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Monday. I didn't run this morning because I drove Jules and the kids to the airport. They�re en route to Cleveland for a week and I already miss them. I didn't realize how much I was going to be aching until I heard "When You need Me" by Springsteen in the car on the way to LAX. My eyes are a little misty right now.



You know, before I started this whole journey to complete the marathon, I would have been a little excited to have a week to myself and just go see movies and act like a bachelor, knowing that they were coming home. But going through everything and making the effort to write about it has changed me. I miss them terribly.



During the last trip they took I finally figured out how to get to sleep at night. I just crowd all of the pillows in the bed against my back and sleep on the edge of the bed. Amazingly, I sleep like a baby (just like I do when I have Soph's knees in my back every night).



It's going to be a quiet week.



After doing a little cross training on Friday, I woke up and went off to run 14 miles on Saturday. It was a struggle, to say the least. Besides the physical challenges, there was a mental challenge as we were running our course in reverse. So, as we came up to the "turn around" point, I felt like we should have been completing our run.



My legs hurt badly by the end. I'm definitely going to be carrying some Advil on the runs from now on. That may be the key to getting through this monster because I know my feet were swelling up, and my legs were just so sore. Surprisingly, I wasn't as "tired" as I have been at the end of past runs. I mean, I could have gone the whole day without a nap. Alas, Julie forced me to lie down and sleep. Damn that woman!



Robert let us all know that 14 is the killer training number. He said that 16 and 18 will be easier. I don�t quite know how that's possible. Yet, each week I learn something new about the training and what it TAKES to finish the marathon. When I began the training I thought, "I'm just going to run the whole thing" (Remember that? Bwa ha ha ha! What was I thinking?) And I didn't have much faith in the whole "carry water and snacks with you" philosophies. Well, now I know. All of these little things are going to help me survive.



Trying to figure out whether I'll run tomorrow or just pick up on Wednesday. I'm supposed to work on the sound mix again tonight, so it might be a late one. Plus, my legs hurt this morning. When I told Jules, "My leg kind of hurts, don't know what I did." She replied matter of factly, "Uh, maybe you ran fourteen miles."



There's this wonderful Jayhawks song playing right now, from that same album I keep returning to. "Loving you for all the right reason..."



Can't wait until Jules and the kids get back.



Aloha

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