12 Splendid Miles

This weekend was jam packed and I still managed to get all of my runs in.

Friday, we went to the races in Montevideo. Andy's dad drives a dirt late model and he won both his heat race and his feature!

Saturday, I had a nice short 3 mile run in the morning. It was hot out but I was doing alright. Duke (the dog) was not doing so great and I had to drag him through the last mile or so of this run.

Sunday was the big 12 miler. It had been cloudy and threatening rain all day. The weather man made it look like it was going to rain around noon so I put off my run until later that evening. Well, it didn't start raining until about 6:15 when I finally set out for my run. It wasn't a bad rain though. I actually kind of enjoyed it. Andy was biking alongside me though and he "dreamed of a nice cozy dry place." Anyways, the weather was just perfect for a long run and I didn't hit that nasty wall that I've been hitting on all of my other long runs lately. YAY!

Next weekend...my little brother graduates from high school!! That and my cousin and I will be running the Minneapolis Half Marathon!

12 Miles of Misery

I was so excited for this run. I had planned it perfectly as it was supposed to be unseasonly cool outside and I was ready to run the 12 miler. However, things never go quite as expected. I'm not really sure what is going on with my long runs lately but half of them have turned out pretty bad. I made it to mile 3 and I was thirsty. I think this is where I lost the groove. I stopped to take a drink of water quick and then kept on running. It felt like it was over 80 degrees when in fact it was only 77. The sun was hitting me just right that I was pouring sweat. Anyways, I trudged on and was doing okay up until about mile 5 when I had to incorporate walk breaks. I never had walk breaks when I was training last year. I felt like my body must be trying to convert me to Galloway and I was trying so hard to resist. I made it up past 6 miles for the turn around and my legs felt like lead weights. It was so hard to keep them moving. On top of that, I've been dealing with a bit of some throat/chest congestion in the past few months that I need to get checked out. I was having a harder time breathing than normal but I think that may be partially because my mind just wasn't in the run for some reason. I kept trying to throw all of these mantras through my head but none of them were sticking. The rest of my run consisted of running a mile, walking for a minute, running a mile, walking a minute. The last mile probably consisted of even more walking.

When I got back to the apartment, I was so exhausted. I just wanted to lay in the middle of the floor but I needed a shower bad because I was coated in salt. On the good news front--I had no knee pain. I do have this strange sore throat thing going on and nearly lost my voice after my long run. I think as a runner, I tend to notice these ailments more than I normally would because I am extra cautious about what might be inhibiting my run. Anyways, I am going to need to work harder so that these runs aren't so difficult!

In other news...I have a few sponsors for a raffle that I will be doing for the Children's Tumor Foundation and the NF Endurance Team. If you are around the area--I will raffling items from the Minnesota Twins and Rick Bronson's House of Comedy (at the Mall of America). All you have to do is sponsor me with a donation of $10 at the fundraising website on the left side of my blog. Each $10 will get you an entry into the drawing. So if you donate $20, you will get 2 entries...etc.

For those of you who are out of town, my cousin Marie will be doing some artwork. She is a beautiful artist and I will post some of her stuff as soon as I get some time. You will go into this raffle. Anyone who has already donated up until this point will be automatically entered.

A LOVE for the run

Run Distance: 12 miles, Run Time: 2 Hrs, 4 min

So this was my 2nd long run this week. Monday I had to make up for last week's missed long run. Anyways, this run went WAY better than Monday's 11 miler. I was a little afraid that the weather was going to be hot. The weather people said it was going to be 89-90 with some humidity. Well by mid-day they were saying that the evening would be in mid-upper 80's with manageable humidity. I can do heat okay...it is the humidity that kills me. When I heard lower humidity, I was jumping on the outdoor long run bandwagon (I was originally going to attempt to hide from the weather on the 'mill). Anyways, so the weather actually turned out to be awesome. No humidity and a nice breeze. It was warm, but not to the point where you can't breathe. The start of my run was a little awkward because it was my first time out with the new hydration belt. I originally had the bottled resting on my back but then after taking two steps with it that way and realizing that it was impossible to run with it on my back, I decided to move the bottles to my front. I felt a bit odd at first but after awhile it was all good. My pace was about 9:47 through much of the run. I had a few points where I walked so I could drink some water but for the most part I kept a good pace. Not once did I feel extremely sore like I did on Monday. I felt like I probably could have ran another mile or 2 but with my half marathon next week, I knew it was best to do what my plan said. Anyways, it is runs like these that make you love running. I will fully admit that my 11 miler on Monday would have made me say something entirely different. But I love a good run. Anyways, that is the story of my blissful 12 mile run. Now I have 1 week until my half marathon!!