The taper.

The anticipation is growing. Cubs Playoffs start tomorrow, Biden disects Palin on Thursday and in 12 days, I run the Marathon. Holy crap. I am so excited it's getting hard to keep it in.

Before I comment about how my 20 mile run helped me prepare, I owe a few long overdue shout outs..

1) Michelle "Mish" Seitz. The most bad ass massage therapist ever. Mish kindly donated a pre and post massages to me. She is the tiniest person but is insanely strong and knows how to inflict pain...in a good way!

2) Nicole Console. Neighbor and hostess with the mostess. Reads my blog religiously and posted a supremely inspiring comment after my 20 miler bummer post.

3) DeMarkus Purham. Watch for this kid. He's going to be something. DeMarkus did the incredible, one of a kind, art piece in our ballroom and generously agreed to try to capture a vision I had one morning running in a sketch for t-shirts for the fam on Marathon day. (equal shout to Jerry and Jeff at PSN for doing the shirts for us!) If you're Chicagoans, check out (and buy) DeMarkus' work at the Streeterville Artisans Market on November 7 & 8 at Northwestern's Lurie Center downtown.

4) Hillary "Hill" Cavan. The person who inspired me 2 years ago to take this journey and my biggest fan along the way. Couldn't have done it with her. Starting last week, Hill has been posting new marathon maps with the countdown on my door. Each points out different points along the path and an inspirational saying or race tip!

Thanks to each of you. You rock!

So, Sunday, I ran a half marathon. Not an organized one. Just me and the trail. It was perfect and just what I needed. Got my head in the right place and I enjoyed visions of crossing the finish line with friends and family cheering me on! The run took me over 100 miles for September. My biggest month ever.

So, what happened on 9/21. The Nike Ready to Run 20 miler. Amazing course. North from Foster for a 1/2 mile before turning south and running the lakefront path south to the South Shore Cultural Center, a hidden gem in our great city and a helluva long way from our starting point. Post race party in the park and buses to bring us back to Foster. A really amazing race.

I was super excited about this race and anxiously waited for the day to come. Well, in case you haven't guessed it...the run didn't go as planned. My last long run before 10.12 and I needed it to go well. Lesson be learned...if you are hosting a 1200 person event with Cindy Crawford (ei chi wa wa ) that goes to 12:30am and you have a race that starts at 6:30 am....you might not have a great run. Add huge humidity (reaching a Red warning level 2/3rd's in) and you should expect to struggle on 4 hours sleep. Regardless, I expected more of myself than I delivered. I ran 12 strong miles including passing the hardcore tailgaters preparing for the Bears game, taunting us as they stirred their bloody mary's and opened their Bud Lights in slow motion as we ran by. My breakdown happened at the aid station just past 12 miles. Training for the marathon includes learning how to fuel on the run. Rule is....walk the water stations. So, I had at miles 3, 6 and 9. At 12, I lost the mental game. After drinking 1 water and pouring 1 down my back, I chose to extend my walk to the next lightpost and then the next and the next, justifying each that if i did this now, i'd have legs to finish. It was a fatal mistake. I then justified 2 minutes of walking every mile. That grew and soon I was walking and running equal parts. It was easy to make this choice as many others, including many younger and fitter than I, made the same choice. I have trained alone to prove I can self motivate through tough miles. I learned in this race that I need to be much stronger mentally to not fall victim to excuses and self imposed "peer pressure". At the end of the day, I did it. I completed 20 miles and ran across the finish line. I learned a new degree of sore and enjoyed re-occurring and new blisters. Now, I'm tapering and in the long wait to 10/12. I can't prepare anymore except to learn from my 5 months of training and get ready mentally to run 26 miles 385 yards.

We have raised 113% if my goal, but those who know me, know that this is not enough. I am part of a larger team called Team LUNGevity and we have a goal of $35,000. We broke $30k today, but have $5k to go. As the "motivational speaker wannabe" I am, I sent a challenge to the LUNGevity team, urging them to fight for the tough dollars as they fought through the tough miles. Obviously, after issuing this challenge, we must carry our own weight. Please continue to network for donations. Together we can make the $35k goal for Team LUNGevity!

As always...thanks for reading.
P