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.
__________

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. 

Highest Weekly Mileage EVER

First things first.  Because that's how the saying goes.  If it was first things second, that would just be weird.  Anywhosits.  Thanks for all your comments and concerns on my previous post.  The good news:  I bit the bullet and scheduled a doctor's appointment.  I typically try to self-diagnose and fix whatever is wrong with me, and this is clearly something I can't fix without some help.  Dietician friends, best believe I'll be hitting you up with questions after I get some answers from the doc.  My next race is April 23rd, and I'd like to be at least 80% by then, and hopefully back to completely normal for FARGOOOOOOOOO!

My legs were so tired on Friday that I took a rest day.  I had to walk up the stairs at work (I work on the first floor so never have to frequent the stairs) and almost needed to take a small rest when I got to the top.  Saturday rolled around and I had to work until 1pm.  Barf.  I was all set to do my 20 miler after work, but my stomach was sooooooooo angry!  By the time it was back to normal, I did not have 3+ hours left to work with.  It actually worked perfect, because Friday was supposed to be a marathon pace run and Saturday was supposed to be my long run.  This way I could still do my marathon pace run on Saturday and have some slightly fatigued legs to further destroy for Sunday.  Day of rest?  Hells no!

I had 7 miles with 5 at marathon pace (9:00-9:09).  During my warm up miles, I ran by a large apartment complex that was clearly getting ready for an Easter Egg Hunt.  There were eggs everywhere!  And not a person in sight.  Let me tell you how badly I had to resist doing some huntin' of my own.  Especially after I saw an open egg with a reese's peanut butter cup and a hershey chocolate bar spilling out.  Mmmmmmmm.  The run went well.  My legs seem to naturally gravitate closer to the 9:00 end of the range vs. the 9:09, but it was only 5 miles and not 26.2, so we shall see. ;)

I did 7 miles in 1:04:44 for a pace of 9:14.  Marathon miles averaged 9:03.

After checking the forecast before snoozing Saturday night, I noted that I should be DONE with my long run at 1pm, because the winds were going to be INTENSE then, and only getting stronger as the afternoon progresses.  So obviously at noon I was still putzing around not running.  Finally 12:30 got me out the door.  Unreal.

I had planned on doing a hilly 20 mile route that Angie had lent me, but shortly after starting I decided I wanted to do my 16 miler from last week with 4 miles tacked on.  Which would've been great, except I forgot that I had ran a few miles prior to the hilly route, so I was going to come up short.  Something I realized when I circled back to my apartment at 13.5 miles instead of 16.  ;)  [Sidenote:  The marathon I'm running is insanely flat.  However, the half I'm running in 2 weeks is going to be hilly as poo.  After the half, I'll probably lay off the hills.]

I started the run with the wind at my back (thank God) as I started taking down the hills for 4 miles.  Hills have started to become kind of... fun.  It's weird.  The next 6 miles suckkkkkkked as they were hilly and in to the wind.  When it's a struggle to run downhill into the wind, you know it's a strong wind sort of day.  BUT I would MUCH RATHER deal with wind than slippery/slick/shitty snow/ice/slush for the record.

I saw so many people out in pants, coats, and stocking hats.  I told myself I was being a pussy for wearing long sleeves instead of short sleeves with my shorts, but knew I'd be thankful for them when I was running in to the wind (I was right).  The joke is probably on me, however, as I have the worst chaffing EVER on my inner thighs.  Mental note:  Nike tempos that are too big should not be worn for LRs.  Ever.  Terrible idea.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.

The final stretch of the hills was with the wind at my back and I was flyyyyyying.  Whee!!!  I did notice some discomfort in the back of my knee, presumably from the downhills, and my arch in my left foot started to get sore.  Oh, also both ankles were bleeding like nobody's business.  It's getting out of hand, really.  OWIE.

