Philly was fun...

had a great time running the Philadelphia RNR Half Marathon this weekend... it was cool and sunny, the course was pretty, I had a friend to run with, and we got to run up the stairs at the end like Rocky Balboa...

felt pretty great, like all this training is actually paying off. who would have thought?!!

then i made the mistake of looking at the Baltimore Marathon elevation chart, and get this... it starts with a 3 mile climb.... followed by a 3 mile descent... a little bit of flat in the middle, then another hill.

oof!

feeling daunted.

so, i went out to run some hills last night. and this evening.... just 25 days to go.

i'll be ready.

now i just have to get to a serious move on with the fundraising.

**claps hands, throws them in the air and shouts "YES!**

a great big thank you

to the anonymous person who so generously donated $100 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via my fundraising website  this afternoon.... thank you so much.

advances made in research to find a cure for blood cancers has led to advances in treatments for other cancers as well....

your donation will help to save lives.

oh hey! i'm racing in 4 days... how did that happen?

so... i signed up to run the Rock & Roll Half Marathon in Philadelphia with my friend Lisa about 7 months ago.... and promptly forgot all about it.

get this... it's this weekend! good job Competitor Group sent me some e-mails or i would have missed it altogether.

fortunately, i'm scheduled to run 12 miles on Saturday anyway... so, i'll just tack on an extra mile, and some crowd support and some music,  a new race t-shirt and a shiny new medal... and call it training. why not?!

my experience of Philly is limited to a quick stop in the airport. looking forward to seeing a little bit of the city from the ground.

and thank goodness the temperatures are expected to drop, because this 95 degrees and humid nonsense is totally getting me down.

the dogs and i went walking with the neighbours this evening, after the sun went down... and it was still 87 degrees. we got a mile in, and a little romp in the back yard before they were banging on the doors to be let back inside for some ice cubes and some AC.

29km run tomorrow (sounds even more impressive than 18 miles)

clothes are laid out for the morning...

camelback is filled, snacks are in the pockets...

towel and bag of ice cubes are prepped...

banana bread is baked and cooling.

guess i'm about as ready as i'm going to be for our 18 miler!!