Wind is a Swear Word in my Book

Terribly sorry for my lack of posts this week.  I've been doing the runnin' but none of the writin'.  I think I'm to that point of MARATHON TRAINING where I run, sleep, eat, and repeat.  With some serious slackatude to the bloggy blog.

Also our weather has just been attrocious.  Wind wind wind.  When I was younger (and very tiny) my dad used to tell me to put rocks in my pockets to keep from blowing away on the way to school, at track meets, going outside to play.  Well this week I'm half tempted to take his advice, geez Louise!

Monday I had an easy 10 mile on the schedule, and really, I just had to laugh.  Since when is a double digit run an easy run?  This should get to count on my long run section of my spiffy graph I like to create, right? (Sidenote: I just spelled graph "graf", my bwain is bwoken.)  Office hubby and I were a-bitchin' about the wind before leaving work, as he was getting ready to do a 7 miler.  We said our goodbyes and hoped to not blow away.

I started the run into the wind, per brilliant Glenn's suggestion (ok to be honest, this was merely coincidental that I ran into the wind to start, b/c running from any other direction from my apartment is MAJOR hills, which is a no go for Jerbear).  I swear to god there were moments that I was running at a standstill.  The American flags along the route looked like they were going to whip right off the flag poles.  Luckily, I really wanted to keep this run in the easy peasy pace category, because my legs were still tight from Saturday's 18 miler.

I was beyond excited to hit my halfway mark, because it meant that I would get to enjoy the wind.  Wheeeeee.  I jumped HIGH into the air, and was carried quickly and effortlessly back to my apartment by the wind.  No rocks here!  When I checked the weather report when I got home the winds were in the mid-20s with gusts up to 45.  NBD.

I did 10 miles in 1:36:08 for a pace of 9:37.
1. 9:34

2. 9:51
3. 9:43
4. 9:45
5. 9:42
6. 9:34
7. 9:32
8. 9:28
9. 9:27
10. 9:28

On the drive home from work on Tuesday I was smacked in the face with the worst headache ever.  Apparently all this wind is stirring up the pollen and depositing it in my nasal cavities.  Thanks!  I closed my eyes because my brain was throbbing, and before I knew it 2 hours had passed.  I popped some Ibuprofen and headed to the gym for my speed session.  Somehow the winds were even worse on Tuesday (gusts of 50-60 mph, you've gotta be joking me, right?)

I hit the treadmill to do my speed workout of 4 x 1600 m. @ 7:52 pace with 800 meter jogs in between.  I was also supposed to do a warm up and cool down mile with an additional 800 meter jog to total 9 miles, but with my brain swollen to the size of Mt. Rushmore (or so it felt) I said naaaaaaw.

This workout made me want to race in a bad bad way.  Screw this MARATHON TRAINING I want to go FAST!  My legs were definitely burning the last quarter of each mile, but it felt good to work up a hard sweat.  (It goes without saying that I sweated out an Olympic sized pool, no?)  Also, for the 1/2 mile jog, I walked for .05 then jogged at 10:00 pace for the .45.

I did 7 miles in 1:03:07, but more importantly, held an avg. pace of 7:44 for my 4 mile times.

Warm Up	1 Mi	9:40	9:40	9:40
Interval	1 Mi	7:38	17:18	7:38
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:36	22:54	11:12
Interval	1 Mi	7:44	30:38	7:44
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:34	36:12	11:08
Interval	1 Mi	7:48	44:00	7:48
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:50	49:50	11:40
Interval	1 Mi	7:48	57:38	7:48
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:25	1:03:03	10:50

I got to spend Wednesday night with N, and apparently it's been awhile since I've been to Minnesnowta.  Dude, there's no more snow!  When did that happen!?!?!?  There's weird green stuff on the ground.  Totally through me for a loop.  Also, I've never done the drive to his place during daylight, it usually is dark as I was leaving work.  It's a pretty entertaining drive.  I saw a miniature pony farm, what appeared to be a collection of windmills (ha! go figure, theme of the week=wind!) and many many windtowers.  Windtowers are kind of HUGE, how did I not see these before??