After 13ish miles I was back at my casa.  I made a quick bano break, refilled my handheld and was out the door.  The first 3.5 miles seemed to fly by (with the wind at my back) and I pretty much wanted to quit life the final 3.5 that were in to the wind (15mph winds with 25 mph wind gusts, so yeah, the times were I was running in place?  I'm guessing those were the wind gusts. haha.)

I attempted something different with my fueling.  I usually take my GUs at certain mile increments (every 4.5 for 18 miler, every 5 for 20 miler) but I decided to take my first at 4 miles and then every 45 minutes after.  In previous long runs I've felt terrible for a good mile leading up to the GU mile, and this helped tremendously.

The last mile of the run I just got ANGRY at the wind and decided I was going to run fast and show it who's [the] boss (Angela Bauer. Oh p.s. I used to tell people that Judith Light was my cousin.  I'm so cool.)  I was surprised at how much energy I had.  I surely couldn't have ran another 10k into that wind.  But with minimal wind?  No problem.

I did 20 miles in 3:14:12 for a pace of 9:42.  (Final mile in 9:14.  Take that wind.)

And with that I posted 50 miles for the week, which is my all-time high!  I spent 8 hours running this week.  Insane.  My legs feel pretty darn good, but I'm sure they'll be happy to enjoy the cutback week I have planned for them. :D

St. Patty's Day = No 20 Miler

After Wednesday night's super-fantastic-most-awesome-run-ever, I kind of fell off the planet.  Let's blame my favorite holiday*, please?  Righty-o, glad we got that figured out.  I had planned a rest day for Thursday because I knew I would be celebrating my Irishness.  I had taken a vacation day from work on Friday and had big plans to complete 20 miler #1 of MARATHON TRAINING in the afternoon.  Um... this.... was a terrible idea.  I was borderline d.e.a.d.  The only way 20 miles was going to happen is if some super buff braaaaaahs picked up my couch and hoofed it the distance.  Apparently that wasn't going to happen... lame sauce.

Then I had big plans Saturday morning to do the 20 miles.  But I still didn't feel very dapper, plus my bfff was in town, so clearly pedicures were more important than long runs (*cough* No spend March fail *cough*.  Natch.  Then a softball fundraiser was in the cards.  By the time that was done the winds were so strong that I probably could've jumped straight in the air and landed 20 miles away.  Which would be awesome, and run would be complete!  Except I'd be stuck 20 miles from home.  No bueno.

Sunday it was on.  Except it wasn't.  I went from 20 miles to 10.  When I started the run my legs felt like junk (I'm still blaming you, multiple Guinness'.....I would like to think the plural is Guinnessi much like Nimbusi, even though I know it's not ) so I decided I would go on the trail until it was flooded and then I could turn around.  Somehow this led to...welp... I'm at 1/2 of a mile, time to go home.  Yes, I ran one mile.  I spend approximately 4x as long getting ready for a run as I did actually running.

But on the bright side, KK and I started watching (or in my case, rewatching) LOST, so I'm happy to have that obession back in to my life.

After 4 days of no running (plus, the after effects of the full SUPERmoon, I swear I'm a werewolf, or at the very least tres moody when there's a full moon), I was ready to kill someone after work on Monday.  All I wanted to do was run.  Somehow it became cold here again, and the wind chill was a B, but I had a nice little 6 mile jaunt.  And for the record, the bike trails are flooded.... just east of minnesota, for those peeps who care.  Sad day.

And now for fun St. Patty's Day pics!

bag pipes. natch.

ignore all the light peering in through the windows.... it's night time, I swear.

*Someone remind me next spring to create my training program with St. Patrick's Day in mind.  This year = major fail.

