Lots happened. I just didn't blog about it.

So much has happened over the past month.  SO VERY MUCH.  Time for an update!

1) Colorama 2012: I ran my 10k in Milwaukee.  Well, outside of Milwaukee at Lapham Peak Park.  It was very beautiful:

Foliage!

The weather was great.  There was no Mr. Wisconsin Sun to mess things up.  Everything was perfect....except that you may have noticed one crucial word in the park's name: peak.  Yes, that means that there were hills.  In fact, Lapham Peak ascends to 1233 feet.  As you may recall, I am not very good at running hills or, as I learned, peaks.

What I do know is that I did just about as much as I could.  And I was stiff for the next 4 days.  And my legs were tired.  But hey, I worked hard.  The sad part is that I was still faster than the Beach to Beacon because while I may suck at hills, I totally suck in heat/humidity.

2) The Fall: no, not a pretty foliage kind of fall.  A hitting my head on concrete kind of fall.  This happened during my 16-mile long run (I have been keeping up with the long runs, even though I haven't blogged about them.  Twenty is coming up this weekend).  I tripped on slightly raised pavement and went chin first into the ground.  I also lost about 1/4 of my front tooth because I chipped it--I need to add here that it didn't hurt at all, although it was a pretty significant chip.  It was not nice.

I did get up and run another two miles, which made me feel like I was some kind of NFL tough guy or something.  Then I realized that this was probably an incredibly stupid idea since I had hit my head and there was no one there to see me if I ran into trouble.  So I went home and finished on the treadmill.

The result of the fall was a crown for my front tooth.  Not my favorite day.

3) After the Fall: as you do, I was worried for the next few runs that I would fall again and do something equally annoying as chipping my tooth.  I think that I may be dragging my left foot every once in a while and I definitely need new shoes.  But I have managed to get out since, including for the 18-mile long run, without incident.  So now I am mostly on track and ready to go.

Coming up: 20-mile run on Sunday (whoo!  Last of the long runs!!!!), then a 5k the next weekend.  This may not be my best idea, but I am out of town for a conference and I am supposed to run 4M according to the schedule.  I'm going to try and hold back, although I know that I'm not good at that.  We'll see.

I'm toying with the idea of trying to run a race in all 50 states.  So far I have Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.  So that's over 10%!  Plus I will get Louisiana after the 5k next weekend.  It's always good to have goals.