this week

What a crazy week! I am back in my hometown in Ohio right now for my step mom's big 5-0. And yes she is so young! I looped it with a work trip so there is a lot going on right now.

I realized on my Tuesday run that I never "officially" said what I was training for. And Kim left a comment asking if I had officially announced a race. I realized that while I had a goal in my head I had not announced it! I started training for the Cleveland Marathon not really sure I would sign up but the cost was going up in April so at the end of March I officially signed up for the Cleveland Marathon again. While I don't expect fabulousness from this race I am excited because there are so many friends and acquaintances running the 10K, half, and full! I love having people I know running (even if it is from high school 13 years ago!) I would love to break 4 hours though I am not sure based off of my training it is going to happen this time around... I am confident in that I know the course and I know my abilities. I hope to not repeat my craptastic showing last year. And my sister is planning on running a few miles with me again!

So this week. I had two back to back 12 milers early in the week. I turned 1 into a 11 easy (Monday right after my intense LR) and the Tuesday run was 12 with 7 at tempo. Whoa mama, that hurt. I had fears and definitely thought there was no way I could run 7 straight miles at my desired 15K pace. It's crazy, every time I see a nutso plan on my schedule I've convinced myself I can't do it. But then I surprise myself and pull something out, amazing or not! As far as Tuesday's tempo, I will say I did take a small break in between some miles to load up on water and bloks but I came close to my desired pace. Not ideal but a heck of a lot better than I thought!

Since I am home in OHIO I knew it would be tough to fit in a 20 miler. So before my 5 1/2 hour drive Thursday I woke up at 5 am to run 20 miles. Originally I was going to run on Friday morning before work but heels after a 20 miles and walking around a hospital seemed much worse than my recovery socks in the car. I am not a morning person or good at early morning running... so my time not so good. BUT... I did it! My legs didn't wake up until 7 miles or so and my time SUCKED. But it was on an early Thursday morning after a previously very long travel day that started at 4 am and ended 17 hours later, (and while holding my bathroom break for nearly 12 miles because all the bathrooms were closed). I only hope I can pick up the pace race day!

I'm not sure what to think of today's run. I'm happy not to be too sore but I still have 11-12 more miles to get done this week. I felt so much better in the later miles but the start was absolutely horrible. I am not sure Cleveland is the venue to break 4 hours. I just hope I can do better than I did last year!