I also watched my first episode of American Idol and only wanted to slit my wrists 2 1/2 times.  Luckily N kept me entertained (and back from the ledge of jumping) with sweet Michael Jackson dance moves during commercials (the kid cracks me up...seriously...).

As I tweeted about earlier, I'm looking for suggestions on how to get him to attend my marathon.  I've brought it up a few times (probably 1,000) but have yet to push him for an answer (because the guy can't decide ANYTHING in advance, yes it's highly annoying as I plan everything to a T.  You've seen the spreadsheets!).  If you have any advice, or suggestions, I am all ears.  As of right now, I have a "sales pitch" of sorts that I'm working on.  He's out of town enjoying some Twins baseball games so I'm tempted to pitch it to him while he's happily drunk.  Jk.  Kind of.

Check out Leslie's sweet giveaway NOW!

Is redemption supposed to feel this....painful?

Thanks for all of your awesome responses to my grad school excitement.  If anyone happens to know anyone through a friend of a friend's pal's uncle's estranged best friend that completed a Masters in Library Science online, hook a sista up!  I have a thousand questions. :)  And I also think it's funny that most people had mucho love for University of Washington because that's my #1 choice (thus far) as well.  Whoot whoot!  Plus it also happens to be one of the schools my BFFF Megan is looking to go to (but actually be there, not online).  All the more reason to visit, yes? :)

Thursday I had an easy 7 miler to take on.  With insanely sore shoulders from yoga, I headed out at a very slow and relaxed pace.  Each time G-man beeped at me it was muuuuch faster than I thought I was going, so I pushed the pace to an even slower pace.  Nada, didn't work. Ran consistently faster than I should've and felt great about it.  Whatevs, right? :)  I did 7 in 1:04:47 for a pace of 9:16.

Friday night I got in some ab work while waiting for the loverboy to arrive.  We dined and watched Up in the Air, which I looooooooooved.  Oh man.  I thought it was really good.  Also, loverboy is still ridiculously cute in case you were curious.  I gave him the coolest/weirdest/sweetest gift ever, which I may have to blog about at a future date....perhaps tomorrow.  Please remind me. :)

Saturday I was ready for redemption in the form of an 18 miler.  As you may remember from my previous 18 miler (let's be honest, you don't remember.  Why would you unless you're a) me or b) a stalker?  Since you are not a) me, and I hope to God you're not b) a stalker, than you wouldn't remember so click on the previous linky link to refresh your bwains [part of TEAM GREEN has difficulty saying his R's and refers to the brain as a bwain which just cracks me up] speaking of crack, hey-o Jerbear...you've derailed).

Anyway, nuts and bolts of the redemption, I have had one LR thus far in MARATHON TRAINING that has been less than stellar and it's been the 18-er.  I had blood on my mind and Gu in my pockets as I headed out for 18 miler: Take 2.  It was in the mid-upper 50s when I started out, and I was sporting the sexay watermelon runner version of Jerbear.  Something about that pink top makes me so stinkin' happy prancing around out there. 

The first few miles really flew by.  There were a ton of people out biking/walking/running and my legs felt awesome.  I did see a dude rollerblading in full length spandex tights.  Note to dude: if you must wear tights because you're cold (??) feel free to wear shorts or something over the tights, that's *sorta* distracting to see your junk on display, especially b/c you're at least 9 feet tall and it's right at eye level for shrimpy Jerbear.

1. 9:16

2. 9:28
3. 9:17
4. 9:26

I took my first Gu at about 4 1/2 miles and realized that my handheld (12 oz.) was almost half gone.  Uh.  Sweet portion control.  Luckily for me, I remembered that there was a cafe at the turn around point that I could duck into and refill.  Yay for hydration!  At this point I was chasing down some lady, which took my mind off of running.  Unfortunately she turned around before I could catch her, poop nuggets, but thanks for the entertainment lady!  My miles were still ticking off much quicker than I had intended, but without a whole lot of extra energy from me.  Yippee.
5. 9:27

