Monday, July 25, 2011

Ooops- its been awhile!

Hello!  If anyone is still out there reading, I apologize for the hiatus.  Actually, after the Newport Marathon, I tried to write a recap for awhile, but it never materialized.  Then, with school finishing up and giving/grading finals and all the fun that comes with being a teacher at the end of the year, life got crazy.  And now summer brings me to living a split life between chilling up north, and working like crazy at home.  Quite the life right now!

Anyway, Newport.  Ugh.  It went epically bad.  Basically, it was a repeat of my horredous Chicago Marathon last fall, although this was mostly a physical thing rather than mental like Chicago.  Regardless, my time was *almost* as bad, ranking as my 2nd worst marathon ever.  It was really rough, honestly, I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't.  I planned for month for that trip, my parents came and were awesome, and overall I wanted it to be good so badly.  My health issues of the winter still have not been completely resolved, so I think that played a role.  I guess I was just sad and anxious to move on afterwaard.  The trip itself was amazing though- we did so much so other than the marathon I was happy with it.

I headed right back into training post-Newport, more determined than ever.  I knew that I was in shape there, based upon some pretty solid training runs that I had leading up.  So far this summer has been about upping my milage and getting in some fast(er) stuff.  I'm hovering just under 90 miles/week right now.  Although I'd love to get in some 100 mile weeks, just for the confidence factor, I feel like where I am is good for now.  I'm keeping some freedom in my training and really loving it.

Oh, and I ran another marathon....yesterday.  I returned to the teeny tiny 100 person, 3 loop, flat marathon that I ran last year and basically had an equally amazing day there.  No taper, no sleep (12 hour workday before) and no looking at my splits/pace throughout the whole thing- just running by feel.  I say this not to toot my own horn, but because I honestly think the more relaxed I am going into the race, the better the outcome.  I ended up running a 3:35, which was in the top half of my marathon times.  More importantly, it gave me the confidence that I'm in the kind of shape that I thought.  I've never claimed to be in PR shape right now (sub 3:18) but I have felt like 3:30 is about what I'm capable of.  Yesterday proved that to me (GI troubles slowed me down a bit in the last few miles.)  The best part was how great my legs felt and how much fun I had- I seriously had a big goofy smile on my face the whole time!  I officially love that race and that course- even if I had to pay $70 for a cotton tshirt and a popsickle at the finish!

So that's about where things stand right now.  I'd like to get back to blogging and perhaps get sommore pictures going on my blog so that there is more visual, less me rambling about stupid stuff.  Problem being, I don't have a camera....hmm...

I hope any readers out there are having fantastic summers!  I'm loving the hot weather we are having in Michigan! 90 degree days- I wish summer could last forever!

Peace, Love, and Running.

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