You know you started your morning off right when this is part of it, right? I will NEVER get sick of this glory and I will ALWAYS thank God for the sunrises.
Yep, that’s for sure! I arrived bright and peppy for Back on My Feet this morning at 5:45am (like always!) and was so excited for a big group. We were supposed to be filmed by someone making a documentary about the Ragnar Relay but…the camera mysteriously did not show up!
Either way, we had a big group out which is always fun. Cool thing was that there was a Saucony rep there (he’s part of a Ragnar team) and he gave me this sweet #FindYourStrong bracelet, which I will wear tomorrow when I head out for my 18-miler bright and early!
I also, unexpectedly, got to meet one of my favorite running bloggers! You’ve seen her in those rockin’ Saucony videos finding her strong — Dorothy from Mile Posts!
I easily recognized her and her sparkly magenta headband 🙂 I love meeting bloggers so it was a real treat to have her run with us this morning at BoMF. Dorothy:
The cooler weather has been a godsend and I’ve been so thankful. I actually ran the 8 miles home from work twice this week. It is SO much more difficult to run after work! My stomach is always doing something crazy and my body always feels out of whack. Does anyone else have this issue?
On Tuesday, I wanted it to be a tempo run so I really tried to go fast. My average speeds were around 8:35. That’s great except for it was really hard and in order to get a 3:45 marathon, I apparently have to run every mile at that speed. Let’s just say…seems impossible and I’m a little discouraged. Last night’s run was significantly slower and I mostly hated every second but…at least I did it.
Mid-run home yesterday (trying to take a pic of myself before anyone else came by and made fun of me in their head 🙂 ):
No matter….I’m going to work on getting faster. I will do temp runs and intervals as I should. I actually spoke with a couple of girls from my Crossfit class this week — both who have run marathons with Crossfit as part of their training. The convinced me that I cannot give up doing Crossfit while training. As you know, I’ll be doing it from home starting next week for a few months to save money.
Here’s the thing you guys — I HAVE to do it. I’ve worked so hard in Crossfit and I don’t want to lose the muscle I’ve gained that can help propel me through these marathons. I MUST do squats and lunges and jump rope and box jumps and all the things that will keep these legs in stellar condition.
Uber thanks to Ashley, who sent me her Crossfit Endurance training plan and has been really helful with advice.
1. 18-miler tomorrow morning. I need a new route but I’m too lazy to figure something out so I’ll probably just hit up the good old Mt. Vernon trail, run up 5 miles, back 5 miles and then back down to Alexandria to refill my water at the Starbucks and run back home. That’ll get me close!
2. The Indianapolis Women’s Half Marathon. I’m running this one next Saturday with my sister, Lindsey, as her first race since giving birth. She’s a fast runner but says she will pace with me (since she just had a baby and all) and I’m aiming for a 1:49 time goal. My PR in a half stands at 1:52.
3. The Tough Mudder (12 miles). I’m running the Tough Mudder on Saturday, September 8th with my team, raising money for the Congo kids. This will be a nice form of cross training in way because it will be slower but with obstacles, more hills and just a whole new dynamic.
So…there’s a lot coming up and I’m glad because I love having a full running schedule! I’m sad that my last day at Crossfit is Tuesday but I’m gonna try to make this work. I say it with doubt only because I KNOW me and I know how hard it is to get myself to spend time strength training on my own accord. I’ll get the motivation I need from you guys 🙂
Lastly, I was really happy to come home and find this taped to my mirror:
Sometimes, it’s the little things that just make your whole day 🙂 I love you too. Have a great Friday everyone!