Saturday's Long Run

It's been 2 weeks since my marathon and my legs STILL aren't quite right. I know I'm no spring chicken anymore but really? Maybe I didn't rest and recover long enough but I didn't want to take a whole week off of running because I have another half marathon this weekend.

I'll be alright, it's really not that bad, just some tight, REALLY tight calves and my darn plantar fasciitis flaring up.

I ran 10 miles on Saturday while my husband rode his bike. I'm generally a lone runner but I have been missing running with people lately. My good friend and former running buddy is 21 weeks pregnant and just found out she's having a girl!! So obviously she's not lacing up the shoes for the next 6 months at least.

The run started out pretty well. It was windy, yet again. I swear the wind is my nemesis. When I try to pick up the pace it starts blowing and I can't seem to get going. So it was sort of a slower run that I was hoping for but that's OK. I did 10 miles in 1:35 avg pace about 9:28. Not too shabby.

I was going to do 12 miles but decided that I was sick of getting my butt kicked by the wind so at 5 miles we turned around and headed back to the car.

Then we grabbed some lunch since our daughter was at her Grandma's house and we went to the gym for a weight session. After the gym we hit the grocery store and had the rest of the day to relax.

Sophie dressed up as a princess and did some twirling for our entertainment:

Yes that's chocolate on her mouth. And yes, I didn't clean it off seeing as 5 minutes later it was bath time.

We all had a case of the Monday's this morning. I think all 3 of us were less than thrilled to be up and at it. I'm not sure what kind of stay at home Mom I'll be but I cannot wait to not have to sit in traffic everyday.

We were going to "start trying" for another baby right after the marathon but that came and went and I started having second thoughts. Only because I still have many items on my to-do list and I was starting to get very overwhelmed.

So we decided to putt it off a month. I have a feeling by the time middle of Feb. rolls around I'll be ready. I just wasn't a few weeks ago. Now the opportunity is kind of passed so we have to wait until after Feb. 11th.

This weekend I'm running a half marathon. I signed up for it before I ran the marathon thinking "how hard could it be?" Well after the way I've been feeling the last week it's going to be interesting to say the least.

I have two friends that are going to be running the 5k so we decided to get a hotel room on Folly Beach since they were having a race special. Friday night we're going to grab a bite to eat and hang out and then roll out of bed on Saturday for the race. The hotel is the starting line. Can't beat that.

The only difficult part will be reminding the ladies that we do not booze it up the night before a race. See we all three have 2 year old girls, with in a few months of each other so we have a lot in common. Like husbands who were less than thrilled with the plan of us getting a hotel room. Sorry guys, mom's need a break too.

I think it'll be a fun night and will be nice to not have to get up super early and drive all the way down to the beach. I am honestly not running for a PR this weekend, although a PR would always be welcome. I'm just going to take it easy, enjoy what will be my last long distance race for a while. When I'm pregnant I'll probably only do the occasional 5k or 10k.

It all depends on how I feel come Saturday. Hopefully we'll make it to sleep at a decent time.

Where do I Begin?

I haven't posted anything since last Friday. I'm a slacker. Actually I've just been very very busy with work and then I literally fall into bed when I get my little one to sleep.

In a nutshell here's what my week has consisted of:

-Traveling to Charlotte, NC for "fake" Christmas with my family plus celebrating two birthdays (my Mom and nephew) - pics to come.
- Ran 7 miles on the trail behind my parents house. I love that trail. I miss that trail. It ends right accross the street from a Starbucks and Trader Joes. If I had my debit card on me I would have totally gotten a coffee and gone shopping and just called someone to come get me. But I didn't so I ran back to my parents house.
- Drove home and then had to do laundry, clean and get ready for the work week.
- I worked all week. It was busy.
- Ran during the week at the butt crack of dawn. Scratch that it wasn't even dawn yet.
- Ran 19 miles today and then had to go to my husband's company Holiday lunch (because in this day in age you can't call it a Christmas lunch anymore. Gotta be PC).

About those 19 miles.......

It blew.

I walked.

I cried.

I even threw my water bottle and then sat in the grass and called my sister. I mean who would have thought a 31 year old could throw a tantrum like that. I learned it from my daughter :)

I love my sister, she's always so positive. She's not a runner but she just makes me feel like a good person.

Then I called my husband who pretty much told me the same thing my sister did: Don't quit.

Then I came home and e-mailed a blogger who kicks ass at the marathon and she gave me some awesome advice too. (Thanks Skinny Runner!)

