Return from the North Woods

We're back! My boys and I were in the North Woods from Sunday until Wednesday visiting my mother-in-law. It was nice to get into a little cooler weather, it was especially nice not to have to get up before the sun just to get my run in. I ran both Monday and Tuesday, it's slightly more hilly there than here, but it was fun running up and down hills, they're not San Fransisco hills or anything, but I live in Illinois, the only hills we have are man made pretty much.

We drove back on Wednesday, so I took that day off and ran again with my girls on Thursday morning. I was going to do 7 and then 4 on Friday and then off on Saturday, but it didn't turn out that way. It was humid and my diet hadn't been all that great while we were away and the run on Thursday morning sucked, so I stopped at 4 and switched my 7 til Friday. We did the run at 5 am (this is starting to wear on me), I can't wait for the cooler weather so I can go later in the day, especially after the kids go back to school next week. The 7 went better this morning, but I still didn't feel great. I'm kinda glad that the runs didn't go all that well, because you know how that works, a couple bad runs usually equal a good run and the Chicago Distance Classic is on Sunday!

I am going into the city tomorrow afternoon to spend the night at my sisters. She lives close to North Pier, so I thought that would be a good place to spend the night before my 6:30 start Sunday morning. I'm a little excited about this race, but not too focused on it. I hope I do well, I'm aiming for about 2:15 finish. The marathon is the main focus here, so I'm thinking of this as more of a long run with 10,000 of my closest running friends, I'm sure the stomach will be doing flips come sunday morning. I'm really looking forward to the medal, I've never gotten a medal for anything!

My husband and my boy's will be there along with my parents and my sister. Does anyone else cry at the end of a race? I looked around a bit at the end of the Soldier Field 10 miler and didn't see anyone else crying, not that that stopped me from sobbing like a little girl. It's just so emotional. Hopefully there will be a great race report right here Sunday night. Until then, happy running everyone and good luck to all who are racing this weekend!

Carrie