 77 groups of runners would begin the run 30 seconds apart, the runners expecting to finish quickly at the front. (Note: This wasn't a "race" in the typical sense—it was, however, a very well supported run for a few thousand people. No timing chips. No competition. Well—except the length of the run itself.)

With the temperature hovering in the mid-50s, it was a little chilly to be hanging around in short sleeves and shorts, but we managed to make it through the 45+ minutes in the parking lot until our wave—wave 76, which should tell you something about our expected finishing time—was called to the start.

The first few miles, while the sun was coming up, went fine. And it was really fun to be in a new part of our running world. We even ran into one of our wedding guests—and Ross's former training client—C.P. running with his puppy near Irving Park Road.

And then? The sun was out in full force. Though it wasn't as hot as a few weeks ago, it was hotter than it needed to be, and we really felt it on "The Broiler" from North Avenue Beach to Ohio Street Beach—where there's no shade for more than 1.5 miles. We lost some flat banana somewhere between Ohio Street and Wacker Drive, which was unsettling. And by the time we got to Grant Park at Mile 12—where we looped around the softball fields at Hutchinson Field, there was much unhappiness.

Miles 13–17 were more of the same temperature-wise, only getting hotter still, so we slowed things down a bit to save some energy for the last few miles, and this was all on very familiar territory: past the Shedd Aquarium, Soldier Field, McCormick Center, the 31st Street Beach House and the Skate Park. By the time we hit 4000 South block, we thought we had just about 15 blocks to go, even though the math wasn't adding up.

Needless to say, our math was off. And we ran through Promontory Point (where we saw a young Wheaten Terrier, which made Joy very happy) and further south to 63rd Street and UP A FREAKING HILL into Jackson Park. (The only good thing about that hill? The marathon's last three-tenths of a mile includes a hill from Michigan Avenue onto Roosevelt Road before turning toward the finishing chute on Columbus Drive. We've been running that hill just about every weekend in reverse.)

So, we had done it. Ross's first 20 mile run that was far more running than walking, and Joy's first 20 mile run. We grabbed some mini bagels, granola bars, coconut water, our new Newton Ready to Run technical shirts, hopped on a waiting bus back to Grant Park, flagged a cab, got home and took a really, really cold bath. Good times. And we met a new friend that we've named "Buster."

"Buster" is a blister. Not a marble balancing on Joy's foot.

20 miles. We started at 4600 north, ran north to 5600 (just one block shy of the north end of the Lakefront Path), turned south and ran to 1200 south, then up to 600 south, and then to the Jackson Park Beach House at 63rd Street and back up to 6100 (the Lakefront Path ends at 67th Street). Since it's eight city blocks to mile, we'll leave the math up to you. We're too loopy to figure it out.

Interested in seeing a map of our route?

Eighteen and Life.

Well, we've made it to the home stretch.

This past Saturday, under a gloriously blue sky, a ten mile-per-hour breeze blowing fairly steadily out of the northwest, in upper-50s/lower-60s temperatures, we ran what will soon be our third longest run of the year.

Eighteen freaking miles.

Or in the words of Sebastian Bach....

The weather makes such an enormous difference when it comes to these things. Last week's 16 mile run was considerably more difficult. But it was also about 15 degrees warmer. There's something about a picture perfect 63° day that makes running a longer distance seem breezy in comparison.

"Hey, wait a minute," you thought. "Eighteen miles is breezy?"

No. It decidedly is not.

As we're gearing up, or down, or however it's classified when you're just about done with the training and prepping for race day—just a few weeks away—we're trying to focus on how our bodies feel. Sleep, or lack of it, really hurts. Food is both a friend and foe. Are we drinking enough—or too much—water? 

For both of us, the past couple of weeks have been killer—and for different reasons. Joy is battling some pretty difficult leg muscle issues. She's working through them, focusing on and drawing strength from the support we've received from so many of our family and friends. Ross has developed a weird hip/lower back thing that requires some TLC, if by "tender," you mean "rolling around on a foam-covered PVC pipe" to keep it loose. So we each have our moments.

But we've also raised more than $6,000 for Bright Pink, and have set our sights on raising more. If you haven't already, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Bright Pink on our behalf. Our donation page is here. And if you'd rather make a donation in person, come to this in a couple of weeks:

Laboring Through

After a week that saw us running eight, six, five and 16 miles, we thought we'd take a day or so to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary (which Joy has given the wonderful name "Cinco de RoJo") before we started running again.

So we did.

Once we finished our 16 miler—thankfully, it was overcast...and less thankfully, it rained a bit, but only for a few minutes—we tried to relax a little and then headed up to Ravinia to see Hall & Oates (who were great!). The show started pretty early and we were home by 10:00, which was just perfect. Sunday we slept in (til 7!) and went for much-needed massages at Urban Oasis. And then it was time for an early dinner at the newly refurbished Pump Room. Again, we were home pretty early—which was good since we had to get up for an eight-miler on Labor Day.

And it was very laborious.

Anyway, here are a few pictures. We're sooooooo close.

Only 158.7 miles left to run....

We've been experimenting with epsom salts. They haven't made us eat anyone's face. Yet. (And ice baths are on deck.)

Celebratory dinner. Five years. And a day with zero miles.