April in Review + Final 20 Miler before TAPERTIME

April in Review

Total Miles:  163.6 up from 140.6 last month. Some extra rest days post-HM caused me some extra mileage.  Wah. (180 miles from April 2010.)
Total Time: 26:03:49 up from 22:32:35 (27:49:32 last April.)
Total Runs: 18 for an average of 9.09 miles/run.
Highest weekly mileage:

4/4/2011 — 4/10/2011:

50.0 Mi

7:59:5

 Highest weekly mileage EVAH!  What what?!?!? :D
Favorite run:
Most hardcore run: 7x800 repeats and see below.  (I'm still cursing my 20 mile LR in 25-45 mph winds 5 days later... no biggie....)
Favorite Race: The shiny new PR I worked my booty off for at the River Rat Half Marathon.
Bike Miles: 0.  Ooops.  Again.  I did buy a bike pump.  WIN!  However, I can't figure out how to use it.  FAIL.  My tri prospects aren't looking so hot... :/

Favorite Jams: Really digging Florence + The Machine, particularly You've Got the Love, Drumming Song, Cosmic Love.  Jeremih's Down On Me, Keri Hilson's Pretty Girl Rock, and some old school N'Sync.
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Saturday I had my final 20 mile before I started my beloved taper for Fargoooooooooo.  Because bullet points are fun, and I did this run a few days ago and my memory is a bit spotty, you get short fun fragments and moments of note from the 3 hours and 14 minutes.

• It was mother effing windy.  I noted the heavy late morning/early afternoon winds before I went to bed, PROMISING I would get up early to avoid it, but did I?  As if there was any question..... Then I tried to check Sunday's report to find more wind.  I started with 25 mph STEADY WINDS.  The 35 mph wind gusts quickly changed to 45 mph wind gusts.  So help me jesus.
• I wore my marathon race day 'fit.  Green under armour shirt my adorable little nephew Harrison got me for Xmas, and my new green Brooks shorts.  I wore my green Kinvaras thinking if they worked for 20, I would sport them for race day, however they did not make the cut. A few too many blisters for my liking.
• Gasp.  I saw a trio of ex-football player looking boys doing their long run.  I know they were going long (that's what she said) because one had a fuel belt and another a handheld.  OMG guys they EXIST!  If this had been later than 3 miles in to my 20 I would've assumed this was hallucinated.
• At approximately mile 7 I noticed a dog not on a leash being fed a treat from a guy sitting in his car.  I kept my eye on the dog to make sure he didn't chase after me, and in my staredown, managed to catch a corner of the sidewalk and go FLYYYYYYYYYING.  Dude got out of his car and rushed over to make sure I wasn't dead.  Color me embarassed.  Luckily I didn't hurt myself.
• You know it's windy when:  the wind pushes you UP the hills.
• You know it's windy when:  You're giving it your all and you're running an 11 minute pace.  There was a point during the final two miles that the wind was so hard that I was running my butt off and my little garmin laughed at me and told me I was running an 11:xx pace.  Eff......... you.  I then implemented a .05 walk break because I was so mad.
• You know it's windy when:  the wind knocks you down.  Approximately 1/2 mile from home I was running over a bridge.  A huge wind gust came up, throwing me off balance, causing me to catch an uneven wooden slat in the bridge and go FLYYYYYYYYYYYING.  Explicatives were shouted.  Naturally I fell on my left knee and hip as I did with fall #1.  Ouch.
• The good news is that the slower pace caused me to spend some solid time on my feet, and I wasn't exhausted at the end (no idea how this is possible...).  Somehow I managed a 9:20 final mile into the insane winds.  Another 6.2 ain't no thang..... jk  IT TOTALLY IS. :p

Despite the wind, I still ended up with a 9:48 average pace for the 20 miles.  If Fargo is in the midst of a tornado, I should be good to go.