6. 9:14
7. 9:19
8. 9:16
9. 9:34

I grabbed some water just shy of the 9 mile marker along with another Gu and hightailed it up a hill...that sucked.  Hence the time.  Stupid hill.  At the halfway point my time was 1:24:30.  I always like to note this to attempt to negative split that puppy.  Apparently during this next section my brain (or bwain) went out the window as I started seeing super happy families and little kiddos out having fun with their parents.  Didn't realize I had a biological clock, but at that moment I wanted, neigh, needed a hubby, 2.5 kids, and a golden retriever with a white picket fence.  Holy cow.  Luckily this mental lapse in judgment has since passed (for the most part).
10. 9:22

11. 9:20
12. 9:17
13. 9:19
14. 9:19

When I took my last Gu at 13.5 miles I realized, uh oh! I was out of water....and I still had 4 1/2 miles to go.  [Insert oh @#$(@$% here please.]  Also, this is the majority of the run that isn't done under tree coverage so I was just out there under the hot sun.  (Wasn't she just complaining about freezing weather and snow?  Yes..yes she was.)  The salt build up on my face was horrendous.  I just kept counting down the miles to being done.  I was also keeping myself busy by figuring out some potential goal times/finishing times for the MARATHON based on the 9:20ish pace my body seems to be comfortable with lately.  Math helps the miles fly by.  Also, since I took a slightly different route home (only the last 2 miles adding on an extra mile due to construction) my normal mental mile markers were all off.  Where I KNOW I should have 3 miles left aka kick time, I actually had 4 miles left.  Honestly, that was brutal and messed with my confidence a bit.  Grrr.
15. 9:30

16. 9:25


With 2 miles to go, I was stopped at a busy intersection waiting for a walk signal.  Um....stopping with 2 miles to go = worst idea EVER.  I was so thirsty and just wanted to be done.  I started up again and had to take a mini break with about a mile left to go.  I was borderline seeing stars... not fun.  Instead of my usual BTTW 5k finish, instead I was content with surviving it.

17. 9:21
18. 9:15

I finished the 18 miles in 2:48:33 for a pace of 9:22 (last 9 were 27 seconds quicker than the first 9, A+ for consistency).  Compared to the last 18 miler, I was about 5 minutes faster.  And other than the last 2 miles, I felt greeeeeeeeeeat.  As long as the marathon course doesn't run out of water, I should be ok, right? (Omg, don't even joke about that Jeri!)

I finished the week with my first 40 mile week, with 41 on the board.  Whoo whoo!  With only 4 running days/week, I'm pretty darn proud of myself.

Let's play a game called "Can you tell where I wear my running watch?"  The fact it is noticable at the beginning of April does not bode well for the actual summer months.

Also, who needs compression socks?  My VS mukluks do just the trick.  Just kidding, they don't at all.  But post ice bath and shower my feet were STILL freezing, so I had to go with it.  Also, please notice I'm wearing different tempo shorts post-run.  You mean you don't change out of one pair of running shorts to be replaced by a different colored pair of the same ones?  You are a fool. :P  (Also, super awkward angle taken to accentuate the above knee fat.  Oh wells.... :D)

Jeri the Yogi

Tonight I "did it."  Eeew.....not that "it", what are you a junior high girl?!?!  (Btw, while rereading my diaries this weekend, totally referred to "it" as "it"when referencing "it" following me?  The fact that I wasn't able to call it anything other than "it" was probably a good indicator that I was smart for not actually doing "it."  But I digress.)  I finally attended a yoga class!!!!

I've been doing yoga off of Fit TV, and on video podcasts from iTunes for the past 4 years, but I've been too big of a chicken to actually go to a class....for the past 4 years.  In my town, we have a first Friday celebration, where a lot of places downtown will hold specials/events/etc. the first Friday of each month. There is a yoga studio in town that offers free classes on the first Friday.  Yet still I've been too big of a wuss to go.  After wussing out yet again last Friday, I decided I would go no matter what this week.

I checked out another studio in town that offered your first class fo FREE.  Hahah, I just really like to say fo FREE (part of the sweet secret language that the office hubby and I have developed).  Anyway, after trying to get anyone and everyone to go with me, because again, I'm a freakin' wuss, I finally ended up there on my own....sweating bullets before it even started (literally...I was pitting out sitting at my desk the last 30 minutes of work...lame sauce).