20 Mile + October in Review

Saturday I had attempt #3 at 20 miler #1.  Attempt #1:  Mankato Half Marathon + 6.9 miles that didn't happen.  Attempt #2:  4 mile death run fail.  I started the run on the same route that I attempted last week with some hillier miles for the beginning 4 miles.  When I circled back to my apartment I grabbed my handleheld and GUs and was off.  
1. 9:15
2. 9:29
3. 9:31
4. 9:34
5. 9:39 


The miles seemed to fly by and before I knew it I was halfway done with the run.  (P.S. I'm pretty sure this is why you're not supposed to wait 3-4 days to blog about a run.... I seriously am blanking on anything fun/eventful/noteworthy from the first half of this run.)  I did start to feel warmed up, and my mile times sped up ever so slightly.
6. 9:30
7. 9:32
8. 9:26
9. 9:24
10. 9:19 


It was shortly after the halfway point that I ran in to Tom who turned around to run some miles with me. Yay running buddy!  He was doing 15 that day, so it was nice to have some of our miles overlap.  He's doing the Goofy Challenge in January, so we talked about about his race plan, strategy and race schedule for 2011.  I suck at running + talking.  Seriously.  It's so hard to breathe properly when you're babbling away.  I was starting to get tired so I bid adieu to Tom after about 5 miles and he sped off in to the distance.  One of our run topics had to do with Tom wishing he knew sign language.  I think some signing will need to be implemented the next time we run so I don't suck so much!  Oh well, it was still nice to run with Tom.   :)
11. 9:17
12. 9:28
13. 9:50
14. 9:50
15. 9:59 


Part of the reason I was hating life so much while running with Tom is that we had a couple of mile stretch where we were running in to the wind.  Blech.  Wind is dumb.  After we went our opposite directions, I had nothing to distract me from the wind.  It sucked.  And was dumb.  :)  I was pretty tired for the last couple of miles and was just ready to be done.  Unfortunately, there is some construction on the bike path, so after the 4.15 miles and the out and back I still had 3/4 of a mile to do once I got back to my apartment.  Can I just tell you how much it sucks to be at your apartment after 3 hours of running nad have to keep going?!?!?  Suckkkkkkkkks.  I ran around the block randomly until my watch finally told me 20 miles.
16. 9:27
17. 9:31
18. 9:44
19. 9:31
20. 9:42


I really tried to pick up the pace, but I was pretty tuckered out from fighting the wind for the last 7ish miles.  I did 20 miles in 3:10:58 for a pace of 9:33.


When I was done, I was tired, but my legs felt pretty good, especially compared to the 20 milers I did last spring.  Getting ready to go out for the night, I was even dancing around my apartment.  Whaaaaaaaaaaa?  Sunday I had to retrieve my car from a friend's so I opted to do a quick 2 mile jog there and had to rein my legs in from going to fast..... on hills.  Again.... whaaaaaaa?  Pretty much made up my mind that 22 this weekend is totally doable.  Eeeeeek!

October in Review

Total Miles: 151.2 up from 86.1 last month. Almost doubled.  Whoo!  (Last October 115.1)

Total Time:  23:52:41 up from 13:18:55. (17:41:15 last Oct.).

Total Runs: 19 for an average of 7.96/run

Highest weekly mileage: 10/18-10/24 39 Miles 6:21:55

Favorite run: Oh man, I had so many googly-eyed-I-want-to-shout-it-from-the-roof-tops-how-much-I-LOOOOOVE-running runs, that it'll be hard to narrow it down.  I'll go with my 18 mile domination.

Most hardcore run: Toss up between some tough mile repeats or a tough tempo run.

Favorite Race: Well I technically only had one true race: the Twin Cities 10 Mile.  But even that was a "let's test the knee because we should be two weeks in to marathon training right now AND DEAR GOD TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!!"  I have to say that I ADORED pacing for the Mankato Half Marathon.  Definitely something I'll do again.  :)

Bike Miles: [whistles in a distracting manner] It would appear that I logged exactly 0 miles for October.  :/  In my defense I biked a lot (for me) in September because I was injured and in October I was head over heels in love with running.  Get over it.  ;)  

Favorite Jams: Rihanna--Only Girl (still), Foo Fighters--Everlong (obsessed) and Taylor Swift--Haunted (ipod killer). 

