3 weeks til Spinx Run Fest Marathon

Since I didn't get much running in last week, I mixed up the schedule for this week. Monday is normally a rest day, but since my last run was on Friday, I decided to run on Monday instead. I flew from Atlanta to Raleigh-Durham and then drove to Wilmington, NC on Monday. I checked into my hotel late afternoon, changed into running clothes and headed to "The Loop" at Wrightsville Beach. I felt energetic and strong. I completed three laps around "The Loop" as it became dark, making a total of 7.5 miles. I had enough energy to continue another lap or more, but don't feel comfortable running after dark. I finished strong and proud and vowed to run each night during my stay, but that didn't pan out.

Tuesday my shins were a little sore. I alternate running shoes and tonight was the night for a pair of shoes that I haven't had great success with. They are light-weight, which is a bonus for races or short runs, but not so great for longer distances. Almost immediately, I felt the pounding in my shins which worsened as the distance increased. At about 2-miles around The Loop, I headed to the beach instead of continuing on concrete. The sand was very soft and hard to run in from that aspect. I decided to just go for a long walk on the beach rather than struggle through soft sand or pound my legs further on hard concrete. I walked until dark, which ended up totalling 5 miles for the day, about 6 minutes longer than the 7.5 mile jog from yesterday. I'll chalk it up to a cross-training day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for running. On the positive side, I picked up a cool green stone for Kyra and I listened to the Ultradad podcast for the first time and really enjoyed episodes 1-3. The beach appeared to be eroded. I wonder if it is because of the recent storms...

Thursday, after flying back to ATL, I stopped by Stone Mountain on my way home with the intention of running around the mountain once (5 miles) since I was limited on time. But half-way around, the road was closed for paving. I turned around and then noticed a trail through the woods. I had seen it on a map, but had never explored it so I decided to give it a try. At first I was thrilled to be running through the woods. But after twisting my ankle on a rocky patch, stubbing my toe on a root, and then coming to a steep ascent up the mountain, I had had enough and turned around to make my way back to the car. Total distance = 5.5 miles.

On Saturday, Kyra, Tasha and I participated in the Atlanta Dog Jog 2-mile fun run at Piedmont Park. We ran the 1-mile race last year and really enjoyed it. Kyra was confident she could do two miles this year so I registered us for that. We had a lot of fun, except for the part when we thought we had gone the wrong way. Kyra's a sprinter and doesn't seem to understand how to maintain a slower pace, and to be honest, neither does Tasha. So we alternated sprinting with walking. We didn't win, we weren't last, and we had a blast.

Miles run this week: 20

Days run this week: 4