This past Saturday I ventured out for my 18 mile training run for the Chicago Marathon. As I have mentioned in several of my previous posts, training in this Atlanta summer has been quite difficult. From the humidity to the heat, my pace has suffered greatly. But I am pushing forward toward the reward of crossing the finish line in Chicago on October 9.

Several observations about this particular training run…

• I got out to the Cochran Shoals Trail by the Chattahoochee River before it was even light out. I knew with 18 miles on the schedule, this was going to take a while. It was kinda weird to get in my first several miles with hardly anyone else at the park.

• I updated my music playlist the night before with about 30 new songs. I think that helps quite a bit when I’m able to have new music to listen to. Especially with runs that take several hours.
• I sweat a lot. Like a lot.
• I struggled during the final 3 miles. More than I was expecting. I honestly got a little worried I wasn’t going to be able to finish around mile 16. But I pushed through.

• Colder weather can’t get here soon enough. I am hoping even for just a small dip in the temperature by my 20 mile training run in 3 weeks.
• Running for a long time by yourself can get very lonely.
• I’m super pumped to run at Disneyland this coming weekend!

After back to back weekends of Half Marathons, I will attempt my last long run of 20 miles before tapering down for 2 weekends. Hard to believe it’s only 40 days away!