General consensus: Don't quit. Everyone has bad runs now and then. I have trained way too hard and come to far to quit now. I can still do this!

However I had a huge blow to my confidence today. This 20 miler, which actually was only 19, was supposed to be better than the last. I was supposed to feel strong. I was supposed to run the entire time and feel ready for the marathon in 3 weeks.

Instead I felt awful from the first 3 miles till 12 and then had to walk/run the rest if the way. I mostly walked. And cried. I think a biker thought something was wrong because he looked back at me several times. No worries Mr. Bike Rider, just being a cry baby! Thanks though! My stomach was rejecting any water and energy chews. I knew if I ate one more I'd hurl all over the place.

I just didn't have it in me today. I admit I've been feeling very tired and burned out lately. Maybe this is my body's way of telling me to rest. Seriously I shut down physically and mentally today.

So I'm going to take the next couple of days and enjoy Christmas with my husband and daughter. I'll pick it back up on Monday and then enjoy my taper. I will hope for the best on Marathon day. I know I can make it 20 miles and it's ok to walk!

Half marathon is by far my favorite distance so after this marathon I think I will focus on that. I'm still excited for the marathon, just don't feel as ready as I hoped I would.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Santa Hangover

It's been a busy busy weekend. And it will be like this till the end of the year. We have something planned every weekend between now and New Year's Day. I'm going to be exhausted by the time this race comes around. I'm almost looking forward to being pregnant again so I can take it easy. However relax is not in my vocabulary, even when pregnant. 

Friday I finished all my painting. Well, not all. I still have other items I need to get done but the bulk of Sophie's furniture is DONE! Headboard, bookcase and a mirror. Whew! All I need to do is the clear coat but it's been a little humid with this rain that moved in, and I didn't want it to dry funky so the furniture is still sitting in the garage till I can do this last step. Pictures to come.

Saturday I ran 12 miles, 1:46, avg pace 8:54. Getting better with this distance. Would love to run just one more before I get pregnant so I can PR again. There is a 15k (Charlie Post Classic) at the end of January and a no frills half marathon (Save The Light Half Marathon) first weekend of Feb. that I'm thinking about doing. We'll see, I don't want to jump hard core into running after my marathon. Body would probably like to recover and we'll pretty much go from marathon to "trying" to get pregnant.

Sunday we woke up and got ready for a Brunch with Santa with a friend of mine at her neighborhood country club. It was a nice spread of food, they had a mini pancake station for the kids and I topped Sophie's pancakes with yummy strawberries, chocolate chips, whipped cream. She only ate the chocolate chips. And some bacon. Mom of the year, right here! 

We even got her to sit on Santa's lap for a few minutes. The look she gave him the whole time was priceless.

Not so sure about this guy. 

There's a high 5, she's warming up....slightly

After brunch we walked down to a little area near the clubhouse that was on a marsh to take some pictures. They actually turned out really nice and I have to credit my good hair day to my friend who spend 2 hours highlighting my mass of hair on Saturday. Actually my hair is not very thick, just long.

A rare moment - I'm usually behind the camera

My favorite! Love this little girl!! This is a keeper.

Another keeper!! Even if we all aren't looking at the camera we are all smiling.

My loves!

On the way home, little bit feel asleep so we sat through the Starbucks drive through for about 20 minutes. Apparently everyone in our town decided to go to Starbucks at exactly 12:20 Sunday afternoon. We got home and rested/relaxed for a few hours until it was time to head back out for the James Island County Park Festival of Lights. 

All the 6 years I've lived here and we've never been. Mainly because it gets packed, there's traffic, a ton of people and I hate all of that. I'm probably the world's most impatient person. But since Sophie is getting older I want to start doing traditions so I decided to suck it up and deal with the mass of people. And we went on a Sunday which was less crowded than Saturday. And we got there right when it opened so we didn't sit in too much traffic.

So basically you drive around the county park and look at all the light displays. The have a Santa's Village you can park and walk to. Includes fire pits for marshmallow roasting, a carousel, Santa of course, food and beverages and a climbing wall (??) Not sure about that last one but people looked to be having a good time.

Getting ready for the lights

Sophie got to ride on the carousel, almost caught my hair on fire roasting marshmallows. Again, letting my child play near fire = mom of the year. Actually she's becoming quite the Miss Independent so I let her try it out. Teach em young, that's what I say!

Fun with Daddy!

