Susan's Visit

I have been telling Susan to come to Sioux Falls and run the marathon since it first got added to the half marathon in 2010. She's fast, and could probably win it. About a year ago, she told me that her boyfriend, Eric was really good friends with one of the guys who was opening a brewery in town, so now they had twice the reason to come visit. Yessssss!

They got in on Friday, so we did some sightseeing in Sioux Falls after grabbing lunch and coffee. And by sightseeing, I mean we went to the Falls of the big Sioux river. And our cities namesake.

It was a gorgeous day, so we got to spend a lot of time walking around taking tons of pictures. 

We went to my new favorite restaurant for dinner, Ode to Good Food. Where we were served a palette cleanser of grapefruit sorbet with champagne. Yes please.

 

Once dinner was over, we went to the Fernson Brewery so Eric could see his friend.

  

I got to go on a second brewery tour, so before too long here, I should be able to give them to anyone who wants to listen.

Fernson recently started distributing their beer in cans. I loved seeing cans as far as the eye could see.

 

Mmmm beer.

 

It was only the end of the night when I realized that Susan and I had yet to even take a photo together. Not okay.

 

Saturday I was stuck working, so Eric and Susan got to spend the day exploring the city together. After work I went to packet pick up and then met them and Kyle for dinner at Redrossa.

Sunday after the race, Susan and I hustled up to get to a sports bar before kick off. GO PACK GO! 

Trifecta cheers.

 

She's cute, even if she is a Bears fan.

 

Beer and bling, a post race tradition.

 

We left at halftime to watch from my couch, in pajama bottoms, and with the added bonus of pug snuggles. Ollie is in love with Susan, and kept her comfy on the couch most of the afternoon. 

She also napped with a Packers snuggie, but since I'm a friend, I won't put a sleeping photo of Susan on the internet for the world to see. Just know that she looks very nice in green and gold and we would welcome her with open arms as a Packer fan. :)

Sioux Falls Half Marathon Training Run?

Well I had this blog drafted up a month or so ago, and after the GoFar Half Marathon debacle/poor performance and conditions I'm rethinking my game plan.

Option A:  Next weekend, I'm running my tenth consecutive Sioux Falls Half Marathon. After having just raced the Fargo half, I won't be racing Sioux Falls, but I would like it to be a solid marathon training run. I rarely sign up to run races instead of racing them, because $$$ I can run 13.1 miles for free. But because I'm trying to run this race the most years consecutively, I need to work it in to my schedule.

So I'm curious, what's your favorite marathon training workout for 13.1 miles?

I know Pfitz has a 13 mile long run with 8 miles at GMP. When I used the RiverRat Half Marathon as a training run this past spring, Jaseface suggested I do 3 miles at long run pace followed by 2 hard miles, until I finish the race. I would like to do a harder effort than that, however, as that was done knowing I was racing a half the following weekend, and wanted to be recovered.

Should I go with the Pfitz workout?

Is there another one you'd recommend for me?












OR

Option B:

On the drive home from Fargo, I was still pretty bummed about my race performance. I randomly looked at the extended forecast for the Sioux Falls half and learned that it was projected to be a low of 43 degrees on race morning.

Oh.

That may change things.

 I could re-attempt my game plan for the GoFar half in Sioux Falls. I have two weeks of peak training after the SF half before I start tapering for Bemidji. Is this racing too close to marathon race day? 5 weeks apart? Obviously Bemidji is my #1 priority, but I know a solid half race would really get my mental game straight and ready to tackle 26.2.

Help.

If the forecast changes at all (skewing towards hot or humid) I will immediately go back to Option A with no question.