Kelly's Final Countdown

Here we are! A little more than a week to go and my last long run finished today!!! Ran at the Jacksonville gym again today for 8 miles before I ran out of time. It just amazes me that it's not that hard any more. Sure it makes me really tired, my feet are sore, and I have absolutely no energy left in my body, but the process is not that bad. The knees seem to be fine now with the miracle straps from last week and my body seems to miss it when I don't run for a few days. Imagine that! The hardest part now is finding a way to get through the boredom after about 4 miles. Today I cranked up the music and did a lot of daydreaming. At the six mile mark I exchanged some text messages with Susan which is quite dangerous when you have coordination issues. That entertained me a bit. Then I started getting really hungry. That will teach me to skip lunch on a long run day. Of course, since it was my Tuesday run in Jacksonville, I had some nice folks to look at which also helps. Much to my disappointment, Red Shirt Guy and White Shirt Guy stood me up. OK, maybe I didn't even talk to them last week, just watched them, but they should have known anyway right?? Well, just when I was about to quit for the night at the 7.5 mile mark, I saw a flash of red out of the corner of my eye (pull up bar of course) and there was Red Shirt Guy. In a red shirt. Which of course distracted me for the last half mile as I tried to determine if he only owns red shirts........or if he read the blog.........

As for financing the sport, who would have thought it would be so expensive. I was, um, too tired to notice the speed limit change on my way home and I got to meet another nice police officer. Not even the short running shorts and tank top helped. Well, I guess I did smell kinda bad......

So here's the last week leading to the grand finale. Saturday is the "Run for the Ta-Tas" 5k for breast cancer in Wilmington. On Tuesday, I will run a couple miles for my stress management, but taking it easy. On Thursday afternoon, we get on a plane and head for Baltimore. Friday is a health expo at the Inner Harbor where we have to pick up our "stuff" (whatever that is I have no idea) and then Saturday is the big day! At this point, I know I can make it, I know I will finish, I know it won't be fast, and I'm just hoping I can walk onto the plane on Sunday to go home. Better than anything is that I get to spend some time with my sister Karen and my evil friend Susan who got me into this in the first place.

Greg, I have earned my chocolate. Now if I can just get someone to bring it to me.......