Any idiot can run...

Well, the countdown continues. 40 days.

That is how long Noah spent on the ark when God destroyed the world. And the same amount of time that Jesus trekked around the desert with nothing but enough water to stay alive. And I'm sure a million other biblical references I can't think of. While I hesitate to compare myself to these biblical figures who endured all sorts of crazy shenanigans, I am really freaking hoping and praying that my legs can make it that long.
(I just keep reminding myself that Noah and Jesus did it with hair longer than mine...
and they didn't even have Clif Shots or Gatorade!)

Sarah and I ran our longest run last night, at 15 miles. Let me tell you, it really freaking hurt. But alas, when you have learned the art of procrastinating such as we have, you also learn to appreciate the few rest days between one long run and the next. Because just on the horizon, this coming Saturday, Sarah and I will head out around 5 am to complete our 18-mile run with our training group!

Well, I say training group. Except that we don't really train with them. They like to run too much, and talk too much, and there is just a general air of too much excitement over the sick thought of running for 4 hours straight. The whole idea of running 26.2 miles is really sick, when you think about it. 

This shirt, which I happened to notice at another race a few weeks ago, really says it all:

That's not the only lesson we've had to learn, though. If you ever decide to venture out for a 3+ hour run, 

here are a few other things you might want to know:

1. If the sun is out, don't do it. Just don't. What would otherwise be a beautiful, sunny day with 80 degree temperatures turns into a fiery furnace of nausea and impending doom.

2. If your calf muscle is feeling a little tight in the first half mile, you are likely to spend the next 14.5 miles running weird on that leg, and the next day walking like an idiot 

because your hip feels like it's going to detach itself.

3. Toenails are not nearly as secure as you think they are. And as someone who hates feet, I'm going to need counseling after this. (These first three are from Sarah, by the way.) And if you need more disgusting information, most of which we're both experiencing to some degree, this is a fun read: http://www.more.com/health/fitness/yuck-marathon-trainings-10-grossest-things

4. Every energy drink/chew/gu/tablet/bean/potion tastes the same: GROSS.

Like someone threw sugar, lime rind, and poison berry juice together, then mixed in 

varying amounts of pectin in order to realize a prescribed texture somewhere between rubber band and clay consistency. Just ask Sarah how she really feels about this.

5.  It is a real and true fact. Everything that could possibly seem weird or off will. That app for

your sweet jams will force close. The GPS will tell you that you ran to Wisconsin. The Droid X

will shut off completely. And inevitably, you will get stuck 30 feet up on the wrong side of the 

Chicago River, hoping and praying that Lake Shore Drive decides to magically fuse itself

back together sometime before midnight.

 

 Be honest now, don't you have a new appreciation for the fact that all we're asking you to do is donate? :-)