12 Weeks To Go!

12 Weeks from yesterday I run Chicago. I'm pretty stoked about it, now that I'm within the 3-month mark, it seems like it's really getting up there.
It was a pretty slow-going week. I had a big (fun) event on campus at Nike that prevented me from really getting my proper mileage and tempo for my midweek runs, so I tried to make up the mileage on Saturday with a quick little warmup before my strength class, but to be honest, I just couldn't pull off the tempos this week that I was hoping for. I always remind my clients that progress is never linear, and we all get those days when it feels like we're putting in our all and just not getting the "oomph" we need, but ...it's just never fun or encouraging to suffer through those workouts. In times like that my mantra is "Money in the bank." The money being the miles, and the bank is the marathon. Even the shitty miles add to the strength I'll rely on come October 12.
Yesterday I ran my first 20 of the training cycle, and since I prefer hills to stoplights, I ran up Cornell (almost 1000 foot gain from my house to Skyline), headed downtown, then headed back up Vista to near Council Crest, adding another 800 feet of elevation. Uphill was slow-going, but I had a couple nice cruises downhill, which was quite nice. 
I re-read a quote this weekend that always resonates with me when I come across it, and I drew on that while slogging up Vista: "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."