One Week to Go!!

Today was our last training (sniff.) We were at the Lakefront Path again today, but we only had to do 60 minutes. I ran most of the way with Jennifer, the mentor. She's also doing the half in Champaign, and she said that we should run together the first half (she's planning on picking up the pace for the second six miles - I wish her luck and better her than me!)

It was a lovely day, and we had a great run. When my group got to the three mile mark, I couldn't believe it. I kept saying, "are you SURE that this is three miles?" It did NOT feel like it! What a great feeling!

This week is a taper week, so we can't really do too much exercise so that we don't wear ourselves out or get injured. Our running is light this week, too. And the coaches said, "this week is NO TIME to diet!"

These last few days are also very important for us to focus ourselves mentally - to picture ourselves having a great run (even though the forecast is 40 and rain!) The coaches said last week that people will be cheering us on when they see our purple shirts; they want us to write our names across the front because they said that spectators often like to cheer for us by name. Wow, that is going to be emotional! And also, I'll probably get distracted trying to figure out if they are people I know or not!

I'll also be writing the names of our honorees on the back of my shirt - Diana, Grandma, Serena, Tom, and Tim (survivor.) How sad that I don't have enough room and will have to write the last four names in a smaller size ... I shouldn't know this many people who suffered from blood cancers. That's why we're running, of course. I want to write Diana's name larger than the others, since she is the one who inspired us to do this, and I want to make sure that her name is the most visible.

Okay, I'd better stop writing now before I start crying.

- Lynette