Final 20 Mile Run

This weekend I had my final 20 miler on the schedule.  Unfortunately for me, I had to work until 1pm on Saturday.  Extra unfortunate for me was the forecasted weather for Saturday and Sunday.  The weather report showed roughly the same crappiness level of weather for both days, so I opted for Saturday to be the day so I could hang out with my friends in the evening if I so desired.

While working I ate a burrito at about 10:30am to make sure that I would have some fuel in my belly once the time to run came around.  Yes I got strange looks for eating lunch at 10:30...no prob.  Once 1 o'clock hit I flew out of the office.  The forecast was calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon and goal A was to get home before being struck by lightning.  Random fact:  I am deathly afraid of lightning.  As in, I'll start crying if I'm stuck outside during it.  Yeah.

I decided to do a 4 mile loop around my apartment and then to hit the trail for an 8 mile out and back (the same one I do on 95% of my long runs, and the one I did for last weekend's 16).  I didn't know this at the time, but this would be the best decision of the day on my part.

As soon as I stepped outside the wind caused my hair to whip into my face.  Awesome.  I turned back around to see what the wind was at 20-25 mph wind gusts.  Excellent.  The first 4 miles were very hilly, but actually worked out pretty swell.  For all of the uphills, I had the wind at my back.  For all the downhills I was running in to the wind.  It actually worked out just great.
1. 9:15
2. 9:16
3. 9:20
4. 9:22 

At mile 4 I was happy to be back at my apartment because the sun was out in full force.  As obnoxious as I look wearing my ginormo sunglasses, it's 1000x better than wrinkles from being all squinty faced for 3 hours.  I also grabbed a sip of water because I was thirsty.  This was my first long run that I left my handheld water bottle at home for, since the water fountains have been turned on.

I knew that once I rounded back to my apartment I would begin the most difficult 8 miles of the run, because they would be 98% into the wind.  I tried to keep a steady pace and to not push too much running into the wind.  I figured my pace would counteract with the remaining 8 miles with the wind at my back.  I took my first Gu at 6 miles.  The best part of tacking on 4 miles before my normal long run route, was that I was super excited every time a new mile ticked off and it was +4 miles from what I thought it should be.
5. 9:30
6. 9:36
7. 9:32
8. 9:17 

Luckily the next four miles the wind was just hitting me from the side so it didn't interfere with my pace too much.  At this point I thought I was literally running in to the end of the world.  It was fluffy clouds and sunshine above me, but to the north-north east the sky was ominous and black.  The thunder started rumbling at mile 10 when I was taking my second Gu.  I thought, "oh great.  I still have 2 more miles running AWAY from home before I can even head back...."  I figured if I had to outrun a storm it would only serve to help me run faster. ;)  During these miles I started to get pretty warm.  During this four mile stretch there isn't much shade, so the sun was really beating down on me.  I also wished I had my handheld to wet my whistle with.
9. 9:20
10. 9:17
11. 9:21
12. 9:22 

This section was probably my least favorite because I was just hot and thirsty.  Again this was the "back" portion of the area with no shade, and since the wind was at my back instead of my face, I was sweltering.  I opted to wait for mile 15 to take my last Gu, but suddenly mile 15 appeared and the fountain I was looking for wasn't there.  If you want to know what I look like when I'm pissed, go back in time and check out my face at this point.  So.Not.Happy.  I knew the next fountain was a mile and a half away, but that seemed like forever.
13. 9:20
14. 9:16
15. 9:26
16. 9:17 

