Just 10 more days!!

A week ago, I was in Indiana, for my father-in-law's memorial service. Although I woke up at 7:45am, my body (and my Garmin!) still thought it was 4:45am! Nevertheless, I set out for my last long run before the Marathon.

As I set out, I passed the cattle ranch that my in-laws' house backs up to, and it was apparent that joggers are a pretty rare site along Highway 17, because the steers just stared at me as I ran by. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see three white faces turned my way.

You can also get a sense of the weather. Almost cold enough to snow, which I would have welcomed, but as it was, I was pelted by tiny, cold raindrops as I started out. But then the rain let up, and the remaining 19 miles were misty but not drizzly. It would have been gorgeous had the sky been blue, but even with the grey, I enjoyed the scenery, which included a couple of small lakes, an old cemetery with graves mostly from WWI, and a farmhouse built in 1876.

My turn-around was at Culver Academies (where Dierks Bentley, one of my favorite country singers, spent a short time as a teenager), and whose campus abuts a huge lake, Lake Maxinkuckee.

I was fortunate to have support from my husband and brother-in-law, who met me in Culver to refill my water bottle and see if I needed a change of clothes before the turn-around to head back to Plymouth. I didn't need a change of clothes then, but about 5 miles later, I almost peed my pants when a large pit bull and 2 shepherd mixes came running out of a barn, barking at me and not looking too friendly. I am not normally afraid of dogs, but when you're running and they're chasing you, it's a bit disconcerting! I yelled "NO!" at them, and the shepherds hung back but the pibble kept coming towards me, so I finally squirted him with my water bottle and he tucked his tail and ran home. In another situation, I probably would have stopped and petted them, but being alone on a country road with no one in sight, I thought about poor Diane Whipple and did not want to end up in a bloody heap on the side of the road. So that gave me an adrenaline rush, which made my 3 remaining miles pretty easy. (Maybe I need someone to scare the pee out of me at mile 22 in Boston next week to make those last 4 miles easier!)

So, my second 20 miler went much better than my first, which took me more than 15 minutes longer (thanks to an 1100 ft elevation gain!).


When I got back to my mother-in-law's house, I checked my donation report, and was thrilled to see that I was very close to the $8000 fundraising mark. (After raising $8K, DFMC team members are considered "Pacesetters", and we get a special patch to wear on our race singlets.) I expressed my excitement to my brother-in-law, and after I'd showered and changed, he surprised me with a donation to bring me to that 8K level. What a great reward after my last long run!

The next 10 days will see just a few short runs, and we fly to Boston on Wednesday, 4/12. The whole family will be doing the BAA 5K on Saturday 4/15, which will be pretty low-key if I run it with Ella. Currently, the forecast calls for rain on Marathon Monday, but that could change (it's New England - if you don't like the weather, wait a minute!).