I know I have been completely M.I.A. for ... 5 months now?  That is crazy!  Essentially, I have not blogged during any of my training for the Chicago Marathon.

Which, by the way is in FIVE DAYS ...

My excuses are nothing unusual or even interesting:  working, life, Facebooking, etc., etc..  The crazy thing is that when I go to other bloggers' sites and see that they have not updated, I get so mad and indignant.  LOL.

Well, let's see - a recap since May/June?

Went to my 20 year college reunion in May, which was just o.k.  We made it to the Friday night event, which was fun, and it was nice seeing people.  The Saturday event was a bust, however, and the Alumni Association actually ended up refunding people's money.  All in all, it was fun, but I won't be attending another one. 

I started marathon training in June.  Let me say, there has not been a single easy thing about this training cycle.  First of all, it was BLAZING HOT for all of June, July and August.  And after struggling so much on so many runs, I was finally able (with the help of dailymile.com) to see that, while I had run @ 104 miles in April (training for and completing Ragnar L.A.), I only ran a total of 56 miles in May.  So, while I'd envisioned starting training with a decent base, I was basically starting from scratch.  And it was painful.

In September, it finally started to cool off and the runs got a bit easier, but let me just say, taper madness or no taper madness, I feel VERY slow and sluggish going into this marathon.

I've done two 20 mile runs.  The first one was pretty darn good, and were it not for that run, I'd probably be literally shaking in my boots right now.  I was able to finish that in 2:59, for a 10:00 minute/mile.  Best part is that I totally negative split the run, with the last few miles in the 9s.  The 2nd 20 miler was a lot slower, 3:21, and the last mile was a walk/run/death march,  I started later, probably ran just a tad too fast during the first half, and was therefore dying after about Mile 16/17, and ended up walking part of Mile 19 and Mile 20.  I know I was very dehydrated b/c although I drank a ton of water on the course and gulped water afterwards, I didn't pee for hours after the run.  YIKES!

The other problem I had during my 2nd 20 miler was that I've been having a sore right achilles, and it sort of popped around Mile 9.  It didn't cause any great pain, but it definitely freaked me out.  I haven't missed any runs since then, and I think I've been able to kind of figure the achilles out somewhat.  The key is that it's sore for the first 1/2 mile and then it tends to warm up progressively, and the pain is mostly gone by about Mile 4.  I just pray that I don't have any achilles/calf issues during the race!

I have been pretty good about recovery, taking ice baths after both of my 20 milers and icing my achilles (like right now).

On the plus side, out of all the runs in this cycle, I have only missed a few, in Week 7, because I was sick - and I never missed a long run.  But on the other hand, I've done very little formal speed work - especially after my achilles started giving me trouble (in fact, I think the problem started after I did 5 800s); the most I can say is that some of my shorter runs were done at a "tempo" pace.

Anyway, I'm just glad that my goal is just to finish.  Well, actually my goal is to finish and to NOT be doing a death march of any sort, whatsoever.  I would love to feel like I did for my 1st half-marathon (where I finshed the last mile in 8:16 - talk about still having gas in the tank!).  I know that a key part of that will be to run very conservatively, so that's my plan.

I'M SO NERVOUS!!!

Anyway, I completely deviated from my 5 month recap. 

In July, we went to Arizona.  This was one of the most lackluster vacations I've been on, and I ended up getting sick afterwards.  We went with the kids and some of our good friends, and their kids, which was fine, but out hotel did *nothing* for me (the Fairmont Princess).  Also, it was HOT AS ALL GET-OUT.  I mean, like 118 degrees!  We did go to the Grand Canyon.  Even that was kinda like,  

We finally finished our pool and outdoor kitchen in late July and we hosted a couple parties in August.  I threw a casual surprise birthday party for my husband in September.

Other than that, it's been business as usual (which is a blessing).  The kids are in school and are doing great.  S is doing cheerleading this year.

I am going to Vegas to meet my best friend from high school for the weekend, the weekend after the marathon, and I cannot wait for that!

Well, I will be sure to update after the race this Sunday!  Say a prayer for me, you guys!  Thanks for reading!