The class was super small (4 students) and the instructor chatted up myself and another girl who was new to the studio.  When I told her I had never been to a class before, she basically said this would be the last class she would recommend for someone's first.....excellent.  At this point I expected to do crow's pose for the full 60 minutes (I have it mastered for roughly 15 seconds at a time, which is a vast improvement for me!).  She got started, and it was actually great.  She corrected me in a couple of poses, which I was grateful for--the worst part of practicing by yourself is you never know what you're doing wrong/right!  Apparently I hold my shoulders very high, which I actually find myself doing all the time, not just during yoga, and it's why I have such tense shoulders and get such bad headaches, good to know!

There were some times were I was tired and shaky, but overall the class was really really great.  I guess I was confused as to why she thought this would be a bad first class to take?  Hmm...oh well.  The great thing is the prices for class are crazy reasonable $6 for drop ins, or you can purchase a punch card for 12 classes for $60.  Doesn't get much better than that.  I think it'll give me something to look forward to during the week other than running, and it'll be nice to have someone else kicking my butt instead of me doing it all the time.
______________________________

The other day I was updating my race spreadsheet (yes, as noted previously, I love me a good spreadsheet).  I list all races that I'm interested in doing along with date/time/fee/location/date of cheap fee/etc.  I always pay for a race on the last day of the cheap/early bird deadline, because I am cheap.  I was scanning the spreadsheet to see what races would need to be paid for the in the next couple of months (see that, planning and budgeting AHEAD, you'd think I was a credit counselor or something :p).  What the heck?  Vegas RnR cheap-o deadline is May 1st???  Uh...is it just me or does it seem a bit premature to register for marathon #2 before even toeing the line for marathon #1??  Based on MARATHON TRAINING so far, I really want to do another one, but I know the actual marathon could be a whole other ballgame.  Thoughts???

(Also, I tend to have 900 windows open at all times.  Multi-tasker is an understatement.)

And in random office hubby story news:

I went home for Easter, and while we were eating dinner, I started telling a work related story and mentioned "my co-worker."  Immediately my mother chimes in asking if I'm referring to Tom.  She then precedes to say how cute he is, which means my mother is a) stalking my blog (hi mom!) or b) stalking my work Facebook fan page (as there are pictures of all of our staff on there).  She then wants to know if he's single.  Hi, mother.  Remember that one guy that I'm dating?  I don't think he'd be too happy if he knew you were trying to work your magic with my office husband.  :P  Needless to say, she was pretty bummed he was taken (for me, not herself; in case that wasn't clear :p).

Jeri the MASTER

I knew early in the week, that today's run was going to get stuck on the treadmill.  Thunderstorms etc. are just not ideal for Jerbear to run in.  When I checked the weather report this afternoon to find 30-45 mph winds, that further solidified the deal.  Gym bound am I.  I had 6 easy miles to take care of and thought I would get some good magazine reading in.

Unfortunately, the magazines were the type with super stiff bindings to them that would not lay flat on the monitor for my reading pleasure.  That coupled with the fact that I was dying of heat stroke (aka sweating like a banchee) made for a not so fun run.  It could've been much much worse, but give me the great outdoors (in great weather conditions, mind you) over the treadmill any day (except when the conditions are not great, as previously mentioned :p).  To keep myself from going completely looney tunes, I bumped up the speed on the final mile to help the time pass.  Seriously, it is such a good thing that I'm not trying to be that cutesy girl picking up guys at the gym, because I looked rugged after a run.  No one should sweat that much during an "easy paced" run.  Also, can we discuss how super painful sweat in the eyeball is?  Um...yeouch.

I did 6 miles in 56:51 for a pace of 9:29.  Last mile clocked in at 9:01.

So in somewhat exciting news, I'm contemplating going back to school to get my masters.  Whoot whoot!  For as long as I can remember I've been obsessed with being a librarian.  Growing up, going to the library was the equivalent of getting a "treat" for being good.  I love books.  I love children's books.  To this day if I'm in a crummy mood, I know that a visit to the library will cheer me right up.  I've always had it in the back of my mind that I would work after college at paying down my undergrad debt (oy!) and shoot for 30 to go back to school.

