Saturday, July 26th

11 miles, moderate
80 degrees, sunny

This was supposed to be the first big workout for Chicago... but was probably one of the low points of my training this year. On paper I did all the right things to prepare for the run: I hydrated, went to bed early, and helped persuade the guy to start at 8. What I wasn't prepared for was the mild-food poisioning from my under-cooked burger the night before.

We met at Edward's Ferry planning to run Duel(ing) Ferries with a pickup towards the end of the run. I knew I wasn't up for the full 20 miles, but I planned to run about 16 with four hard miles near the end. By the time we were running through Kansas at mile 6 we were already running pretty hard, and my stomach was churning. I stopped eventually and shuffled back to Edward's Ferry with Dwyer. I hoped to just run 14 miles without the workout, but as the group began the second lap I was quickly dropped behind. I made it a mile out on the trail, and walked back. Between the heat, my stomach, and my weak knee, this was an awful run.