20. Check.

I finished my the peak of my marathon training long runs this past Sunday morning. 20 miles. 20 long, grueling miles. I usually do my long runs with the Team World Vision training group, but had to change it up this weekend (for the longest run) because of the #Lawndale5K (which was awesome, btw).

My man and littlest kiddo at the Lawndale 5K - just before the Kids' Dash.

But my running buddy was true and great and we struggled along and finished together. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the 20 miler effort. Blast. :(  But even though it was so much longer than I wanted it to be, I finished. And I finished strong. My feet were sore, my back hurt, my mind was numb - but I finished with a strong pace.

Some of my motivating thoughts while running: I thought about my kids and how proud they would be. At some point. You know - like when they're older... and I thought about my loved ones who have sponsored me. They see my effort and how much I care about this "clean water" thing and are willing to give their hard earned money to tell me "Go, AMANDA! I think you can totally do this!" And all those things motivated me to want to finish.

The marathon itself is only 15 days away now and it's looming closer. I can't believe all the hard training is done and I'm tapering now. I have two more "long" runs, and I find myself looking forward to them. I love running. I love clean water. And I love all my friends and family who have been so supportive this training season. THANK YOU!

Treadmill running...

is a pain in my knee. My right knee, to be precise.

The view from my treadmill. This was my third
set of 2 miles treadmill/1 mile track laps.

I logged 9 miles yesterday. All inside because of the weather. It was raining, but I had to do it yesterday morning because that's when I could do it. It takes me at least a couple of hours to run anything more than 8 miles. And the rest of my home-based duties don't stop just because I have a long run to fit in. The kiddos still need snuggled. The laundry still needs folded. You get the picture. So I've started using 1/2 days of PTO on mid-week long run mornings to run my longer distances as marathon day looms closer (just 30 days away!)

I've been obsessing over the weather leading up to yesterday morning and knew I'd have to run inside because of the rain. A seasoned marathoner from the fun run group at LCFC suggested I alternate two miles on the treadmill with one mile on the track.

That worked great until about mile five when my knee started to hurt - it was sharp. It got bad enough that I needed to slow way down. Track runs were still fine for a few more miles, but then the ole' leg joint was causing big problems there too. I ended up walking for some of that distance, but I did get it all in. I've been icing it and stretching/rolling to get ready for my 5-miler tomorrow morning. Slow & easy, it is.

homemade pizza, a great 18 miles and a stiff left knee

yesterday morning was 18 miles. it took me almost 4.5 hours to knock it out, but knock it out, i did. i did, indeed. 

i overheard on the running trail a few weeks ago that every runner has at least two really bad runs while training for a race. i'm pretty sure that i've already had mine. the foggy 6 miler that caused heat exhaustion and dehydration definitely counts for at least one. And the ten-miler in the pouring rain with the lightening and thunder counts for the other one. i'm really hoping that those are my only two bad runs. 

runners are kind of superstitious. and i find myself pitching my tent in that camp a bit with my long run routines - what I wear, what I eat and even what order I get ready. yesterday's run was strong and steady and good. and so, of course, i think it's because of the homemade pizza don made me the night before. i've already requested it as my lunch/dinner on the Saturday before the marathon. that and mashed potatoes (another "i should totally be a supermarathoner" pre-long-run meal i've had).

before the run, i was fairly nervous. and was honestly questioning how it would go. but on the drive home, i was smiling from ear to ear. i couldn't stop laughing (by myself) and talking (again, to myself). that must be what runner's high is about. i was just totally ecstatic. i got home to an empty house (the hubs had the kids) - ate, showered, laid down (for about 40 minutes) - then i picked my 4-year old up at her friend's birthday party, ate some cake & ice cream and didn't feel the least little bit bad about it. and then had a great dinner party at the new home of some dear friends.

it wasn't until i got home and tried to fall asleep that i realized i was terribly achy sore all over. the only thing i can compare it to is when i was a waitress and on my feet for 8 hours or more at a time and your feet ache so bad that the pain that will literally keep you awake. i tossed and turned for a long time, waiting and hoping that i could drift off into sleep. i eventually did. and with the exception of a stiff left knee (which feels much better now that i've been icing it), i would barely know that i ran 18 miles yesterday. i'm impressed with my body for healing up and getting over everything. and i can't believe i'm going to do two more distances that are longer than 18 miles. 

20 miles is in just under two weeks. And the full marathon is on 10/12.  if those runs are anything at all like the one i had yesterday - i'll be ready (at long as I can get some of that pizza again...)

16 miles, intense fog & a mild case of heat exhaustion

I probably had some dehydration too. But to be fair, it was totally the weather's fault. Sweat can't cool you down if it can't evaporate...

A quick photo of Lake Michigan I snapped while running on Saturday.
The fog was thick and made it hard to cool down. :(

Saturday morning's long run was particularly long. The first few miles are always hard. But they usually get easier as my legs and breathing fall into a mindless rhythm. This didn't happen Saturday. At mile 6, I accepted that it wasn't going to get any easier. At mile 10, I started feeling light-headed. At mile 10.5, I told my running buddy that I had to chillax a bit. We slowed our pace wayyyy down.

We ended up walking (serious speed-walking) the last few miles to try to cool down a bit. The fog lifted - kind of. The sky started to clear. We talked about how much we wanted a tall glass of ice cold lemonade. And remembered why we were doing this huge, seemingly insurmountable thing in the first place - so that everyone can have clean water to drink, to cool down, to get clean. So that everyone (especially kids) can have all the things we so desperately wanted as we slugged it out on the running trail.

I got in all 16 of my miles and took my chills and headache home. I rung out my clothes, showered and continued on with my life of mothering my adorable kiddos while trying to take it easy, drinking plenty of water and gatorade. It's been a few days and I'm back to my old self - feeling healthy and ready for a few more miles bright & early tomorrow morning...

planning around the elements

picture taken from http://chicagoweathercenter.com/blog

So I find that I obsess about weather now more than ever. Running outside for hours at a time will do that to you, I guess.

Between working full time, raising a couple of kids and supporting the husband in his duties, it's hard to find the right time to get my miles in. Most of the time, I'm getting up at 5:30 am - or even earlier - just to log the miles on my training schedule. And on days that it rains - or weeks when it's more rainy than not (like this week) - it's even harder. Mostly because I WILL NOT run in the rain again. We did a ten miler in the pouring rain and honestly, once is really enough. I'm done with that game.

Which begs the question - how do you get your miles in when the weather doesn't make it easy? Any advice besides slugging it out on the treadmill?

Balancing life and finding the time to run all these miles feels so much harder this time around. I don't have the flexibility to just go later - so it makes waking up early a necessity. And when it rains, that just throws everything off. So that puts me back at praying for sunshine and obsessing over weather forecasts. Here's to hoping they're wrong about Thursday...

On the blog again...

So - I've been training for the Chicago Marathon since January. You read that right - about 8.5 months. And I've come a long way. Like, really. I'm doing great. But I wish I had captured some of my progress on the way. Hence the idea for this blog. I'm kinduva blogger any old way - so it makes sense.

Also - I'm really hoping to get more people out there cheering me on AND possibly get some new child sponsors for World Vision too. That would be AWESOME! (If you want more info, just click here. If you sponsor a kid, just write "Amanda Bratschie - Chicago Marathon 2014" in the notes section.)

Lastly - I just really want somewhere appropriate to share all my running stories. You don't want to hear 'em? No problem. Just navigate away. You've been warned. ;)