Now I'm concerned that I have no idea where I'll be at in my life at 30, and why wait?  Why not be finishing up at 30?  Right now I have the most free time that I will ever have.  Potentially down the road, I could have a sexy hubby and adorable little bambinos (b/c cute me + sexy hubby would = adorable bambinos, obv).  Other than running and working, I don't have a whole lot on my plate.  Thus the researching started.

Originally I was convinced I should move to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN and get my Masters in Library Science at St. Kate's.  The fact that I kept putting that idea to the back of my mind had me thinking that maybe wasn't the best solution.  Rent is sooooooo much more expensive there, and I don't want the added stress of finding a new job, getting a new job, training at a new job, moving, blaaaaaaaaaaah on top of a heavy school load.  Then I started looking into online programs that are part-time, and I think we have a winner.  I have a massive spreadsheet with a ridiculous amount of details that I've filled out about every school in the US that has the program online (yes, seriously), and have the search narrowed down to about 5-6 schools.

The schools that I have narrowed it down to are as follows: University of Alabama, Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), North Carolina Central University, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, University of South Carolina, and University of Washington.  Any insight on any of these programs (hear that lib lads and ladisses?) is greatly appreciated.  Also, any insight on online programs in general would be great.  I've never taken online classes, so I'm a bit nervous.  Advice would be appreciated.

So now it's time for me to put my nose in the books to study up for the GRE and spend the next 6 months narrowing down my choices for applications due in the spring for Fall 2011.  Um...heck yes?  And just like that my dream is closer and closer. :)

Check out Beth's sweet giveaway at Shut up and Run.

Tough as Nails* (Take 2!)

*Wherein this time, the title is in fact referring to me ME and not the workout!  Heck yes.

This morning I had my scariest workout for all of my marathon training:  10 miles with 8 at a tempo pace of 8:44.  If you recall from a couple weeks ago, I totally failed at life for the last tempo run, by not fueling or hydrating properly.  I normally do my speedwork on Tuesdays, but I'm switching around my schedule this week.  Long run is going to be Friday at lunch (I'm off early, whoo!) then off to see the boy.  As I had learned my lesson last time on my 18 miler, thou shall not complete speedwork and long run in close proximity.  Can't get much further away from Friday then Monday, right?

Fuel!  I drug myself out of bed early, ugh,  just to eat, double ugh.  I had a big ol' bowl of cereal with a nanner.  After letting it settle, I headed out for my run.  My warm up mile was a smidge too fast, but no big deal, right?  Once the warm up mile was behind me, I started in on tempo mile #1.  After trucking along at what I "thought" was my tempo pace, I looked down at the Garmin:  8:10.  Uhh...whoops.  For some reason my brain thinks that tempo equates to hard, when 8:44 pace should be just slightly faster than my normal pace that I've been running lately.  That definitely did NOT compute.

Around the 2 mile tempo point, I came up on a couple that were just starting that appeared to be running in the 8:30-8:40 range.  Perfect-o.  You will be my rabbits until my turn around point!  Drat!  Shoe tying.  I almost stop as well, because why give up the perfect pacers right?  The guy told me to go ahead.  I told him we were running almost the same pace, so I'd take my turn pacing for awhile.  Turns out I do better with being chased than I do when chasing.

1. 9:23 (warm up)

2. 8:38
3. 8:29
4. 8:28
5. 8:32

At the turn around, they kept going (come back!  It's your turn now!!) and I decided to really try to find this elusive tempo pace.  I also wished that I had packed a GU, I could've used a little extra somethin' somethin' at this point.

6. 8:39

7. 8:46
8. 8:48
9. 8:10

I knew I wasn't close to my tempo pace on the last mile, but I always give it everything I have at the end of speedwork sessions, just feels good to go fast sometimes, right?  And then I had a lovely cool down mile.  When I got home, I quickly calculated my pace for my 8 tempo miles 8:33, whoohoo!  My HM pace is 8:34....makes me want to run another one, ASAP.  Since I was rushing off to work, I never looked at the final mile time, assuming it was 9:30ish.

