The Marathon Season

It's here. Today was the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon (LFM). Next week is the Chicago Marathon. The leaves have changed color. The weather cooled down (at least today). Marathon season. Endurance. Training. Finishes. PRs. Real people being amazing. I do love it.

I also hate it. Today I squeezed out a few things in my schedule, including spectating the LFM, to squeeze in 18.6 miles. My legs ached, and certain miles I just hated. I was cold. I was hot. I was disappointed in my time. My water bottle leaked. Whine. Whine. Whine.

See, I'm training for a Fall marathon. I haven't told very many people. I really don't know why I didn't except that it was my little secret. A secret marathon. The more I've trained, however, the more I realize how much I need the encouragement of others. This year is the first year in two years that I haven't run a Spring marathon. With our family schedule, I started looking for a late Fall marathon for this year. I managed to sneak into the Naperville inaugural Marathon in November. The race sold out in 8 hours. Small, local and new. I'm pretty excited. I'm also deep in training and in need of encouragement. Encouragement is loud and clear during the marathon season.

It's been a bit since I've blogged. Instead of calling myself a bad blogger, I'll call myself a busy person. Definitely been busy. It is interesting when coming back to my blog how much I want to write, realizing that I haven't kept up and feeling like I'd have to write 10 posts to cover it all. Here's some things that have happened.

I gave myself a mild concussion which was so interesting as a nerd. Mandatory time off and naps.

I ran the Waterfall Glen Extreme 10 miler with my friend Dave, who rocked the LFM today. It was a 10 mile trail run, and it was FUN!

My family drove about 3,700 miles out to Montana to see more family and stopped to see the sights. I have a great family, and it was a great time.

My friend Kate and I went camping in her camper the night before running the North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon. It rained most of the race, but that didn't stop us. We slugged out the half with all its beauty, and put the camper down in the rain. I still love that race. This year there were even medals.

I've been incredibly blessed to teach two math classes at the local community college. It is a fun adventure. It also takes energy, creativity and time.

My girlios ran the Fall Frolic 5k. Actually, my youngest ran the Kids' Dash. My 7 year old rocked the 5k with a 34 min finish, and I dragged my 10 year old who reminded me again at the end that she hates running and never wants to do it again. She'll forget by next year. Tee hee.

I've been to the bank, post office, UPS and FedEx store. And done it again. And again. Our adoption dossier is coming together. It's a waiting time before another waiting time. It's hard to be patient.

A handful of half marathons, three trail runs, a triathlon and next an inaugural marathon. It's been an exciting running year. We're in the heart of marathon season. I'm having trouble containing myself.

We found the End. It's in the Badlands.