The Final Countdown (WW # 61)

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M  - Rest
T   - Ran 5 Miles Easy
W -  Rest
T  -  Ran 6 Miles (1 w/u + 5 @ 9:24)
F  -  Ran 5 Miles Easy
S  -  Rest
S  -  Ran 8 Miles Progressive

Total Ran = 24

Well there it is.  My final Chicago ticker picture.  It's the final countdown.  Are you singing the song?  If you know me at all, you know that I've been singing it for daayyyssss.  Only three (or heck maybe even just two?) short easy runs remain.

As September came to a close, I finally experienced those long-awaited Fall mornings in the later part of the week.  Thursday was a bone-chilling 63 and Friday a downright polar vortex of 53.  It was hard not to overdo on mileage and pace.  I'm supposed to be tapering.

A beautiful September sunset.

Speaking of tapering, I did not cycle nor water ski this week to give my body extra rest.  I also had a massage (actually more like body work) on Wednesday to work out some stiffness in my neck and shoulder plus a general running parts going-over.    Sandy was a great masseuse and gave me some wonderful tips to keep everything operating smoothly.

Naturally, I thought Sunday's 8 miles would feel like a breeze.  Nope, I had a side stitch during the first half of it and the whole run felt harder than I wanted it to.  I shouldn't have started out as fast as I did.  I'm interpreting it to mean all of the difficult stuff is out of the way!

Trying out a new tank on Tuesday's run.

My goals for Chicago are 1) not to DNS this time  2) enjoy the experience and 3) beat my prior marathon time.  You can read about that here [Disney Marathon].  Be forewarned however, it's a tear jerker.  I look forward to having all of those same goose-bumpy feels in Chicago.

So now I'm down to the silly counting.  50 times I'll wash my hands, 20 times I'll check 3 different weather apps, 6 loads of laundry, 4 meals to pick up prepare, 4 days at work {loosely speaking},  3 short runs, 2 dogs to bathe, 1 trip for last minute groceries, 1 stop for gas, 1 pedicure {ooohhh what color?}, 1 cooking (huh?) school project to help the kid with, and tons of mental packing, overthinking and praying.

A special thanks to everyone who supported me along this journey. 

I am forever grateful.

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