12 miles of swimming running

It's been a busy week for our little family here at jasonleahrun. As Leah mentioned yesterday, her Dad is in town from the Dominican to help out with his Godson and we've been doing whatever we can as well. The last couple days, all we've been able to do is be company (well, that and Leah made some baked ziti) and so we've been stopping by our friends' house to visit with everyone and watch the Cubs in spectacular HD-o-vision. Yesterday we worked at home and planned on heading out that way after traffic died down in the evening.

Before we could head out there, however, there was this little 12 mile run hovering over us, looking down and laughing maniacally. Runs do that sometimes. I think I can safely say that, when 3pm rolled around and we had to run, neither of us were particularly in the running mood. Our plan was to drive down to the totem pole on the lakefront and park in the lot there, run our miles, and then drive home and get ready to head out right away. We executed the plan pretty perfectly and, as a bonus, parking over by the totem pole is free! Chicago continues to get everything lakefront-related correct.

The 12 miles were extremely tough, I won't lie. I'm not sure if it was the stress of worrying about a sick kid (Leah especially as she's known him since birth (his, not hers)), the extreme humidity, or just the fact that it was 12 miles, but whatever the reason it was definitely tough. It took us until the 5th mile to get our pace up as our first miles went 9:24, 9:03, 9:13, 9:10 (with water) and usually our paces only go down if they go any direction, so that third mile was quite the surprise. I mean, the pace was fine, just a bit slower than expected. The rest of the miles were fairly grueling, but were still all in the 8:40-9 range and we completed the 12 miles in spite of ourselves. It definitely felt more like a swim than a run though as we could literally see the humidity in the air. Super gross.

We saw Whitney at the North Avenue bridge, but we were so exhausted by that point (we were about 9 miles in) that we probably sounded super rude. Sorry Whitney, it was the humidity, not the personality. So, anyway, hi.

After the twelve, we did .65 miles worth of strides to make up for the lost mileage the day before and then called it a day. Woof.

After that it was back home and out to the suburbs where we watched the Cubs win in commanding fashion. The Cubs are now only two games behind the Brewers and a half game out of the Wild Card. Remember when this team was on pace for 90+ losses? Two months ago? Gotta love the turn around.

What I've failed to mention thus far is the most exciting news of all: Leah's been invited to give a talk in Hamburg, Germany! We're going to Germany! Woo Hoo! She's going to be talking about her particle, the Bc (read: bee sub see) as well as another analysis and will get a full 25 minutes to talk. It's really super exciting. But, she definitely has to finish her analysis by mid-October (no problem, but her ass is currently on fire and I'm writing the post as she works). Interestingly enough, if the scheduling goes to plan, I'll be defending the Friday before we leave so it'll be defend, party (or drink alone in the corner should I not pass), then fly to German. Score.

Anyway, today we get a day off and then it's 11 miles with 6 at threshold. I think I just threw up in my mouth. Guh. That being said, this week and last look like the hardest week in all of the training, so we just have to survive and then next week has three (3!) recovery days. Now we just have to survive...