Just Days

In a few days we will be heading to VEGAS!!!!! Im really excited to get our marathon over with and to be able to say we did it!

ONE WEEK!

In one week we will have finished our marathon! 26.2 miles!

We can do it!

Lifting

Today was another easy day for me. I only ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill then lifted. I am hoping my light lifting will help me through the final miles on the marathon. Tomorrow I plan on hooking up a DVD player to the TV by the treadmill and watching a movie while I run!

It was hard, but I did it!

Getting the motivation to run in this weather is very difficult! After having done some work outside this afternoon, I did not have any desire to return to the outdoors. However, after thawing out, I forced myself to run a short but satisfying 4.5 miles. I became motivated when I told myself that I had not done all the training leading up to this marathon to let it slip now. Plus, it was slightly warmer today than yesterday. I ran up in Mt. Washington and did the same 2 mile path twice so it was relatively boring. I will look to get a good nine mile run in on Saturday - hopefully it won't be too cold or there won't be too much snow.

Boring

Yesterday wasn't anything special. I ran a mile on the treadmill then lifted some! I'm not getting excited for the 9 mile run this weekend because we have a few inches of snow out. Hopefully I will be able to get the courage up and run outside because an hour and a half on the treadmill is not my thing!

You're Welcome!

It was really nice to show you my path - I hadn't had a chance to show anyone some of the nice paths around Pittsburgh. I agree it was great to do the last long run together. It's easier to finish those long distances when you have a running partner. Thanks for coming for the day (wish you could have stayed longer) and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

No running for me today either - I'm trying to heal up a little bit. I plan to resume training on Wednesday.

Thanks!

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed my tour of Pittsburg. You get to experience a lot more when you are actually running around it and not in a car. I was also happy that we got a chance to do our last long run together.
I will not have a chance to run today because I had to work and I have a Banquet later this evening!

PITTSBURGH HERE I COME!

Tomorrow I will be making the trip out to Pittsburgh! I am excited to run in a new environment, especially along the river! The bad news is that the weather channel said that there will be rain all day tomorrow, which I think will be OK we need to get used to running in different weather (if we can run 21 miles in the rain then we will be fine when it is beautiful on race day)!
See you tomorrow in the MORNING!

Walgreens Trip

Yesterday was a nice easy jog day. I was at Jon’s watching PJ and I needed to go to Walgreens to get my TB test read (which was negative). Instead of just running all the way up SOM I decided to run through your old neighborhood, and then through the Hunt Club. This added a few miles onto my run which same up to be 7.25 miles. It took me about an hour and 10 minutes which was not very fast but I wasn’t going for speed I was going for pace and I felt fine running. Today I have to work and have a meeting this evening so I am not sure if I will get to run. Tomorrow if I don’t work I plan on doing a shorter slow jog again to get ready for our run on SATURDAY!

It keeps getting longer...

I ran 19.9 miles today - however, I'm rounding up and just telling people 20...close enough. I ran the similar path that I have been doing - I extended just a wee bit though. I felt pretty good throughout the entire run.

The only rough time was when I got mad because Joe wasn't at the right spot at the right time to give me water and a gel pack. It was right after a hill and I needed a pick-me-up - Joe and the fuel would have been just the thing I needed. I finally ran into him almost 2 miles past our planned meeting point. Next time I will be better at telling him the right time.

The rest of the run went well - my legs were tired and hurting - but that's normal. I think I might try to bump up the distance to a little over 20 for next week.

How was your run?

Wonderful Weather!

Yesterday was a beautiful day, I also wanted to be my run in before it got to dark. I started at my house and ran down Liberty to Eathans Green to pick up Jon at his apartment. After I used him for water and a bathroom he joined me for a run back to my house. On the way back we went down SOM to Portz then to Aurora. The run was nice, for some of the way we found a soccer ball in the middle of the street and I started to dribble it. My hamstrings were getting sore so I stopped and continued my run. Today I am looking forward to a shorted run!

Back on Track.

I feel as though I am back on track to following the training schedule. I did a quick 8 miles this evening - I was trying to fit the run in before it got dark and scary. I narrowly succeeded. I ran approximately an 8 min 20 sec pace, which I was very happy with for 8 miles. I definitely cannot do that for a full marathon though. 5 tomorrow...

Agony.

My run was thrown off a little today. The incline was closed again so I ran down PJ McArdle. It's a relatively gradual decline so it wasn't too tough on my legs, however, it added a little over a mile onto my run. The first part of my run went fine until I ran up over 100 stairs around mile 8 and then up a long hill around mile 8.5. Luckily, Joe was at the top of the hill at mile 9 to give me water and a gel packet (the only I had).

I felt good til about mile 12 or 13 - that's when I started to struggle. I made it to mile 15 where I had a second water stored for me. The hydration gave me a little bit of a pick up but I still just didn't feel all that good. I was in complete agony (physical and mental) at mile 18. I slowly continued - most likely looking like I had been shot in both legs. Finally I finished and Joe was there to drive me up the hill.