Waving at us every time she passed by. It was too cute and I'm so happy she loved it.

All good things must come to and end and she started getting upset and fussy and we knew it was time to go. Sleepy Sophie is not a fun thing to deal with. Luckily we made it back to the car, saw the rest of the lights, and got home before a full meltdown occurred. So I call it a success.

However this morning she was NOT a happy camper to be woken up. Thus I call it a Santa hangover. Poor girl could barely keep her eyes open and fell back asleep in the car. These are the days I feel guilty to be a working mom. Clearly she needs to sleep longer and I felt so bad having to get her out of bed. One day, one day I won't have to do this to her. Hopefully. That's the plan anyway. In the meantime there's money to be made and bills we gotta pay.

Because I didn't get to workout and do my cross training I dragged myself out of bed and went to the gym. Ran 4 miles, 33:49, avg pace 8:27 or something like that. Did some legs, chest and back.

It's a very rainy, cold and dreary day today so I'm anxious to get this Monday over with.

20 Miles

I first want to start by saying that I am amazed by people who can run a marathon fast. A lot of the blogs I read, these ladies are fast. They run a marathon in the time I ran 20 miles. However, this is the longest distance I've ever run and I'm just proud that I did it.

I woke up Saturday morning to cold temps and frost on the ground. When I got to the start of the trail it said 30 degrees on the thermometer.

I had on my ear warmers, gloves, Nike tech capris (which surprisingly kept my legs warm) a long sleeve shirt and a fleece. No picture of this lovely sight as my hubby was still sleeping when I left.

When I started running I could not figure out why my hands were numb, literally freezing, until I realized my hand held water bottle lid was not on tight and water was splashing all over my hands. It was cold but I warmed them up by putting them under my shirt - body heat is awesome.

Once I got going I started to warm up nicely and the cold air didn't really affect my breathing at all but my nose was running like crazy.

I stopped around mile 5 at a gas station to pee and take off the fleece. In a nutshell my run went very well until about mile 16 I started to feel very tired. I did stop at mile 12 because I was back at my car and needed more water (since most of it leaked out before I started running).

So mile 16 I start getting tired and then I get more and more tired as the miles go on. By 18 I had to stop and walk. I didn't even know if I was going to finish 20. I guess this is what people mean by hitting the wall. I wasn't really cramping I was just tired.

I walked for about a minute and told myself to get my butt moving. My pace was so slow towards the end and I wondered how in the hell am I going to make it 6 more miles?

The last .3 miles I ran as fast as my little tired legs would go, which really wasn't that fast at all, but I got 20.12 miles done! Barely!

Avg pace was 9:59. At least it was under 10 minute mile.

My "I'm so happy it's over" pose. 

Even though I have never run 20 miles before and am proud, I'm slightly disappointed that I started to crap out at mile 16 and 17. Did I not eat enough the day before? I thought I did, which could have also been the problem...maybe I was too full and sluggish. Who knows.

What I do know is I want to run a little faster than that on race day. I don't want to feel like crap and feel like I'm not going to make it, question why in the world I decided to do this.

So I'm going to do another 20 miler in three weeks - Christmas Eve or the day before. I feel like this one doesn't fully prepare me.

The good news is I was not as sore as I thought I was going to be afterwards or the next day. Some of that is due to me wearing my Recovery Socks right after I got home. We even went out to dinner that evening with friends and I stayed up till 11:30! What!? Ha.

I did cross training yesterday and I could tell my body was tired so I tried to keep the weight light.

Today is a rest day and I'll be back at it tomorrow morning.

Catching Up

Since my last post I've barely logged onto a computer and happy that I've had some time away. I've been feeling very overwhelmed with life and this marathon training. I think last week was one of the first times that I honestly thought about quitting.

Then I woke up Thanksgiving morning with a sore throat and realized that this was the reason I was feeling so run down, I was getting sick.

Luckily someone in this world invented Airborne and after 2 days of eating those nasty chews I was feeling so much better. 

We went to my sister's house in Charlotte (well small town outside of Charlotte, Stanley to be exact). I did not brave the Black Friday crowds because I never go and I was feeling crummy. We did go out later in the day to a few stores but the spectacular deals were already over. 

I'm a believer in Airborne. I started eating the chews Friday night and by Saturday morning sore throat was gone and runny nose was not as snotty.

Saturday we drove home and went to friends house to watch the Clemson vs. Carolina game. I could care less about football but the hubby had fun, I caught up with some friends, and Sophie got to play. Everybody wins!

