Happy Birthday To Me: 20 Miles and Breathe Deep Lake Arlington

This past weekend was jam packed! Saturday I signed up with a few other Team LUNGevity runners for a 20 miler in Elk Grove Village. While it wasn’t a timed race, it was set up like the marathon will be and was a great way to ‘practice’ for race day. When I arrived, I met up with Joy, Laura and Ken who are running with LUNGevity and raising money for lung cancer research and awareness as well! The weather was beautiful and I couldn’t have had a better group of people to run with! We ran the first 9 miles together and chatted about how we got involved with LUNGevity, the marathon and I even got a happy birthday tune out of my pace group! Around 9 miles I realized that pace groups might not be for me. I love the company and it was so nice to be running with Ken, Laura and Joy, but I need to take the water stations a little more slowly. So they went ahead and I took about a mile to settle back in. I kept up a good pace, but as I hit the water stations, I need to sip the water slowly and take about 10 walking steps before I start back running and that’s not something you can do while running with a pace group. I continued on and around mile 15 (a turn around point on the course) I waved hi to Ken, Joy and Laura! The next mile or so was tough but once I got to mile 17, I pumped up my music and ran an even pace through the end. The best part of the run was the finish (duh) — because Laura, Ken and Joy were all waiting at the end cheering me on!
Note: all three of them are (cough — a little) older than I am and they all beat me!!

We stretched, got some snacks and then walked the almost mile back to our cars! While I was sore on Sunday, I am very happy with how Saturday went! I cannot stress enough how exciting it was to be running with other Team LUNGevity members! It was great to have the support throughout the race! (and check out this link in the Sun Times. .  Laura and Joy are the runners in blue and orange in the second photo!)

After the race, I ran (okay hobbled) a few errands for Breathe Deep Lake Arlington and then headed over to my family party to celebrate (with cake AND pie made by my grandma)!

Sunday was a great day for Breathe Deep Lake Arlington! It’s nice to see all of your hard work come together and to have such a great turnout! Naomi, our coordinator did a wonderful job: we had the walk (amazing weather), refreshments, raffle, and face painters for the kids (and me)! Everyone had such a great time!

As for the running: it’s TAPER TIME!!! Until the marathon, my long runs get shorter and shorter (12, 8 and 2 miles)!

I also want to take a second to thank all of the amazing volunteers are the race on Saturday and at our event on Sunday! Especially to my sister (pictured below) for waking up early and helping all day! These people wake up early (now in the dark and cold weather) to hand out water to runners or set up tables for registration. I am so grateful for all of the volunteers that helped this weekend!