Upcoming race– SLO Marathon 13.1

Focus– Keep on with the 4x a week.

16 weeks into the year already?  How did that happen?  I am not prepared for it to be halfway through April.  I feel like the past few weeks are nothing but a blur.  There has been running, eating, some mindless tv watching and some staring into space.  I haven’t been sleeping well, I think the bags under my eyes are permanent features now.   Enough whining, let’s get to the running!

Monday- Rest  Ha!  2 days post Firehouse and I was walking a little crooked.   I thought I was hiding it well but the first thing an employee said to me was “are you limping?’.  Just call me gimpy.   Getting up onto my chair and then down was definitely amusing.    But in shiny news- Meet Mel!   

  The week before was actually my 9 year anniversary at work and they (my boss) got me a new fish!

  
Tuesday- 3 miles  After work I headed to the lake path to take things nice and easy.   The first mile was rough but miles 2 and 3 felt pretty decent.   I kept it short on purpose and I wish that was all I had to say about Tuesday but it’s not.   Next post will cover the excitement though.

  
Wednesday- 4.59ish miles   I was running with NikeC and somehow I accidentally paused my Garmin .25 miles in.  I didn’t figure it out until we hit the turn around point 2ish miles later.  Waah!!!  No!    I may not be focusing on my pace these days (yet) but I am paying close attention to my mileage totals as I am trying to do this whole marathon training thing smartly.   Luckily, she has the Runkeeper app on her phone.   Other than the technical issue, it was a good run.  My calves were a little achy but I expected that going in.   I am really starting to like running with friends.

Thursday/ Friday- Rest  Both of these days are a huge blur truthfully.   I worked and ate cookies.  More on that below.

Saturday- 13 miles- 11:16 pace  Going into this weekend, I knew I was overly tired, stressed and emotional.   I had originally planned for a 14 mile long run and a 6 mile easy run.  By Friday evening, I had decided that anything I did was more than fine even if I chose to do nothing at all.   That said, I headed out to attempt a long run early Saturday morning.  8:30 is early to me.

  
I was a little stiff the first few miles but soon loosened up.  Per usual, crossing the bridge was my fastest mile-9:48.  Slightly slower though as I had to detour through the Albertson’s parking lot due to road construction.    Miles 6, 8 and 11 were real struggles.  My pace dropped into the high 11 minute range.    I wasn’t 100% present.   By mile 8, I had also confirmed that my Nike’s are not long run shoes.  11 miles in and I was adjusting my stride because it felt like my entire right arch was turning into one huge blister.   Part of me wanted to stop and check but I was also afraid to.  My stomach cramped really badly in mile 12 and I walked most of it.   I recovered for mile 13 but I was thankful I had called for a pick up.   13 was way farther than I thought I was going to get in.  And my arch?  Completely fine.   I don’t get it, I felt like my skin was on fire.

 

 
Sunday- 4.2 miles   This was intended to be a run/walk with my mom.   It was a very warm day and we headed out in the afternoon so I knew it was going to be slower.    And it really was- in fact I only ran about 1/4 of a mile.   My left knee felt off and my left groin? area felt tight.    I decided walking was just fine.  I was outside, my legs were moving and I could use it to help me get used to the warmer weather.

All in all, not a bad running week.    I actually got in more miles than I thought I would.   I am going to call that a win for the week.

Life-  Sometimes real life rears its head.  I admit that I don’t deal well when that happens.   My family has been dealing with some bad news, but part of that was waiting for the inevitable, final bad news.    The last few weeks have all blurred, I got all clenched up every time I saw my cell phone ring.   That call came Friday.  I’m still not processing well.  I don’t know when I will.

That’s not really how I wanted to end this post but I seem to have written my way into a corner.   At least for now.

How was your week?

Anyone race this weekend?

Tell me something shiny!!

 

 

• Run!
• Slacker
• Training