I just came home from the gym which means I am “clocked out” for the day.  Although I still need to make dinner, I can’t help but get my blog out on the computer.  With the marathon quickly approaching, I guess I was feeling a little sentimental as I went for my second run through the meadow Andrew and I got married in and through a grove of changing Aspen trees.  The leaves on the wind sounded like rushing water and their color was magnificent in yellows and oranges.  On the run I reflected on this morning’s tempo run.  It was my fastest 10 mile tempo in about four years which, given my leap of fitness every week, has me excited and confident for the Chicago marathon just two weeks away.  I was excited during this tempo because I dug down for something greater when I needed to.  This run was important and I gave myself a little pep talk half-way through the workout.  I needed to find some form of strength right then or I would not have the tools to persevere during the marathon.  Although I was beginning to fatigue, I knew there was something greater inside of me.  Andrew was shouting encouragement from the van.  My teammates Mike McKeeman and Josh Cox had shorter tempos runs because of their half-marathon races in Philadelphia last week.  That is where my answer came.  Although it was going to be my strongest tempo in some years, Mike and Josh jumped out of the team van and ran my last mile with me.  They pushed me.  Hard.  I have never been able to close a run with my fastest mile but my teammates brought the best out of me.  They were the strength I was searching for.  I have always been grateful for my teammates, but this morning moved me.  Literally and figuratively.  This morning will be imbedded in my mind when the going gets tough in Chicago.  At the 20-mile mark, I expect to pull out the image of Mike and Josh and let them help me the last 6.2 miles of the race.  There is strength in numbers and there is nothing like a team when you are trying to accomplish a difficult task.