Monday (3/7/2011) – 3 mile easy jog. An easy jog that was made extremely difficult by me being not mentally tough. Within 24 hours I better have my mental toughness back!!!
Sunday (3/6/2011) – REST DAY. Enough said.
Saturday (3/5/2011) – 16 miles. The furthest distance I have ever run in my life!! I met a friend in the South End for 9 am and ran part of the course backwards, down Commonwealth Ave to Boylston Street, right onto Chestnut Hill then left onto Commonwealth Ave out towards Newton. At eight miles out I was still feeling strong. We were taking our time, testing my blood sugar every 4 miles and eating GU along the way. At eight miles we turned around and headed back to the marathon finish line along the route of the course. At mile 13 I began to feel tired, but knew only 3 more miles remained. The only problem was that the only full water bottle I had left apparently did not get rinsed out enough and had dish soap mixed with it. Ewww gross!! Thank goodness for the Marathon Sports store on Boylston Street...they had a sink I could rinse my water bottle out in AND a water bubbler to fill it back up with fresh water! The store was a savior for me. Thank you to them!! As we continued on the last two miles, my body just kept getting more and more tired. Each time I thought we had completed a mile it was really only a half mile. Talk about feeling like the last few miles were taking FOREVER!! Anyways, finally we completed the 16 miles and it feels good to be able to say I DID IT!! 18 miles this Saturday all along the course! Getting dropped off at mile 8 and running to the finish line. Oh JOY. Please feel free to drive the route and deliver some Gatorade or water!! J That would be amazing.
Friday (3/4/2011) - Got up early and hit the gym to do some weight training before work. The best part was that a friend joined me for the workout making getting up early seem a little bit more reasonable. Thank you Kari!!
Thursday (3/3/2011) - Busy at work again and T issues made for a long, late commute home. Got home after 8 pm and still had to get my run in. I really had to give myself a pep talk in order to get myself motivated to go back out in the cold to run. I decided I was going to do a little stress release jog and ended up going 4 miles. The best part of the run was during my final stretch when I ran by some friends of mine!! We all stopped and chatted for a bit. Seeing people I knew and having them be excited for my marathon goal, gave me the final extra push I needed to complete a solid run.
Wednesday (3/2/2011) - Did not get home from work until late and so did not want to go to the gym for a run and weight workout. After chatting with a friend who gave me some inspirational words, I was changed and ready to head out the door to the gym! I ended up having the best 3 miles of sprint jogs on the treadmill since I started my training. Feeling strong, I took the excitement into my weight training and pushed myself extra hard.
Tuesday (3/1/2011) - Run club day! Ran the 5 mile loop at just under a 9 minute mile pace and I finally did not feel so exhausted at the end of the run like I normally do. yayyy!!! My training is paying off!! After the run, the group met for a raffle where New Balance was going to be giving away 2 pairs of their new minimalist shoes. Guess what?!?!?! I was one of the lucky winners!! I am very excited to get a pair of these shoes in the mail soon, but probably will not wear them until after the marathon. It is getting to close to race day to risk injury from wearing a different brand of shoes than I am used to.
Monday (2/28/2011) - Recovery day for my body that was matched with a busy day at work. Perfect timing for a rest day so I did not have to think about when I was going to get my workout in!
Saturday & Sunday (2/26/2011 - 2/27/2011) - THE BIG DAY!! This was the day of my 2nd 1/2 marathon EVER!! Saturday afternoon I headed to the Cape with Jenny and Greg where we were meeting some friends for a little pre race slumber party. I am so thankful that we were able to stay overnight in the Cape with great company. One of them was also running the 1/2 marathon too!! In preparation for the run, I carbo loaded Saturday night with some pasta and dinner rolls. YUMMM! Dinner was delicious. When we got back to the house we were staying at, we listened to some amazing Celtic music to help relax us and drank lots of water to hydrate up. We all called it a night fairly early and could not wait until race time (really I just wanted it to be over with so I could stop stressing over how my blood sugars were going to react to such a physically demanding task). 7:45 am rolled around quickly and I woke up to fresh snow on the ground and flurries. Not the best conditions for a half marathon, but at least the snow was not really sticking to the road. By the time the race start rolled around, it was cold and drizzly with puddles all over the ground. 2 hours after the start of the race I was crossing the finish line and receiving my first medal for completing a half marathon (the other 1/2 I did didn't give out medals). My blood sugar stayed constant throughout the race with the help of a couple GU packs along the way. I worked hard the entire race and feel as though I did my best! 16 miles next Saturday is scary sounding!! It will be the farthest distance I have EVER run. Ahhhhh. Can't wait to be able to say I DID IT!!
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