It’s all come down to this week. Week 17. The one that we’ve been dreading. The one that has loomed on our calendars for months. Click here to go back and read week 1!

Week 17:

Monday: Rest–if there were an Olympic event for this, we would so totally win.

Tuesday: 4 miles in 42m, 30s with an average of 10:38 min/mi. I couldn’t manage to peel myself out of bed early in the morning so I ran after work at the gym.

Wednesday: CT. The usuals :).

Thursday: 6 miles in 1:05:10 with an average 10:52 min/mi. Another weekday 6 mile run in the books!

Friday: CT or Rest. Rest.

Long Run Saturday–20 miles in 4:12:26 with an average of 12:37 min/mi. We opted to run 20 loops in our neighborhood. Our friend joined us for 10 miles right in the middle of the run. It was a welcome distraction!

The last two miles we were on our own. My husband played “Detroit Rock City” as we ran the last half mile to get our minds focused on the cool city where we will, Lord willing, complete our first marathon. When we finished, my husband grabbed me in a huge hug. Man, we were gross with sweat and a mirage of smells, but we didn’t care. He reminded me of the fear we felt exactly 3 years ago when I was diagnosed. And how far God has brought us. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would find ourselves waking up at 4 am and running 20 miles on a Saturday morning, but we feel like God is using this time to show us just how awesome He is at doing the unbelievable and the impossible.

Sunday: 3 mi EZ. No, not so much, but we did adult all weekend even after running 20 miles so I was impressed with that!

So, the final assessment of week 17:

95%… A+ and when it counted most. We are trained folks. It’s all taper from here until race day!!!

THANK YOU for all the prayers, cheers, encouragement, and well wishes on our run last Saturday! We needed that good run so badly. God met us out there on the road and I’m so thankful!