When I finally got to the fountain, I drank and drank and drank some more.  I may have also poured handfuls of water over my head, neck, and back in an attempt to cool myself off.  P.S.  Salt laden sweat in the eyeballs HURTS.  I definitely took more time Guing/hydrating than I typically do, so my hips were so sore when I got going again.  I was definitely putzing/limping along for the next 1/4 to 1/2 of a mile before my legs got their normal gait back.  Geez.  Usually I start my "kick" to the end around the 5k point.  Ya, apparently my legs weren't feeling it....maybe at 2 miles out.  Nope.  Guess we'll just do a strong finishing mile.  Well of course I had to take the normal 10-15 second walk detour around the major construction on the trail.  At this point my Garmin decides to freak out, so I have to rest it with .88 miles to go.  Stupid watch.  Then while getting off the bike trail and on to the sidewalk, 6 cars drive by so I have to slow way down to let them pass.  Also, I just didn't have a kick left in me.
17. 9:14
18. 9:22
19. 9:22
20. 9:11

I finished the 20 in 3:07:05 for a pace of 9:22.

Since I've been doing this for the past 24 hours, I would like to compare 20 Miler #1 to 20 Miler #2.  Time:  3:07:40 to 3:07:05  Super impressed with how close they are.  Makes me supremely confidant that I can be pretty close to that time pace for the marathon.
Mile Split Range:  8:19 to 9:48 (difference of 1:29) vs. 9:11 to 9:36 (difference of :25).  Very excited about this, and see this as a huge improvement from the last one.  Granted the last one was done on a much hillier route, but I always like to see consistent mile times.  Also excited that only 3 miles were in the 9:30 range on the 2nd one, and those were the 3 directly into the wind.
Temperature:  35* vs. 70*.  Yes it was TWICE as warm on this run.  I hope to hell there isn't a heat wave in Green Bay, because this body does not bode well in the heat.  I was too embarassed to even take pictures of the saltiness this week.  Look at last week's than multiply x 10.  Or 20.  My skin literally felt like I had exfoliating body was on.  Barf.
Aches and Pains:  Very intense pain in the backs of my knees which lasted for a few days post run.  Vs.  Some minor aches in my knees and major tiredness in my hips for the last few miles.  Pain=not my friend. Aches/soreness=whatevs.

And now the ugly portion of the run (I really hope that I don't have any followers that are major foot fetishers :/).

Uh oh! I spy a bloody sock....that can only mean one thing....bloody tootsie.

Close up, because I haven't heard you barfing yet.

The area of my foot that *usually* bleeds.  Now it's just 3" of scar tissue.  Try to penetrate me now dirt/sand/general debris!

Lame-o shot, but this one did bleed.  Pussy....  And you can see my post-run pizza box in the background.  MMMMMM.

Nasty blood/? blister.  When I popped it, the contents were the color of gravy/grape jam.  Now you've thrown up in your mouth, yes?

I survived the meat and potatoes (or in my case the pizza and the ice cream) of MARATHON TRAINING Here's hoping I can survive the taper!

20 on the 20th. Cheers to Spring!

A couple of weeks ago, my old boss from college sent me a message on facebook asking if I wanted to do a run with her.  Um...ya!!  We tried to coordinate a long run, and tentatively made a date for my 20 on the 20th (first day of spring, whoo!).  She had 10 on the schedule, so she was going to run the last 10 with me. Earlier this week she sent me an email asking what route I was thinking about taking since our bike trail is flooded big time.  I told her I was at a loss and she sent me a route.  What an angel.  When I got the email with a google map image I freaked out.  The route seemed soooo stinkin' long.  And then I clicked on the image to get a closer look of the streets etc. and realized that half of the map was cut off in the email.  It was twice as long as I thought it was.  Holy crapoli.


After putting the route into runstoppable I realized it was extremely hilly.  Like oh my god I might die hilly.  But I figured it was still better than running "offroad" on the areas of the trail that were completely flooded out.  We made tentative plans to meet up Saturday morning.

