"It's a Miracle!" shouted Kelly.

Less than three weeks to go. Today I feel good about it. Tomorrow may be another story. I didn't run much last week and I can't even remember why. The days fly by and I lose track of what happened when. This week's "long run", on paper, was supposed to be 11 miles. Yeah right. Apparently the people who make the training calendar are not single moms with full time jobs, a 45 minute commute and 4 days a week of soccer! Oh yeah, I promised no whining this week. Like a true runner, I did stop at Omega Sports between soccer games and spent more money on cool running shorts, a shirt that wisks away the sweat, a fanny pack water bottle thingy, and some Glide to keep my chafing parts from chafing. I asked if they had bionic knees, the answer was no. Gotta find a new store! Then I bought YET ANOTHER iPod because I lost the one I just bought. Fabulous!

Now back to that 11 miles. How?? So, I figured I could save an hour if I ran at the gym rather than driving somewhere with trails. Running was the perfect plan for Sunday because I was FRUSTRATED with my laptop and the iPod and most everything that morning. I had something to burn off! The first 3 miles were great! I think I can actually say now that a 3 mile run is almost EASY!! Can't believe I'd ever say that! Then it went downhill fast. My phone was vibrating away and I decided to ignore it. After a few more calls, I figured I should check since I'd left my darling children home alone. (No worries, they are old enough.) Well, it was a crisis of grand proportion requiring 3 calls and a text in 5 minutes. NFL Sunday Ticket was not working and the Ravens game would be on in 3 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a deep breath, and another mile to run off the frustration, therefore protecting the life of my oldest son, I gave up and went home. The 11 mile run turned into 4. It was a good 4, but 4.

This week I have class for work on my Greg days so no Greg. I promised him I'd go to the Jacksonville gym while I was away and he gave me a list of weight trainy things to do and advised me to find a muscly marine to help me. Um, well, I lost the paper. Don't tell Greg. BUT, I did go to the Jacksonville gym today. It's right down the road from my afternoon school so I was there, changed, and on the treadmill by 3. It was raining so no outside running considered. My goal today was to see how long I could run without taking a walking break. The other day, when talking to a much more experienced runner, she told me that if I can run 9 miles, I can make it 13 somehow someway. There's a plan. Problem is, I haven't really "run" more than 5 miles. My 8 milers were a lot of walking - remember the failing knees? Anyway, I was going to see how far I could go without walking with the idea of not settling for less than 3 miles straight and hoping for more, but being careful of the knees. I stopped at Dick's and spent MORE money on knee strap thingys that are supposed to keep my legs attached. Well, right about mile 3, a very attractive person of the male species (known from here on as Red Shirt Guy) walked by my treadmill, jumped up onto the pull up bar and knocked out 20 in a matter of seconds while looking like he was lifing a feather. He was weight training happy go lucky and I was enjoying watching him. :) So before I knew it I was at mile 4. And guess what??? NO KNEE PAIN!! NOTHING HURT!! The $30 in knee strap thingys was a true miracle!! Woohoo! So I thought maybe a little more. Then another person, White Shirt Guy (which soon became transulcent from sweat white shirt guy-nice), got on the treadmill next to me and I was suddenly motivated to run a while longer. Around mile 5 my iPod was playing Rocky music and White Shirt Guy mysteriously started air boxing while running. ??? Strange, but hit me as quite funny at the time. I had to suck up the laughter and focus on breathing. White Shirt Guy was NOT going to outrun me. Well, ok, yeah, he was in WAY better shape so I was hallucinating at that point. The air drumming that he started soon after made me have to stop and tie my shoe so I wouldn't fall off the treadmill laughing. Before I knew it, I was at mile 6. Well then, Red Shirt Guy was bench pressing right in front of me so what's one more mile.......and Walah - 7 miles and I felt fine. No pain, just hungry and out of time. The lesson of the day is...wear the miracle knee strap thingies and find the right distractions and you can run on an on! Some Advil and some icing and I can still walk like a normal person tonight. Nice.

So same time, same place Friday Red Shirt and White Shirt Guys, please??? Better yet, see you in Baltimore in a couple weeks?????? :-)