Last 20

Saturday morning was my last 20 miles before marathon day! I was nervous fitting this run in to my week. My family thinks I'm a bit crazy for my running even though my dad ran a couple marathons back in the day :) I woke early for me (6 am!) and headed out to the Towpath in Peninsula, Ohio about 25 minutes away. It's the only path I know of that I can do an out and back for such high mileage. No pictures because my camera phone sucks (1.1 megapixels what?!?) Despite some bathroom issues due to my nerves of running in a slightly unfamiliar area, running my last 20, and a questionable dinner, the run was excellent. Does anyone else get nervous running in a new area even though it's not a race? I always do - it's so weird! I went slow thanks to a slight tweak in my left quad and enjoyed the time alone. The Akron Marathon is next weekend so I think the path was a little less crowded than normal so not as many waves/saying hi as the last time I was home.

The morning started off COLD! An awesome change though definitely regretting the tank and shorts I had packed. I just wished I had some gloves to start the run. Yeah, not the best planning. Overall it felt fantastic to be running. I was a little tired right before the 10 mile turnaround. I think it was due to just expecting the turnaround and not knowing exactly where it was on this path. I almost broke my ankle around mile 13 thanks to all the buckeyes and uneven path but caught myself (yeah for good reaction time!). Then some more tiredness around 15 and 17 when I wanted to be done. I hit some highs, some lows, but overall I was HAPPY! Yes, I looked forward to my mini breaks of fueling every 4 miles but once I hit 20 I really could have kept going, I didn't want to collapse, it was that good of a run. I know it wasn't race day pace but it's not supposed to be. I really hope the good tides from this carry me into race day 3 weeks from now! I guess the change in running scenery really helped!

After the 20 I returned home and attempted to track down my dad even though I told him what time to be home to go to lunch. Ugh such a guy never listening! Anyways, after showering and finding him we headed out for some much needed lunch. I was STARVING! After lunch my dad, sister, and I headed out to look at some open houses. I have an urge to move back to Ohio, raise a family, and wanted to see what was available in my price range. After all that dad needed to take a nap since the chemo wears him down especially mid afternoon. Then loo and I took the big dog Jake (yes the my dad's dog is named after my husband) on a walk to calm him down then ran errands (Target, pedicures). After all that I'm one tired girl and not looking forward to the drive back to Chicago Sunday. Maybe I'll stay another night to to put the drive off :)

This and That

Weeding your dad's yard totally counts as cross-training - right? Well that's what I told myself yesterday ;) I had plans for an actual workout but they went out the window as it tends to happen especially when I'm at home. Instead I thought I would be the nice daughter and clean up the front yard the best I could since dad can't play in the dirt during chemo thanks to the whole compromised immune system. The yard is not done yet (I had to go watch my teenage step sister cheer as I didn't believe she could smile for an entire football game!) but I plan to finish before the end of my time here.

While watching miss s do her cheer thing I realized I am so glad my days of jr. high and high school have passed. I also told my dad I don't know how he sat through all my sporting events. I played 3 sports for most of my grade school/teenage life and more poor parents had to sit through hours of girl sports! Fred finally confessed my softball games were the worst; even worse than my 5th grade cheering days for pee-wee football :) Did any of you play a sport or were part of club in your younger days you can't believe you did?

So today I had to travel 2 hours to/from Toledo, Ohio for work. A lot of toll road driving for a short visit = long day. On the way home I decided to go a little out of my way to hit of the Towpath for my GA 11 miles. I like a nice out and back when I get into mid to high mileage and I can't seem to get that around Medina. Technical difficulties of all kinds ensued. First, I forgot my visor and headband so my hair (which hasn't been cut since March) was crazy style all in my face. Second, my garmin was dead even though I had just charged the dang thing. I decided to go off my best time estimate by my cell phone on the mileage. Luckily there were some sporadic mile markers along the path to help me guess a little better. So I have no idea what my pace was or if I hit 11 or went short/long. It was a nice, albeit a little rushed, run. I really need to take a camera my next time there (this weekend for my last 20!) so you can enjoy in the little piece of running sanctuary. Finally the run turned into a bit of a tempo run towards the middle miles. All I will say is thank goodness for real bathrooms along trails!