Friday night I received a text from her that her littlest was in the hospital and that she was going to have to bail on our run (1 of 3 acceptably run bail out reasons, btw).  I was bummed and nervous.  After noticing that the route went right in front of Taylor's apartment (remember him? ha) I had previously jokingly asked him to work my "unofficial water station for Jerbear's 20 miler), to which he agreed.  Which led to me jokingly (ok, completely seriously, and maybe even borderline begging) that he run a couple miles of it with me (apparently he's taken up running since we split sweet life :p).  He said a big hell no, but that he would be willing to bike with me.  Uh, yes please!  I also shot out a text to my office husband as the route was also going by his house (I told you this route was literally all over town) to see if he wanted to jump in for a couple of the mid-miles, but his parents were in town so he declined.  LAME.  Jk.

When I woke up Saturday morning it was cold.  Yes, I live in a cold state, I should get over it, I know.  I noticed that there were 20 mph wind gusts and based on the hourly report, the wind was supposed to be changing directions every hour, and based on my departure time, I would literally be running 20 miles into the wind.  WTF?  Instead I decided to hold off til the afternoon when the temp had warmed up slightly (30) and the winds were 10 instead of 15.  It's the little things, right?  Before I headed out the door, I jotted down the route on my favorite paper:  I <3 Jim.  Truth.


I took off and couldn't believe how hilly it was.  I mean, I looked at the elevation and all, but wasn't quite expecting this.  The great thing is that the hills and completely new route provided a huge distraction to running.  Crazy.  I was slightly worried, however, because we did a lot of hill running in high school for track, and we were always taught to drive drive drive up hills to increase our explosiveness as sprinters.  Well that's ingrained in my head, but I knew it wasn't wise to power up hills, knowing I still have 15-18 miles to run.  The first 5 miles literally flew by.  I couldn't believe how fast my Garmin was throwing out beeps.


1. 8:57
2. 9:33
3. 9:26
4. 9:30
5. 9:25 


Right around the 5 mile point I started my jaunt into the wind.  Um...I hate wind.  Again, I was always taught to lean forward and to drive my legs when running into the wind, but again, I didn't want to use up all my energy now.  Based on my times for these first few miles, I was convinced I was going to crash and burn BIG TIME the last miles.  Mile 7 was literally all uphill and into the wind.  I basically wanted to quit life and just curl up on the side of the road and die.  I half expected this mile to be 15 minutes.  I was pretty shocked when it wasn't.  After Mile 7 it was pretty much up and down hill until Mile 10 which was pretty flat.  Mile 9 was by my old duplex, the first place I lived "on my own" after college.  It was really fun running by there because it was on roads that I used to run back in my "beginning runner" days.  It's also the area of town that I would loooove to buy a house in (if I was richy rich).  It's a super historical area so all of the houses are old and gorgeous.


6. 9:24
7. 9:41 into the wind uphill
8. 9:12 downhill wheeeee
9. 9:32
10. 9:19 


Once I hit 10, I was pretty happy, because I knew I only had to run a few more miles by myself and then I would have company.  I had it broken down in my brain that I was running a HM and then pacing Tay on the bike at ~9:30 mm.  See, I really enjoy tricking my brain.  It works.  Fo sho.  The next couple of miles were through my old stomping grounds:  by my college campus.  I passed many houses that we use to partay it up at.  Made me miss college and my BFFFs big time.  Shout out to my AC loves. Ha.  Mile 12 was spent climbing one of the hills that I used for WWW training (so yeah, it's pretty large and in charge), and Mile 13 was spent flying down the other side of it.  All of these hills were really showing the back of my knees what was UP.  The tendon (?) on the inside of my left knee was really starting to hurt.


