I had full intentions of running the marathon. I even got my clothes ready and doctored my feet up before I went to bed. Look how cute our clothes are next to each other. Don’t you just want to eat that up. And yes, Kenza’s feet are nearly bigger than mine. She even wrote Runner Susan’s Daughter on her shirt. She’s the best baby ever! And the fastest. She ran the 5k in 30:09, with no training.

And still, I don’t know what to say except when I woke up in the morning I just couldn’t do it. There was no life in me to run a marathon. My ankle is still bothering me, it’s not worse, but it sure isn’t better. I’m really down about it and I think I have the post-marathon blues. I need a new goal (other than Chicago) and I need to start putting in some miles. Today after school Kenza and I are going to run 3 miles together and that makes me so happy I want to cry.

I’m a loser. I woke up this morning and just didn’t have it in me to run another marathon. I’m exhausted.

I took Kenza to run her 5k though, and she did great! I’ll have pictures up of her later.

Okay, so I’m not sure how this is going to work. My cankle is still slightly cankley, but I figure it will decide how far I go tomorrow. Hopefully it’s all the way. I’m a little nervous that I’m number 99. I think there are only 100 total marathoners, which means I’ll be last. And if so, so be it. Cheers to 2 marathons in 6 days!

They claim you can track me at mychiptime, but I’m not so sure since it didn’t work for Austin.

I ran ten miles this morning, albeit not as fast as I would like – but it was stupid windy and 77 degrees. Poor me. I still felt pretty strong and did a fair amount of walking towards the end.

Here is what my next few weeks look like: tomorrow I have plyometric leg torture, Wednesday 5 miles, Thursday leg torture again and Saturday the Texas Half Marathon.

The following Sunday, Feb 17th is the Austin Full Marathon and the following Saturday, Feb 23rd is the Cowtown Full Marathon. So, it’s half, full, full for the next few weekends. Am I crazy? I did not get a long, long run in during this marathon training go around (thank you cold, illness and laziness) so I figure I’ll just use races as my long run and bippity boppity bacon I’ll be fast someday.

I’d like to qualify for the Boston Marathon sometime before I turn 40, which doesn’t leave me much time, and I don’t think only running one marathon a year is going to get me there. So this year, I’d like to run at least five full marathons and a whole gob of halfs. So that’s my plan for 2008: race, race, race, race.

The Good

My very nasty cold/itchy sore throat/horrible sneezy mucousy mess is finally over (mostly), and while I was recovering I got to lie in bed for several days and watch the entire first season of Heroes.

The day after I recovered, my Mom, Sister Runner Amy and her sweet and adorable kids arrived from Indiana for a visit. We’ve had a great time swimming, playing cowboy and hanging out just doing family things. They left this morning and I miss them already.

I did some running too, with Amy, for the first time in a week. And I felt great – better than great, I was climbing hills like crazy – mile 1 was 9:40. This really surprised me because I was expecting to keel over and die after mile one. I didn’t and I suspect it has something to do with the plyometric leg torture I’ve been doing twice a week for the past two months.

The Bad

I missed my long run again and my marathon is on February 17th. For some reason I’m not worried and I know I should be. I feel really strong and I hope that feeling isn’t misconstrued due to the fact that I’ve been walking around in a NyQuil induced coma for several days.

The Ugly

I’m constipated; my house has been 2 and 4-year-oldized. Throw in a puppy and you got yourself one hell of a madhouse – and contrary to popular belief, I am not a neat freak. I just like things picked up, wiped off, void of fingerprints, paw prints, and stuff put in its rightful place. And that doesn’t make me a neat freak, it makes me special – in all the wrong ways. It’s not that bad when things are out of place, it just makes Aunt Suzie constipated. But constipated in a good and loving way. The kids are really sweet and love their Aunt Suzie, so that makes it all worthwhile.

The Crazy

I’ve registered for the Cowtown Marathon, which is February 23rd – SIX days after I run the Austin Marathon. I know I can run both IF I don’t have blisters from Austin. I’m currently working on a blister-free marathon plan. Feel free to pass along any suggestions.