21 Miles in 24 Hours

OK, so it really was like 25 hours.

Friday morning I ran 7 miles at my marathon goal pace (just over 9 minutes per mile). The run actually felt pretty good considering it followed just 4.5 hours of sleep.

I have to admit that my wife and I are TV junkies. We watch waaaay too much TV. With programming really lacking this summer, we have decided to explore a few shows we never watched. And we have our "On Demand" service to thank. Ugh, big mistake. We decided to start watching the hit show Dexter. And we were hooked instantly. Problem is that we have every episode from the first three seasons at our fingertips - available to watch whenever we want. There's no waiting from week to week for the next thrill ride, so that means if I want to stay up an hour or two later than I should to see what happens next, I can (not a good temptation to have when marathon training). And Thursday night I succumbed to the temptation. Hence the 4.5 hours of sleep.

Saturday morning rolled around and I headed to the lake for the longest run of my life so far: 14 miles. My friend Chris met me out there agreeing to suffer through at least the first 10 with me. It was cool, but really humid thanks to some thunderstorms just to our south and west. In fact, we caught a little sprinkle at the onset. The humidity was tough to battle through, as was the fact that I had run 7 miles the day before.

I did my best to listen to Hal Higdon. I still struggle with running my long runs at a slower pace than my goal marathon pace, but I did it Saturday. 9:30-9:45 miles on average. And I don't honestly think I could have pushed much harder and made it.

Chris rolled off at the 10-mile mark (I'm damn impressed he ran that long with me), so I was off on my own for the final four miles. And then I ran into a fellow Chicagoan. He spotted my Cubs hat, struck up a conversation, and although he was a White Sox fan, we talked the next three miles. A fork in our paths ended our conversation, but that was a big help for me. I had someone to talk with virtually 13 of the 14 miles I ran that morning.

As I was finishing the last mile, going further than I had ever gone before, I knew my wife and kids would be waiting for me at the end point. Lori picked up breakfast and surprised me out there with the kids. She actually found me around the 12-mile mark and asked me where to meet up. I told her where my 14-miler was ending, and she scurried on over to meet me at the finish. It was as pleasant as surprises get! Having her support has meant so much to me on this journey. And being able to see the kids when I finished was the perfect reminder why I put myself through this.

Combined Friday and Saturday, I ended up running 21 miles in a 25-hour period. No wonder why I felt the way I did after my run Saturday.

The reality of this all continues to hit me time and time again. Here I am just over 1/3 of the way through my program and I'm already running 14-mile long runs that leave me pretty much worthless for the better part of the day afterwards. That's tough to accept when the to-do list seems never-ending. Still I press on. I know it's all part of the preparation for my body to safely run 26.2 miles. And for me, with as much is at stake both personally and for the kids at St. Jude, there's no slacking off.

Today for my cross-training as I begin week 8, I did somewhat take it easy. I walked 30-minutes pushing the rugrats in the double stroller. After running 21 miles in 25 hours, I felt entitled to an easy cross-training workout. No need to push it today.