11. 9:15
12. 9:34
13. 9:05


At Mile 13 I picked up the ex-factor for our "Break-up-iversary Celebration."  I realized the night before that we had been splitsville for 6 months to the date, and had to chuckle up my made up anniversary to celebrate it.  Mile 14 was a B because there were so many stop lights to combat, I must've stopped and started 4 or 5 times.  Not fun.  During the next couple of miles we got stopped quite a few times by stop lights, sidewalks ending, etc.  Hatred.  As each mile ticked off, I would cheer with the amount we had left, and Taylor couldn't understand it.  "You've ran 16 miles, you can't be that excited by one more."  Ha, when I've run that far, I only allow myself to countdown on the last 5 or so.  Because I always know I can run a 5k no matter how far I've gone; again it's totally a mental thing.  Whatevs.  Around Mile 16 we ran near one of Tay's HS gfs house's, I quickly crossed the street.  Jk.  But it did work that way on the route, so it definitely looked like that was the intention. :p


When my watch ticked to mile 16, I told Tay that if I had to, I could run another 10 miles (not 10.2, it's always that tricky .1 or .2 that kills ya...hah random inside joke...).  It was such a good feeling to realize that I will probably not drop dead on the marathon course.  Yes, I won't be coming in first, but I will complete the darn thing, and guaranteed I'll be rockin' a smile during Lambeau field.  :)


The backs of my knees were really hurting during miles 16 and 17.  At one point I think I called the pain an 8 1/2.  Oops.  I hoped knew that the pain was just because my legs weren't used to the hills (haha, I just typed kills there, that's probably more fitting!) and not-injury related.  Tay offered to throw me on his handle bars and bike me home, which I seriously considered but then realized that ride might be almost as uncomfortable as running another 3-4 miles.  :p


4. 9:34
15. 9:35
16. 9:48
17. 9:48


After my pace dropped off in 16 and 17, I stopped talking so much and concentrated on running.  My pacer filled in the gaps, and told stories that didn't require my response/feedback.  For 19 I cranked up my tunes on my iPod, which ended up being a mini stereo system with my headphones hooked in my jacket collar and that provided some extra beats to get my legs going.  Of course 19 and 20 were back on the super hilly road, so I just ran because I was ready to be dooooooone.  Interestingly, the back of my knees didn't hurt at all during the last 2 miles when I picked up the pace.  The final mile, I told Tay to eff off (jk),  that I was going to put in my iPod and just go.  I cranked up RiRi's Rude Boy and it was on.  Felt good to end my 20 on a fast note.


18. 9:29
19. 9:06
20: 8:19

I finished the 20 in 3:07:40 for a pace of 9:23.  Faster than the 9:30-9:45 I should've ran, but my legs felt a lot better than they did on 18.  I run with such poor form when I get in the 9:45 range that it's really difficult for me.  As soon as I was done the back of my knees were killing me, and I still had to hobble about a 1/4 of a mile home, downhill, just what my legs want.  Ouch!  I finally just had to sit down and get some stretching in, which helped a lot.


When I got home, I was surprised at how good I felt.  I had expected my stomach to completely revolt on me.  Eventually I hopped in the shower, and texted a friend to meet me for dinner as I was Starvin' Marvin.  As soon as I hit send I was hit with a huge wave of nausea and had my head in the toilet.  Way to not disappoint body!  I ended up laying on the couch letting the ol' tummy settle, grabbing some sweats, and getting some Panera to go.  Food has never tasted so good.  Mmm.


Now it's waaaaay too early on a Sunday morning, and I woke up at 6am because no sleeping position is comfortable because my knees hurt.  :(  When my stomach started squawking as well, I finally got up and listened to it.  Now I just finished up some leftover homemade margherita pizza with some frozen veggies on my legs and ankles.  I'll be taking some ibuprofen shortly and making it back to beddy by (I hope!).


P.S.  On Taylor's bike ride home, he called me to say that while crossing the street on his bike, he witnessed another kid on a bike get hit by a car going 30 mph.  The kid flew up on the windshield and was bleeding on his legs, but was ok.  The kid wasn't wearing his helmet, and honestly, he's pretty lucky to be alive after that.  Just a reminder to be safe when you're out there running/biking, and even driving.  Too many drivers are not paying attention to us, so we need to be extra cautious when we're running/biking around out there. (Yes, ignore the fact that Taylor called me while biking home after this happened.  Not the epitome of safety, I realize.)