Oh what a... WEEK

Let's be honest, this was a rough week.

Monday: started the week with my head on straight and excited for a big week. Had a 6 miler.

Tuesday: another day of incredible heat in South Bend. 10 miler. Drenched in sweat. Legs aching.

Wednesday: ROUGH recovery run. Pain in nearly every step. No rhythm. Tried to just make it through.

Thursday: epic FAIL. Wheezing on the warm-up. Not a good sign. 2 miles into a tempo run, collapsed on the sidewalk and cried. Literally. Sat there and sulked. Beat myself up. Got angry and ran home. Was stubborn and tried the workout again on the treadmill. FAIL. Cried. Felt broken. Felt like everything was going wrong and I had no way of stopping it from happening. Rode my bike home (don't ride a bike up Cleveland) and came home to see that one of my athlete's had donated to my cause. Cried. Happy tears.

Friday: determined to not end the week in my current condition. Ran early. Sweated out the 5.5. Nervous for tomorrow's run. Legs hurt still. Not sure why. Still running with a sock in my shoe to cushion my tendon. Anxious for tomorrow's run. Found a package on my front step. Made my week :)
Received a care package from two previous members of team crazy--some of my alumnae. Cried.


Care package from Cait and Al :)



Ladies, you'll never know how much your letters touched my heart.

I am so thankful to have you in my life.



My pre-Boston care package was filled with goodies, and booties (socks, shown here) that will be used en route to and during the race. And what I'm pulling most from all of it, is the words that have been repeatedly shared among us: I CAN, I WILL. Despite this week's setbacks, I have a renewed spirit as I head into tomorrow's run. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Tomorrow:  The big run. 20-24 miles. We'll see how this guy goes. No pressure... just really want it to go well and give the confidence booster that I need.

Thank you to everyone for listening, supporting and consoling me throughout this week especially. I know I'm emotionally drained which is not helping---and although I don't always say it, I really appreciate all you have done for me.

For myself I'll close with this....

"God wisely designed the human body so that we can neither

pat our own backs nor kick ourselves too easily."

 -Unknown