Week in Review

Getting back to school and into the swing of things has been crazy!  I'm now teaching at a new school (pictures to come soon), in the midst of marathon training, and had jury selection this month.  Wow!  Luckily, I only had to sit in the court room for 2 days and did not (thank goodness) get selected for any trials.  The one awesome thing about jury duty was that we were dismissed early on Tuesday at 1:00.  Which meant, that if I was able to get get home/dressed/out the door by 1:45, I could squeeze in my 8 miles before the bus dropped off the boys.   I had just run 16 miles on Sunday, so I wasn't sure if I should do the 8, BUT looking into the rest of the week with the afterschool/work activities, I knew if I was going to do 8 miles this week - it was going to have to be NOW!  So, I went for it.  I also need to mention that it was 80 degrees and humid as all get out too!  Thankfully I was well hydrated. 

I was quite surprised with myself and my average pace for this run (8:40).  I completely went in to the run expecting nothing faster than a 9:00 pace.  Perhaps it was the adrenaline pumping through me filled with the joy of not getting selected for a trial or me racing against a clock to make sure I was there for the bus drop offs!  Who knows, but I did it.  AND I took another 2 minutes off my 8 mile run - on hillier terrain. 

big sweaty mess

a little better - but still sweating up a storm!

However, I will say, that this run must have killed me because I was then left with 2 - 5 mile runs for the week.  I was barely able to get in a 3.5 mile run on Wednesday and a 3.5 mile run on Friday and both runs were over 30 minutes.  At least I ran, right?  I do need to mention that Friday's run was at 5:30 AM - and it was pitch dark and cold!  I am a big baby about running at night, but there is something about running in the morning (while still dark) that doesn't really freak me out as much.  I did stay close to the house in the beginning.  For example, when I started out, I went down the road for 1/2 mile and turned around to run past my house and then went 1.25 miles then came back.   I wish I had taken a picture of me on Friday because I did look awesome (not really!) - I wore Ward's headlamp, his white (well, it was mine 1st but he took it) reflective EMS hat, a white shirt, white/green polka dots tempo short and Ward's reflective vest.  I totally needed those Maine Drilling and Blasting trucks to see me - they fly on my road. 


Saturday was rest day and soccer day!  Coach Ward and Tucker had a great game today.  It was incredible to watch my little guy run all over the field.  He's a speedy little guy - just like his daddy. 

look at this boy's form - great straight light, pushing off the forefoot, head forward - just like daddy!

my girl!

Sunday was 20 miles with Jess.  No pictures.  Sorry.  I forgot again!  We started out at 6:30 this morning because I had to get back in time before Ward went to work.  It was cold (44 degrees) and I wore my arm sleeves for a majority of the run.  Seriously - Tuesday 80 degrees and this morning 44!  Crazy.  Anyway, Jess and I ran between our houses - 9.9 each way.  We did have to add a little on in the end, but we did it!  The great thing about running from her house to my house (or vise versa) is the use of bathrooms.  What I've come to realize with marathon training is that the running part is fine.  The hardest parts are knowing when to refuel (we actually did great with this today - we stopped to refuel at 5 miles, 9.9 miles, 14 miles, and 17.5 miles and potty breaks.  One thing I'd like to point out that our run today consisted of some pretty monstrous hills and we conquered them!  Slowly, but we did it!  From speaking to our marathon hubby's - both agree that the hills we've run today are nothing compared to the hills on the actual marathon course.  Thank goodness!