Note to self - puffer jackets make me look chunky.

I assure you the kids had a blast, even though it doesn't look like it on their faces.

Sunday I did 12 miles in 1 hour and 51 minutes, avg pace 9:11. Felt really good overall. It was a cool morning but I got warm quick!
Later I went to the gym to do some elliptical and weights. Kicked my butt and I was tired when I got home. And hungry. Like I hadn't eaten enough the previous 3 days.

Monday I had the day off so I:

1) worked out - ran 3 miles
2) Ran errands - shopped, went the the grocery store
3) put up Christmas decorations - still need to do the tree
4) cleaned
5) started my nephews dinosaur painting
6) cooked dinner
7) crashed

So a vacation day isn't really a vacation at all. I busted my tail and was exhausted when the day was done.

Back to work Tuesday, which is what I've been doing since. Not that exciting but I have been super swamped with end of year stuff, which is one reason why I haven't posted anything lately.

December is going to be a super busy month and I'm stretching myself really thin. I think maybe I'll get to relax in March. Hopefully by then I'll be knocked up so I'll have an excuse to rest more.

Saturday I have 20 miles! AHHHHHHHH!! So intimidating to say that but I'm ready to tackle it. Then I'll have to come home and take a nap because we are going out to dinner with friends that night. A night out with my daughter spending the night with the grandparents. Oh the possibilities. Honestly I see myself crashing early but I'm hoping as long as I take a nap and drink lots of water I should be fine.

Next week I'll be working on painting my daughters furniture to start getting her "big girl" room ready. I have a lot to do but she's 2 and doesn't care if it's not all complete at once.

Weekend after we'll be back in Charlotte to do "fake Christmas" with my family. That plus it's my mom's and nephew's birthday that week so it's Christmas and birthdays all in one.

Then the next week is Christmas. I might be able to relax a little because the only thing I have to do is cook something Christmas Eve and make breakfast Christmas morning. My new tradition is to make cinnamon rolls from The Pioneer Woman. I made these last year and they are so good.

So you see, there is no rest for the weary. I feel like I'm at the peak of training and I'll start to taper soon. 20 miles this weekend and then I'm going to do another 20 - 22 miles on the 23rd (I have off and Sophie will go to school that day for her Christmas PJ party). Then I'll taper off and be ready for the race.

In theory.

Getting nervous.

Getting excited!

I hope I don't die! - A little dramatic there.

I Haven't Felt Like Blogging

I had a busy weekend.

I'm two weeks behind in my training recaps.

I really don't have anything really interesting to say.

I'm in a funk.

For some reason the Holiday's get me down. I really don't know why other than I work and don't have a whole lot of vacation time (I'd rather take my vacation in the summer and go to the beach). So I don't feel like I get to enjoy the Holiday's. I'm stressed, running around like a crazy woman to get things done, and by the time I have all my decorations up, baking done, home from visiting family, it's time to clean it all up.

So I put on my happy face for my daughters sake and smile my way through it. Honestly if I could just sit and relax and not worry about a tree, decorations and all that crap then I'd do it.

But I do it for Sophie because I remember growing up how my mom was always so festive and it made me happy.

Maybe next year if I get to finally be the stay at home mom I want to be I'll have more time.

Thursday we'll be heading back to Charlotte, NC to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. It's so hard with two families, who gets to spend time with who, then traveling. I really just want to sit at my house and go out to eat. I sound like a Debbie Downer right now. Like I said I'm in a funk.

I never thought I'd hear myself say this but I think I'm getting burned out of running. Between training, working, being a mommy, Holiday's coming up, I feel stretched really thin and starting wondering if this was all a big mistake.

I know I don't have much longer to go and if I quit now I'll regret it for the rest of my life, well until kids are old enough to be self sufficient and I can leave them at the house while I go run. But I'm not a quitter so that's not an option. I want that medal darn in. I want Sophie and my next child to know that Mommy ran a marathon. It's important. So no, I will not quit.

I'm not sure where the statement above come from other than I was so tired after my 19 miles yesterday. But I got it done and I am proud.

I got a later than normal start, about 7:45 I made it to the trail. It warmed up quick too so I was immediately not liking the heat and sun. Plus I had to pee from mile 1 to 5. I am so thankful for that gas station that's close to the trail at mile 5. I felt 5 pounds lighter after. Relief!!!

I stopped again at mile 13, at my car, to get more water because I was out and it was so warm.

