37- once every 3 weeks, whether you need it or not...

That's right, today was a REST DAY.  Well, from running that is.  Working 8+ hours on my feet makes it still feel like I'm not a total slacker ;P

When I did get out of work (2:30pm, half an hour late...grr....) it was like a hurricane outside!  Seriously blowing winds and horizontal rain.  I couldn't hit up the gym by my parents house (which I had to drive back to) because they close at 3pm.  The Y on a Saturday at 2:30 = horrible.  Soooo, I decided just to 'go with the flow' and drive home.  I am lightyears behind on my teaching prep work, so I devoted some time to that.  For me, taking a rest day every 3 weeks is pretty standard, although I do feel the need to justify it alot as I am doing in this post.  I also want my long run tomorrow to be really quality.  The last few weeks, my longs have been *ok*, not horrible but not really confidence boosting either.  After my 'breakthrough' week and my confidence boost via pace, I really want tomorrow's run to be tough, long, and satifying.  We'll see how that goes.  It requires that I actually get some sleeps before then...

**NEWS and DECISION MAKING**
Ok, this is a big deal.  I have made a decision regarding Boston/my spring.  First, let me backtrack.  I haven't mentioned this on the blog, but I've been debating over the last few weeks whether or not to even run Boston.  After my injury, my training/plans were forced to change and I wasn't sure if I would be ready in time.  As I admitted, my milage is lower than I would like it to be right now, but I don't feel comfortable increasing more because it was hard enough going from zero miles per week injured to 50+ miles per week, the first week back.  Soooo, I've been trying to get them to be fairly quality miles most of the time.  With that said, I'm still not sure if I would be ready for Boston.  The thing about it is, the only reason why I even signed up for Boston is to run with my friend/training bud.  We trained together last winter; I ran my first Boston last April, and then ran a month later with her at Bayshore Marathon where she BQed at her first marathon.  A couple months later, when she decided to go, I agreed to go with her.  But, this winter we have hardly trained together at all.  She is finishing up school and I am in the working world (x2) so our schedules rarely work out.  Not to mention I'm a 6am or earlier runner and she is usually going to bed around that time!  And the other thing about Boston is that I don't want to feel the need to run it every year.  I don't want to get all OCD about it.  Yeah, it was fun last year and I have great memories.  But I want to make lots of great marathon memories at lots of different places.  The other thing is, my focus is different this time around.  Last year at Boston, I hadn't run since my BQ and PR almost a year prior.  Boston was all about the experience, no PR or anything was even a thought for me.  But now, almost 2 years after I set my PR, breaking it is all that is on my mind.  I know that I don't stand a chance to do it at Boston, and by running Boston hard I am eliminating my chances at doing it 5 weeks later at Bayshore (which is exactly what I did last year.)  Bayshore is a great course and I know that is where it could happen, so part of me wanted to hold out, gain the extra 5 weeks and look for a PR.  Because right now that means more to me than running another 3:33 or something at Boston.  Especially after such a disappointing fall marathon in Philly.

I guess where I'm going with this ramble is this: compromise.  I don't want to leave my friend hangin out to dry and I do love Boston.  Buttt, I don't want to jeoprodize my chances at a PR at Bayshore either and change where my goals are now focused.  It is too difficult to taper, run a marathon, then get a few quality runs + rest in 5 weeks and run again.  Soooo, I've decided to TRAIN THROUGH Boston.  This may seem kind of crazy, but it makes sense to me.  It won't make for a great time at Boston, but it will meet my needs the best, I believe.  This means, I won't taper much before Boston and instead treat it like my "long run" for the week.  I won't go into it as fresh, but I will get to run it, share the experience with my friend, and then taper in the weeks afterward for a hard, quality PR effort at Bayshore.  If that doesn't work, I've got my eye on a late June marathon as well......I just really NEED a PR.  I can't really explain it.  Having "OK" marathons for the last year or so just isn't cutting it.  This is my goal.  I'm out to do it.

Anyone else done anything like this?  Good idea?  Bad idea??

In other news, day off = day to catch up on eating = good thing.

I'm off to rustle up sommore food, then bed!  LR in the morning time! :)  PS> Don't forget to spring forward!