future crowd support

Monday: I hadn't planned on running today, but it was such a beautiful day that I couldn't resist! I took the dogs out for an easy jog. We went 2.4 miles. The dogs were slow. Was it too hot (78 degrees), too far, or both? I think I need to cut back their mileage and run with them when it's cooler.

Wednesday: I worked from home today and decided to get my run in while Kyra was at morning swim practice. A friend is taking a health and nutrition class for her teaching degree and has to get 70,000 steps on her pedometer by next Thursday and she's only at 8,200. She was disappointed that she spent 30 minutes on the stationary bike at the gym this morning and it didn't even register on the pedometer. When I told her I was going for a jog, she asked if I'd wear her pedometer. Sure... What the heck... She's in great shape, and she did exercise this morning, so it's not like I'm doing this for someone that should be logging the steps all by themselves. I ran 3.05 miles (3 loops around the neighborhood block), which gave her an additional ~6,000 steps on her pedometer. Too funny! I saw Tonya tonight. She said she ran 4 miles today. Good for her! I asked if she wanted to run together this weekend; she said she'd like to, but they were going to the lake.

Friday: I got in a good solid 6 hours of work today and then had a mental crash. I had absolutely no motivation to do real work. I took a break in hopes of regaining momentum, but that didn't really work. I looked at the Chicago marathon Intermediate training plan and back-tracked to see how many miles I need to do the next few weeks so it won't be a major increase in mileage. The race is 19 weeks and 2 days away. The first week of the training plan (17 weeks) calls for 26 miles. For an even increase in mileage, I calculated that I need to add 3.5 miles a week to get there. So I've revised my goal from 13 miles this week to 15.5 miles. Since I've only done 5.45 miles this week, I either need to do two 5-milers or one 5-miler and two smaller distances. So I decided to do 2 miles tonight, 5 miles on Saturday as originally planned, and 3 miles on Sunday as originally planned. I also looked at Gold's Gym class schedule. They offer Group Power classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 6:45 p.m. Since the Chicago marathon training plan calls for strength training on Mondays and Wednesdays, I'm going to start attending this class next week. Kyra has swim practice on Monday evenings in June at the same time and I can just take her with me on Wednesdays and let her bring her electronic gadgets to play with in the childcare center. I was also really disappointed with my weight this week and decided to eat less today. When I got home from work, I changed clothes, got the dogs ready and we went out for our jog. I started feeling hypoglycemic at about 1.5 miles and walked a good bit of that last half-mile home. I guess I cut back too far on the calories today. After the 1.99-mile jog, I immediately ate turkey sausage and pickles; yes, I know it's a weird combination but I desperately need to go to the grocery store.

Saturday: Went to Stone Mountain for another 5-miler. Last week I ran it in 1:00:05 and was totally bummed that I didn't squeeze out those extra seconds to get it done in less than an hour. So today my goal was 59:59 or less. I started out faster than intended since the first mile is downhill. I did the first mile in 9:57 minutes, which is my fastest mile pace this year! I finished the 5-mile hilly loop in 58 minutes and 2 seconds; 2 minutes faster than last week. YIPPEE!!! But, I forgot to pack a towel for the car. I didn't want to get in the car all sweaty, so I walked up the mountain a bit and found a shady spot to cool down. I returned a phone call to a new friend and then looked at twitter and facebook on my iPhone. I updated my status on Facebook and my cousin Rusty wrote that I should post photos. THANKS for the reminder! Photos make blogs much more interesting. I snapped a few photos with my iPhone of me lying on the rock, and a tree in the sunlight. I was tempted to lie there all day, but my belly told me to find a bathroom.

Sunday: This is why you should keep your legs shaved regularly... My goal was 3 miles to meet my new weekly mileage plan to build up to the Chicago intermediate training schedule. I went to bed early last night and set the alarm clock for 8 a.m. Riley woke me up, for the second time, at 7:21, so I went ahead and got up. I pulled out the stop watches from the basement for swim team and made cheese toast for breakfast. At 8:30 a.m. I headed out for a 3-mile run. This is my third day of running in a row, which is more than I'm used to. My entire body feels a little sore, but in a good way. It's cool (70 oF) and sunny and I'm listening to an old, but yet unlistened to podcast from UltraDad. I miss him... I enter a cruising zone and am just enjoying the outdoors, but not paying enough attention to my surroundings. Then all of a sudden, at 1.3 miles into my run, my foot slammed into uneven sidewalk and I went flying. I landed on my hands and knees in the middle of the sidewalk because there was no space between the railing on one side and the street on the other. OW! I sat in the grass/sidewalk for a few minutes in shock and assessing the damage. Several cars were driving by when I did the swan dive, but noone stopped. My hand and left knee start to bleed instantly and I have abrasions on my right knee and left shin as well. I decide to eventually get up and then head back home. I start jogging, but alternate in more walking as the pain increases. When I finally get home, both knees are swollen and my hand and left knee are pooling blood. I have 30 minutes left to get ready to arrive at church on time. I shower and shave my legs while I'm still in shock and it hurts less than it will in a few hours. I can't bear the thought of putting on a skirt or dress that will touch my knee or shin, so I opt for dressy long shorts and a nice blouse. Later in the evening there was a practice swim meet for our neighborhood pool. Lots of people noticed my shredded legs and asked what happened. Then I went to the tennis courts with a friend and saw several people I haven't seen in a while. When I said hello to Wendy, she was all excited and said that she and Deedee are coming to Chicago to cheer Ty, Lisa and me on at the race!!! She said they found great airfare, but haven't booked a hotel yet. She thanked me profusely for running the race saying they were coming to support us and were looking forward to partying. We are the reason they are going. I thanked her for her support and was honestly suprised. I called Ty when I got home and she said she only recently heard about them coming too. She reassured me that her plans were still the same, mellow weekend with our daughters and no intention of partying before the race. I'm glad we're still on the same page. It sounds like Wendy and Deedee were just looking for an excuse to go to Chicago. I'm glad their coming to support us, but hope their not too disappointed when we don't stay out all night partying with them.

Days run this week: 5
Miles run this week: 15.04
Highlight of the week: Best min/mile pace (for 1 mile)
Goal for next week: run 19 miles