When I got to work and uploading my info into my running log on Runnersworld.com, I was shocked to see that my cool down mile was 8:38!  Almost spot ON what my tempo pace was.  Seriously?  Go figure.  So despite the insanely sporadic splits, I ended up with 9 tempo miles (without realizing it) at a 8:34 pace.

Total run:  10 miles in 1:26:36 for a pace of 8:40.

After talking it over with my office husband (yes, we haven't divorced...yet.  Although he have joked about how many more calories we're going to burn by walking SO FAR to visit each other; God we're nerds) this is my first tempo run of MARATHON TRAINING that hasn't been done on a treadmill.  Plus, it'll be awhile before I need to hit that pace, since the marathon is just going to be done at "whatever pace gets me to the finish line without dying."  And that's in no way going to be 8:44 pace. ;)

I found this picture when I was back home yesterday for Easter.  This is during my 8th grade year (my final year running distance, thank God) at the regional track meet (the meet before the state meet).  I'm in the green (of course), and I literally spent the whole season chasing that chick in blue in front of me.  She was a year behind me, and of course competed in the same events as me in the Varsity and Jr. High track meets.  I'm from a small school, so if you were good enough you could run for the Varsity team, which means I got out of a TON of school in the spring, heck ya!  (Check out that forward lean, you can bet we were running into some STRONG wind, all 100 lbs of me. :p)

Anyways, back to the race.  This was the 1600 m. (the mile) and it was my favorite distance.  I loved being able to judge a competitors stride to determine how tired they were, and when to make my move.  That was the only thing I enjoyed about distance running.  :p  I much preferred the sprinting where I could just run all out for 13 or 27 seconds (depending on the race 100 m. vs. 200 m.) and be done.  Call me lazy.  I think I got 4th or 5th in this race (no I didn't beat girl in blue).  I did find my diary when I was at home with some race times listed in it, and at the beginning of this season I was running ~6:30, and my PR was 6:17.  Not sure if that was this race or not.  Ok, memory lane over.  Carry on with your lives.

Another 8

Since it was my cutback week (can you hear my legs sighing in relief from there?), I had another 8 miler for my "long run."  I putzed around forever Saturday morning, than finally rolled out of bed.  I made myself some toast with almond butter on it.  Now, before Saturday morning, I was an almond butter virgin.  Am I just weird, or does it have the after taste of marshmellows????  Maybe it was the kind that I had, but it was definitely not what I expected.  Whatever the after taste, it didn't upset my stomach like normal peanut butter does.  Phew.  2 cheers for AB!

I started off the run and felt like I was jogging by somehow flying along.  There was some wind at my back, but my legs felt springy.  Springy legs = happy Jeri.  Seriously the first 4 miles fleeeeeeeew by.  I couldn't believe how fast I had gotten to the turn around point.  As soon as I turned around I was smacked in the face with the wind.  Those last 4 miles were some of the toughest miles I've done lately.  Since my splits were so good the first half, I couldn't let up the second half, right?  I finally made it home after officially cursing the wind/damning it to hell (not sure that I have the ability to do that since I'm not God and all, but thought I would try at the very least).

I did the 8 miles in 1:12:13 for a pace of 9:02.
1. 8:57
2. 9:02
3. 9:07
4. 8:59
5. 9:07
6. 9:08
7. 9:08
8. 8:47

When I got home, I immediately checked the weather, to see what was causing me to run in place for 4 miles.  While it was 7-8 mph winds when I left (when the wind was at my back) it was 20-33 mph on my road back.  Uh yeah.  No wonder I wanted to DIE!  Oh well, I count running into the wind as strength training, so that knocks my ONE TIME of strength training off the list for 2010.  Yes!

