Ah, the Pain sets In

Think about it, for three months, you run every day and essentially tear the fibers that are your muscle fibers every single one of them. Ice baths, stretching and rest get you close to feeling better, but you are never far from the pain.
To me this is a good thing! It means I am training properly. It is not a pain that has you beginning for demerol, but a pain that gives you some satisfaction that you earned it, and that when the pains stops you will be all the better off for it.
I closed last week off with three 10 mile runs in five days, which may not seem like much, and believe it is not compared to the pros, but for me, it got me. I gave a 20 miler a shot Sunday morning, but with only one GU, not nearly enough water, and a 4 am start time.
Monica are going to work the schedule so that this Sunday night I will be able to get one in. Thank goodness! There is no way I will be able to ever finish one in the morning.
This morning was great though. 10 miles, 1:09:54, enough said. Did I mention the humidity was almost 100%? By the time things cool off and I am a little stronger, I think I can get down to 1:05 on a training run, which bodes very very well for the race in October.
The plane tickets are bought by the way, at least according to my mom they are, so I guess I am still going :).
The rest of the week is going to be a little easier, some good distance, but less speed so that I can be ready for the 20 miler.
I am now a fifth of the way towards my goal of $1000 as of today, but as of yet, still have not laid into the actual effort, most I have asked have given or at least made a verbal commitment, so I think that will go well.
Monica and I will hopefully be going to either the Ronald McDonald House or The Target House at St. Jude soon to either serve pancakes, or play bingo. It will break our hearts, but we want to be able to show love to these families and these kids in a tangible way besides just raising money and running in a shirt that promotes awareness. Anything we can do to be redemptive in a time of so much stress, worry, and hurt to these families would be such a blessing to us.