Finished. Now time for an ice bath!

(Pictures to follow)

Short & sweet tonight because we should be resting.

I just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you that donated money, bought a t-shirt or sent words of support and encouragement. They told us tonight that we’ve raised $1, 091, 333 this season. WOW.

And if you’re bored, you can follow our progress on the San Diego R & R marathon website. If you don’t see me move for a while, it’s because I’ve stopped somewhere for a sandwich and a beer! I wish….

xoxo Karin

 (G2 - a 3% solution that we are supposed to guzzle for the 2 days right before the marathon so that our electrolytes are all stored up. We’re also supposed to eat carbs and more salt than usual - hello McDonald’s fries!)

Only 2 days ’til the marathon now. We’re headed to San Diego first thing in the morning so that we can pick up our “race” numbers, check into the hotel and R-E-L-A-X before the big day. I put “race” in quotations because I think it’s funny that people keep wishing me good luck in the “race.” There will be no racing here. Maybe somewhere at the front there’s a Kenyan or a Nigerian that thinks this is a race. I actually heard that first place gets you a car! But, if you’re that FAST I don’t think you need a car. They should give a car to the last person that finishes the marathon.

They also start you in corrals according to your estimated finish time. The people that think it’s a race start in corral 1. The slow people are way, way, WAY in the back. I’m in corral 23 and I think Frank said he’s in 26 or something. I understand that the fast people will run us down if we are in front of them (and I wouldn’t blame them) but now the SLOW PEOPLE HAVE TO RUN FURTHER. It could be a half mile farther. And when you’ve already got 26.2 in front of you, I don’t want to run an extra INCH.

Our last big team run was this morning - an easy 8 miles. Wait - did I just say 8 miles is easy? It really, honestly was an easy run. Sure, I’m sore but that’s just to be expected. The weather was great for running - cool and overcast. My silly velcro knee band did whatever it is that it’s supposed to do. It was easy. I do need to go and get some new shoes and break them in this week. The inside of my arches are starting to hurt early on and I think that’s a sign that the shoe is breaking down.

We got our purple TNT race jerseys after practice - which we’ll be decorating tomorrow at Sarah’s  Memorial Day BBQ. Woo Hoo. It’s almost over. And the sickest thing is that Frank, Emily and I were already talking about the Long Beach Marathon. Seriously? I think we’d better finish this one first before we think about doing ANOTHER one!

With less then 2 weeks til the San Diego Marathon and a bad case of runner’s knee, I figured that a little outside inspiration would go a long way right now.  So I picked up a copy of a book called Ultra Marathon Man: Confessions of an all-night runner. It’s written by Dean Karnazes, an ultra-marathon runner. Ultra marathons are anywhere from 50 to 100 to 150 miles long! And, more often than not, the conditions of the trail are pretty nasty: mountains, dessert heat, snow and ice.

I cannot put this book down. It’s truly amazing what the human body can do once you get past the mental blocks. This guy encounters paralyzing cramps, near blindness by dehydration and yet he still keeps running. When he can’t run he walks. When he can’t walk, he crawls. This book is definitely giving me the inspiration to see this thing though. It’s also scaring the crap out of me! Yikes!

Even if you don’t run, you should read this book. It’s an amazing story. Plus, he orders pizza while he’s running. And that’s pretty awesome. If anyone wants to bring me a pizza around mile 19 I like pepperoni, tomatoes and mushrooms.