Brad has run a few marathons in his day and has been talking about doing the Chicago Marathon since I started going to school here back in 2008. With one bonus year left, I decided to do something I never thought I would do...told him I would do it with him.
Of course, when I made this statement, there was still snow on the ground and October seemed like a long, long ways away. I also thought I would be living in Minnesota this summer so I would have a constant companion to push me through those excruciatingly long runs and all the aches and moans in between.
Turns out, I landed the RedEye job and was forced to self-discipline myself all summer. Not exactly my strong suit.
But all the while, Brad was still there to talk me through an injury or make me feel less guilty for only running 4 miles when I was meant to do 8. Even from 2 states away, I still feel like I've had a good coach walking (or running?) me through the process and encouraging me to keep my eye on the end goal.
We completed my longest run to date on Sunday -- 15 miles. Again, another thing I never thought I would say, but it was actually fun. Running 15 miles in the smoldering September sun was actually fun. So much better than the 12 miler I did by myself a few weeks back! It allowed us to catch up on everything and we helped each other maintain a good pace control so we were able to finish out strong with a sprint at the end.
And having this cutie bike along with us the entire way certainly helped to!
With only 3 weeks left until the race, I've got one long run left (20 miles...wah, wah, wah) and all I can say is I wish Brad would be here to make the time pass just a little bit faster.
At least we're in this together and I know I've got the best running buddy I could ask for in doing Marathon #1!
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