I continued on to finish the remaining 6 miles. Finished 19.05, 3:06, avg pace 9:48. Slow. Painfully slow but considering I have never run 19 miles before I'm happy that it was under a 10 minute mile. Barely.

Actually the whole run I felt tired and sluggish, probably because of the weather. It was 75 when I got back in my car.

Today I'm a little sore and taking a rest day. Actually I was supposed to do Body Pump tonight until mu husband forgot that he had a dentist appt. and couldn't pick up Sophie. Oh well, I wouldn't have been very good tonight anyway, I feel so tired today.

I must have a case of the Monday's to feel so blah today. I'll be a bit more peppier tomorrow!

Week 11 Recap

Day 1 - Sunday
Cross Train: 15 minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes on the stair climber. Weights (legs, upper body and some kettle ball exercices).

Day 2 - Monday
Rest: Halloween! Trick or Treating with my little black cat. I was sore from the previous day's workout so this was a nice day to take it easy. Of course I was rushed trying to get home, cook dinner, get Sophie ready for trick or treating, and making sure the decorations outside were all set up.

Day 3 - Tuesday
4 miles, 33:08, avg pace 8:15. When I was on my way home from the gym I realized that I was supposed to run 5 miles this morning. Oops.

Day 4 - Wednesday
8 miles, 1:07, avg pace 8:27. Body pump class in the evening. My first Body Pump class in like 3 years and it was great! Looking forward to doing these more often as long as the hubby can get Sophie after work.

Day 5 - Thursday
5 miles Rest: I could have gotten up but my body was tired, not so much sore, just really tired.

Day 6 - Friday
Rest 5 miles, 43:05, avg pace 8:47. Taking it easy since I had my long run the next day. Ab workout after the run.

Day 7 - Saturday
18 miles, 2:55:56, avg pace 9:46.

I was not looking forward to this run for 1 reason: Wind.
The weather forecast was calling for windy conditions today 15-25 mph winds with 35 mph + wind gusts. Lovely. Not only the wind but it was pretty chilly this morning, which is not normally a big deal. but when you factor in the wind it was cold. I'm a whimp when it comes to the cold, but this was bone chilling.

Starting out was a little rough because my hands were freezing and I didn't bring my gloves, because I figured I wouldn't want to wear them very long anyway.

Before long I started to warm up slightly but was still wearing my fleece. I was a little afraid I was going to get to warm but when I was in the shade and the wind wipped through the area, I was glad I kept it on.

So I felt good overall except for when I was running head first into the wind. That just made me feel slow and cold and towards the end of the run I kept saying "effing wind" for the last 4 miles.

I was keeping about a 9:30 - 9:40 pace until...the last 4 miles (effing wind). I was getting tired and it was just a blowing. Plus I was on a different part of the trail and there were a ton of leaves covering the path and I almost tripped over a few branches that had fallen so I slowed down to make sure I didn't bust my butt.

Mostly I was getting tired and I was out of water. The annoying thing with all the wind is my lips were dry as crap and my mouth was getting dry too. I think for the race Ricky is going to have to meet me somewhere around mile 20 and give me another water bottle. I did really well with my water until mile 17.

I ate some of my power bar enery chews throughout the run as well as some peanut M&M's (don't judge - they were good at mile 12).

Last week I felt a little dizzy around mile 12 from being hungry I think so I made sure I had something with me just in case. Not sure it was the right thing but I figured the peanuts would help. Sometimes when I eat the energy chews I get sick of the taste but I hate gels. Not sure if the M&M's did anything for me but it was a nice snack to have (sorry Sophie - I stole them from her Halloween candy stash).

Regardless of the wind, I'm glad I got out there and did it. I really wanted to wimp out. The time was slow but then again I've never run 18 miles before so I'm proud all around.

Of course when I got home it was nap time for Sophie and I was looking forward to laying down with her while my husband went to the gym to do his workout. This would be the day she doesn't want to nap. I was half asleep when I felt like I was being watched.

There she was sitting next to me going "get up Mommy, I not tired, no nap." I tried for about 15 minutes to get her to lay down but she was not having it. So tonight it's almost bed time and I have a feeling I'm going to crash hard.

Today I'm thankful for my Recovery Socks!

Week 10 Recap

Day 1 - Sunday
Half Marathon - Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon.
My first race since April and I really wanted a sub 2 hour half marathon. My chip time was 1:58:06 woot woot!

