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On Sunday morning while my husband and most of my friends were still sleeping, I got up at 4am to finish prepping to host a brunch for the Women's Olympic Marathon. We knew Kara, Shalane, and Desi had worked their butts off and we wanted to see them represent the U.S.! Who was crazy enough to come to my house before the sun rise to drink some booze and cheer for the USA? These ladies!

Back: me, Kate S, Maggie, Amanda C, Amanda W, Susan Front: Sara, Nicole

Thanks to this article on Buzz Feed, I got some great ideas on some things to do for decorations and food.

star cookie cutter + watermelon

"Beers of the World" L to R: Japan, Mexico, Belgium, USA, Ireland

Then other folks brought casseroles, fruit, booze, and other stuff too.

Drinking a mimosa at 5:30am while watching Kara and Shalane lead the pack. #winning

In case you haven't seen the latest issue of Runners World that describes the course, it had tons of turns (110 to be exact) and did the same loop 3 times. Also, we kept checking the weather and temps were in the mid 60s with 85% humidity. That humidity looked like a killer and the athletes out there were soaked with rain and sweat. It looked positively miserable out there and I felt so bad for our ladies. The Internet was a-flutter the days before the race regarding Desi Davila and whether or not she would start.

Spoiler Alert! Desi started but she didn't finish. She is such a strong runner so I can only image her disappointment to not feel 100% on race day. Shalane and Kara gave it all they got and finished 10th and 11th, respectively. Neither athlete put up a PR but Shalane was pretty dang close. With those conditions including the course, that is quite impressive. Even though these women didn't win the gold, they didn't give up without a fight and proudly represented our country. There are tons of photos of Shalane and Kara after their finish, with their arms around each other for support. It is such a moving image and a great demonstration of these women. (I don't want to post and risk copyright infringement stuff. BORING...) These Olympics so far have been so inspiring in so many ways!!

Remember that today is the LAST DAY to enter my Pro Compression raffle! The winner will be chosen tomorrow morning!

Lately I have been reviewing the thought of having a coach. Yesterday I took the plunge and will be starting new workouts and a new plan next week. Who is my coach? Why Chicago Runner Girl, Britt! I heard super awesome things from Kim about her and I'm excited to greater explore my potential! :)

As what has become a Thursday night tradition, I met the folks at the FNRC for our Thursday night run.

L to R: Nicole, Kate LF, Genevieve, Wayne, Susan NMc, Maggie, me

We had some time to kill while waiting for everyone to come so Maggie and I wanted to take some awesome photos, just hanging with our besties... Shalane and Kara.

Original Source. Special thanks to Maggie!

Last night I wanted to give a tempo run another shot as I was disappointed with things the first time around. Maggie and I talked earlier in the day that we would do the workout together. My goal was to do a 1 mile warm up, 3 miles at tempo (under 8 minutes), and 1 mile cool down. Tempo mile 1 was nice and we hit 7:55. I was really happy with this first split. Maybe I can figure out this tempo thing?! At the halfway point, we turned around and I realized why the 1st mile felt nice--tailwind. We were now heading into a headwind for the 2nd part of our tempo. Despite the headwind, we kept on track and finished mile 2 in 7:53. Only one mile to go! The last mile had no talking which means we were doing it right, right? My stomach started to bother me here as it was on empty. Note: plan better afternoon snacks for Thursday night runs. Despite this, we finished our last tempo mile in 7:52. I was so happy that we met our splits and I had someone to share in the misery/fun! I feel really happy and confident after this workout and more prepared for the Palos Half Marathon next weekend. More to come on that later...

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Champaign/Urbana to cheer on my marathon pal Amanda as she completes her 2nd marathon!  I'm going to run part of the race with her so I'll try to put together a "spectator" report if my phone isn't ruined due to the impending rain. Best of luck to all of those running and racing this weekend!

P.S. Have you entered my Oiselle Raffle yet? Every $3 donation to Open Heart Magic = 1 entry. Thanks y'all!