Another Brush With Greatness

Before I get into my most recent encounter with someone famous, I'd first like to thank all of you that have donated to FSMA. We're currently sitting at just under $3,000. I truly appreciate the generosity that has been shown in the few weeks that we have been fundraising. I really can't thank all of you enough for you support.

For those of you that have not yet had the chance to help the cause or are new to Running for Cru, you can get to the fundraising site by clicking the link just above this post. Cru's story can be read by clicking on the link at the top of the right maragin.

Now, on to the brush with greatness. Well, maybe not a brush. More of a breeze. When you compare him to the others (Mr. T, Jeff Tweedy, the Bin Laden look-a-like) I have bumped into over the last few months, it does stand out, especially if you are a runner. On my 20 miler on Sunday, I was on mile 14 or so when a blur of a man passed me. I was running somewhere around an 8:20 pace at the time. I had never seen anyone run that fast on the lake path. I thought, that has to be somebody. The Rock-N-Roll Chicago Half Marathon was going on at the same time, so I thought maybe it was someone getting in some extra miles. After doing some math and looking at my watch, there was no way one could have been done with the half and be that far north. So I waited to see this guy on the way back. Sure enough, despite that fact he was probably running a sub 6 minute pace, I could tell that it was this guy:



Yep. It was Ryan Hall. He currently holds the American record for a half marathon (59:43), finished 10th in the Beijing Olympics and finished third in the 2009 Boston Marathon. He was running too fast for me to even yell out his name after I confirmed it was him. He always looked bigger on TV, but as it turns out, he's only 5'10". I later found out he was in town for the race (not running it though) promoting some things for Nissan.

Besides that, the week was pretty normal. There's a guy at work who happens to be a Facebook friend who has seen a couple of my mileage status updates. He seems concerned that I am running too much and asked me if I was worried that I could break my heel off. Seriously.

Lastly, July was a record month for me, as I finished with 277.1 miles. I am feeling good and am looking forward to August, which should be another new monthly record. I also have a 10K at the end of the month that I am pretty excited for.

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Last Week
Monday- 7.1 Recovery @ 9:06, 126 AHR
Tuesday - AM 4 Recovery @ 9:22, 131 AHR, PM 6.1 Recovery @ 9:17, 128 AHR
Wednesday - 13.6 Mile MLR @ 8:14, 149 AHR
Thursday - 6.15 Recovery @ 9:32, 123 AHR
Friday- 11.15 Mile LT, with 6 @ 6:51, AHR 173
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 20 Mile LR @ 8:24, 141 AHR
68.2 Miles total, another new personal nest

This Week
Monday- 7.1 Recovery- DONE
Tuesday - 15 Mile MLR
Wednesday - 4 Recovery AM, 6 Recovery PM
Thursday - 7 Recovery with 6x100 strides
Friday- 13 Mile MLR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 16 Mile LR with 12 @ Goal Marathon Pace
67 Planned Miles, although I am currently on pace to go a little over.