Day 2 - Monday
Rest

Day 3 - Tuesday
4 miles, 34:07, avg pace 8:31

Day 4 - Wednesday

8 miles 1:09, avg pace 8:31
Lunch hour went to the gym and did 10 minutes on the elliptical and weights

Day 5 - Thursday
4 miles Rest

Day 6 - Friday
Rest 3 miles, 26:00, avg pace 8:30

Day 7 - Saturday
17.01 miles, 2:44, avg pace 9:41
Weather wasn't very good this morning, it was cool, windy and rainy. Luckily by the time I started running the downpour had moved on but there was still a drizzle for the first hour or so. On top of that I was getting smacked in the face by wind. Some of my miles were very slow because of that (or they were just slow but I'll blame the wind).
I was feeling good overall, I stopped around mile 7 at a gas station to use the restroom and then once at mile 12 because I started see spots. Got a little light headed and wondered what the heck is this about all about and realized that I was hungry! Weird, I ate breakfast earlier but apparently my stomach was telling me "more food please." The feeling passed and I continued on. Thinking maybe I need to run with a bar or something just in case.
I finished strong though and I wasn't cramping at all like I did a few weeks ago after my 15 mile run.
Some things I'm trying out:
- Drink a large gatorade before I run in the morning. Then during the run I have my handheld with water and Nuun.
- I started eating my Power Bar Energy chews at mile 5, mile 10, mile 12, and then one per mile till I finished. I tried the Raspberry (w/o caffine) starting out and I'm thinking these don't work for me, I need the ones with caffine. Gives me that little extra boost.
- I chugged some of my husbands gatorade right after I started feeling lightheaded so I'm thinking maybe the longer I run I need to ditch water and drink gatorade. Not sure about this, I'll see how next week goes.

I have to say I'm a Gatorade fan. I know it's loaded with sugar but it doesn't make my stomach hurt and I seem to perform well when I drink it. So I'll stick to it for now.

I have to admit that when I hit mile 7 I thought to myself "only 10 more miles to go." And then I laughed a little. 26.2 seems so long! Happy to report that my legs feel good and as they are a little tired I'm not very sore.

Total miles for the week: 45 - the most ever for me.

15 Miles and Sore

Yesterday I did my 15 miles on Folly Beach.

I started out feeling really good. Actually I felt really good miles 1-13.5. I kept a pretty consistent pace and was enjoying the run, weather, and scenery.

Since I have a half marathon on Sunday, I wanted to push this run some and see what my projected time would be for 13.1 miles. I ended up somewhere around 2 hours 3 minutes and 33 seconds. This would be a PR as the last half marathon was 2 hours 7 minutes. I hope I can pull it off on Sunday! I desperately want to get a sub 2 hour but I anything better than my previous time will make be happy.

Around mile 13.5 I started feeling tired, thirsty and ready to stop. My legs were starting to cramp and my pace slowed big time. I started to struggle mentally after the run wondering if 15 hurts this bad how can I possibly do the remaining long runs? I know this is the whole part of training but this was tough. I also have to factor in that I barely ran this past week and my calorie intake was reduced due to traveling and not eating as much. I can't forget that I felt great the majority of the run so it's OK that the last couple of miles were tough. I finished and didn't stop so I should be proud (actually I stopped at my car at mile 10 for some more water but that was only for like 2 minutes).

15.01 miles, 2 hours, 23 minutes, avg pace 9:31. I'm proud of myself.

This past weekend was the Lowcountry Race for the Cure on Daniel Island. I've run this race the last 4 years and was a little sad to have missed it. I was looking at the race results and saw that the 3rd place winner for my age group was like 23 minutes. I know that if I ran this race I could have either beat, or come really close to beating that time.

Then I started feeling like maybe I should abandon all this marathon nonsense and focus on faster, shorter distances. I'm not sure where this doubt is coming from. I'm not a fast runner, I'm slightly above average I would say (slightly). I want to be faster. I don't know if long distances are for me seeing as how spent I felt after just 15 miles.

One thing I'm not is a quitter so for now I'm going to follow through with my goals. However I'm trying to think of a short race I can run for fun and speed.

I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if I wasn't thinking about having another baby. Time is limited here and I don't want to put off baby plans. I know there's always after baby and I probably won't have time for long distances so I can focus on being fast! I just want that one marathon medal to one day show my kids.

This morning my legs are sore but not horribly. I wore my compression socks to bed last night so I don't really have any lower legs pain. My knees are a little tender and the inside of my thighs are sore but overall I feel good.