8 Weeks Left

8 weeks til Boston? Yikes. For some reason I feel way more unprepared than I was 8 weeks before my last marathon.

Sunday I ran 15 miles and it was uuuuh-okay. Not great. Weather was gorgeous and I ran from home down to Lake Vancouver and Frenchman's Bar. I got to watch the OBRA time trials that were going on beside me and that was interesting. I listened to my ipod the whole time. My legs started feeling sucky around mile 10/11 but somehow I managed through the end. I thought they'd get worse, but then kind of just stayed the same, maybe even loosened up a bit. I had issues with my feet getting numb and think its the new shoes. I wonder if I ordered the wrong size or what. No matter how much I loosened up the laces they still felt numb and tight.

I don't feel as strong as I did 8 weeks before Portland but my same 15 miler then was at a 8:31 pace and today's run was 8:29 pace. So I guess not bad?

Below are some fun pics from my Chicago/Boston jaunt a few weeks ago:




This is what I do afterhours in Chitown:

Can you tell I was having a blast?

This is in Boston, pre-heartbreak hill run with my brother in law. Don't we look tough? Notice I'm wearing 2 pairs of tights - one full length and 3/4 then over that. It was COLD out.

11 mile fun run

11 miles on a Thursday!

Another awesome weather day...I can't stand it. But don't be too envious, I'm sure it will return to nasty gray very soon. I left around 3:45 and had a nice run. I still haven't found my pace yet in general so I think the miles were sporadic. I made a point to take on the hills, which I'm going to try to do more in anticipation of Boston's hills. My miles:

8:47, 22, 13, 13, 45, 27, 18, 07, 23, 9:18, 7:54 = 8:26 avg

Yep, all over the place. Whatever.

I'm obsessed w/48 hours on WE, RHWOOC and can't wait until RHWONYC. I went to my first gardening class tonight and it was so-so. I am super fired up about setting up some raised beds for vegetables.

I am so fucking excited that tomorrow is Friday. Beer thirty! Wine O'Clock! Bottom's up! Rock out with your cock out!

8 mile Tempo Run

I did my 8 mile tempo run today in gorgeous weather. Despite my lingering soreness I was fired up to get outside and away from my computer. There was SUN! And it was warm! And there are crocuses coming up in my yard!



(Side note: we first saw our current house in about May/June last year, so have no idea what kind of crap is growing right now - I can tell there are daffodils, irises, hyacinths and some other stuff that I can't ID. It is so awesome.)

My stomach was still somewhat full from lunch (ate at noon, went running at 3:00) but I kind of settled into it. After the first two miles (8:27, 8:35) I went into my 4 tempo miles. I guess I was aiming for 7:45's, or my half marathon pace. Whatever I ended up putting out was hard and hurt. I just pushed through, hoping to find a comfortable clip and found it for about 2.5 miles...that's when I decided to give myself a break. I rarely cheat on runs, esp. tempos, so I feel quite bad about this. However, I was ready to finish the 1.5 miles after my minute or so rest! I ended up doing my tempo miles at 7:24, 7:34, 7:36, 7:59. You can see I pushed it too fast and was definitely slowing down for the last mile, even after my little break. The last two miles were ho-hum and I stopped at my husband's office with about a mile left. 8:46, 8:39 were the last two miles.

Total = 8.16 mi/8:09 pace

I am feeling so-so about this run. It wasn't great but it also wasn't terrible. I have plenty more of these ahead of me so I'm going to put this one behind me and move on to the next.

So now...some pictures for you.

This is my celebratory pickle martini post-haircut. My husband made this for me - doesn't it look psychadellic? If you like dirty martinis or dirty gibsons, or pickles or just vodka you should try this. The next night I actually had a beet infused vodka martini at a bar. Yum! I think I might try to do some of my own home-infusing of vodka: pineapple, beets, capers, mint...what else?



This is my holding my sweet new niece out in Boston. This was my last day there and she really got cute sweet and cuddly with me right before I had to go. I was in heaven holding her!

Me pre-hair cut:

Back at it

I am back at it again and it feels good.





Very short summary:

• Jan 17th - concluded Week 3 of marathon training; got sick
  Jan 18th-24th - felt like complete ass, no way I could run
• Jan 25th-29th - started feeling better but was too busy with work (and still tired) to do anything.
• Jan 30th-Feb 8th - TRAVEL. Work/pleasure to Chicago, Madison and Boston. Managed to get in a measly run in Chicago and two in Boston.
• Feb 9th - Marathon training begins again...
  

I had kind of freaked out about missing so much of my training but then remembered I still had 10 weeks left until Boston. I trained for Portland in 10 weeks, so why not just follow that plan? So that is what I am doing and so far so good. I'll recap in more details later, but my "first" long run of 13 miles went fine, although I was very sore afterward. We had done an uphill hike (first one in months) the day before which definitely contributed to the soreness. Poor me, I treated myself to a post-run massage! It was great and now Monday is over with and I'm looking forward to a productive week.

Work news...why not? It seems like I've been talking about this a lot and only just now did it hit me that someone that I work with could possibly read this? I guess they could but I really don't let anyone know that I write here, so how would they find me? I guess I'll be a little shy about what I am thinking - basically, I'm making progress toward finding a resolution to my woes. It is exciting me and I love being excited. More later.


I am also excited about all of the other things that 2010 will bring. We have so many travel ideas and plans in place already that I can't stand it. This summer expecially will be filled with a lot of hiking, local travel and hopefully backcountry camping. I love nature!



Oh yeah, I also cut about 12" off of my hair. It is short, really short. But it has made running a lot easier so I'm happy.




Hope you had a great Prezzos Day,

Emily