In completely random news, both N and I were heading to our respective homes this weekend.  When we dated in high school, it seemed like we lived sooooo faaaaaar away from each other.  I refused to drive, so we only got to see each other when he'd come visit me.  Just for fun, I decided to mapquest how far away we live(d) from each other.  What do you know..... a small little half marathon jaunt.  Kind of funny that he literally felt hours away, when I now run farther than that on a standard Saturday long run.  I was half tempted to do a 13.1 to visit him Easter morning (since there's a MONSTER downhill for about 5 miles, I thought for sure I could break 1:50), but opted not to.  Some other time, perhaps. :)

And just because I love him and missed him oh so much, my puppy Kerby.  I haven't seen him since August.  Love him.

Check out Erica's Road ID and GU giveaway !

March in Review + New 'Do

March in Review

Total Miles: 151 which is up from 124 last month (compared to 66.8 in 2009). This breaks my current monthly record (previously 138).

Total Time: 23:35:49. I ran almost a full day this month. That's pretty sweet in my book. (Last month was 19:17:08.)

Total Runs: 17 for an average of 8.88/run. My lucky number. :D (Last month was 7ish/run).

Highest weekly mileage: 3/22/2010 — 3/28/2010: 39.8 Mi 6:14:10 Highest mileage week to date (no wonder my legs were traaaaaaaaashed)! (up from 35 last month)

Favorite run: My first 20 miler.  I imagine this is similar to the love you feel for your first born, no?  To be honest, I expected to crash and burn, just b/c 20 miles is a long way yo!  Imagine my surprise when it was my best LR of the 14+ distance.  20 I heart you.

Most hardcore run: 7 tempo miles.  It. Sucked.  But I'd imagine I am a stronger runner because of it.  Right?  RIGHT!?!?!?  I purposely haven't looked forward in my planner just because I'm assuming there's a longer and faster tempo workout to come.  [shudders]

Favorite Race: St. Patty's Day 5 miler.  Auto PR + my fave holiday + one butt ton of Green = What's not to love people?  Oh yes, the massive mud and poorly organized day.  I remember now. :P

Current Jams:  Ke$ha--Dancing with tears in my eyes & Hungover,  Rihanna--Rude Boy,

This week has been a cut back week (praise the Lord!).  My poor leggies were hurting last week.  Last night was my last run for the month.  As everyone was shouting out their mileage for the month on twitter, I was prompted to check my running log:  142.8.  Well I couldn't end the month with 150.8 miles could I?  Hell no.  I headed out after working in gorgeous 70 degree temps.  I just let my legs do what they wanted to do, and apparently that's a bit faster than my easy pace.  I figured I would compensate with the 8 miles slated for the following morning.

I did 8.2 miles in 1:16:20 for a pace of 9:19.

This morning I begrudgingly got out of bed.  I always plan to run before work on Thursdays (I work a late shift) but always end up sleeping in.  A friend is in town back from school for Easter, and we're going to take on the town so I had to get out there.  Morning running!  How could I have forgotten about you?!?!?  It took a couple of miles for the legs to wake up, but after that I was crusing along.  My effort level was 10 minute miles, but my actual pace was around 9:10-9:15.  It was crazy.  You gotta love those runs.  All day I've been feeling my fabulous runner's high.  I think morning running and I might be rekindling our flame this spring.  ;)

I did 8 miles in 1:14:15 for a pace of 9:17.

In exciting news, I got my hair did this week.  whoot whoot!  Check out my darker do.  I think the dark makes me look more like a smarty pants, no? :)

In sad news, my office husband moved offices.  The following are various email excerpts to how I feel about this travesty.

Email to Nick (yes he knows about my office husband, and is ok with it....at least as far as I know!): 

Did you ever get moved in high school because you talked too much to your friends that sat around you in certain classes? Surprise surprise, I did. All the time. Apparently I’m a bit of a talker?!?!?!?


Anyway, my office husband had to/got to relocate to an office farther away. I feel like this is the corporate version of desk moving. :(
Also random/awesome email brainstorm with the office husband:
Jeri:  I hate that you’re not next door. Shall we craft tin can phones this afternoon?
Tom:  yes we should or get web cams so we can skype
Jeri:  Hahahahahah we should totally skype from two offices down. Love it.

RIP office relationship.  I've already got one distance relationship on my hands, I just can't hack #2. :(