THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

8.02 at 8:02 pace.  Hah!  Nice relaxing run after a super stressful day at work.  Did the last mile in 7:17 to stretch my legs a little.   Hopefully I can sucker Brandon into watching Vanessa for a few hours tomorrow and put in some marathon pace intervals.

So...me and my husband got the course map and tried to drive the course for the Prairie Fire Wichita marathon.  We got hopelessly lost and went back and started over and tried again multiple times but there are a lot of turns and the map is clear as mud--at some point we are on sidewalk and down some paths where vehicles can't go and then we tried to pick up on the other side but finally got frustrated and gave up.  I hope they have a lot of people out there directing traffic or there is going to be some major confusion.  Good thing I have Houston to look forward to if this one is a total flop!

7:51 AP.  Well, this was suppose to be a 2x4 MP tempo but my plans were foiled once again.  It was a 25mph south wind by the time Brandon got to the house and nearing 80 degrees but I figured I would at least put MP effort in.  Off I went.  Did a nice 2 mile warm up and launched into my MP tempo running south straight into the headwind.  First tempo mile 7:35 but I was fine with that with the wind, as I turned off the dirt and into a crosswind I picked it up and was feeling pretty good when a fella driving by in his truck informed me I was being followed by a little dog that almost just got ran over.  I turned around and sure enough our miniature schnauzer was in hot pursuit.  Well, I am almost 4 miles from home now and he thinks it's a game and I couldn't catch him, so I turned around and started running back towards home so he would follow me.  He kept veering off chasing animals and stuff.  I finished the 4 mile tempo and didn't see him so I turned around and jogged back a while yelling for him.  Nowhere in sight.  Crap.  I don't want to be the one responsible for losing the dog that the kids love so I jog home and get the car and drive all over looking for him and he is nowhere to be found.  Now I am feeling like a terrible human being for not catching him and picking him up and carrying him home, but at least I don't see his body on the side of the road.  I drive back home, call my mom to tell her what a horrible person I am, and as I am talking to her open the back door one more time to look out into the pasture and there he is waiting at the back door.  PHEW!  By now the momentum is lost and allotted running time is over.  other 3 miles of the tempo were 7:06, 7:08, 6:58. 1.79 mile cool down yelling for a dog.  Maybe I can run some more this evening.  Maybe not.  My training frustrations are mounting.  Maybe this will just leave me lots of energy for the 10 + 10MP tempo Saturday.

8:37 AP.  I set my alarm for 4:05am and did not much like it when it went off.  However, it is run now or not today.  I had to be done and showered by 6am.  This is actually a pretty good pace for this time of morning for me!

My treadmill is still broken(more on that in a minute).  Tis a blustery and windy day(30+mph).  There is no way I can stroller run Vanessa in that with her asthma.  What's a girl to do?  Run figure 8's around the pasture and the house, of course.  I put Vanessa down for her nap, made sure she was solidly asleep and then started running loops.  The first few were particularly hazardous as I tripped over crabapples in the overgrown grass and cleared multiple spiderwebs with my face.  After that it was fairly smooth sailing when my feet figured out where to land.  I popped in 3 times to make sure Vanessa was still sleeping.   Maybe I will get to squeeze in a few more tonight but I have more or less resigned myself to the constant onslaught of events that has made training quite difficult recently.  

8:15 AP

My husband has discovered parts of the treadmill that are broken and SUPERGLUED together.  Scandalous!  The store that sold it to me is out of business and we have as yet been unable to reach the manufacturer.  Frustrating!

8:08 AP.  Finished my visits early and got to run at 2:00 in the afternoon. It was 84 degrees but the east wind was cool and breezy, unlike the furnace blast I know as the south wind, and I was pretty comfortable.  I stuffed my earbuds in and listened to music and had a pleasant jaunt.  I ran into town and down to the track to get a drink out of the water fountain and then ran back home. The Nike Lunarfly's did awesome straight out of the box.  I like!--will be my marathon shoe.  They are voltage cherry color with an electric blue swoosh--should be able to see me coming miles away.  Fun!

8:32 AP.  Nice and easy--it is evening already and I am getting up early to do my 10 easy +10 at MP with Eddy.  Off to hydrate myself and hopefully have an awesome tempo tomorrow before kicking off a slight taper.  Well, really,  I won't taper much other than the last week since my training really doesn't warrant a taper.