Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured

I had an early flight yesterday and did not get home until late, so the entire day was a loss  and  then received texts last night with everyone canceling.   So it was up to myself to get through the 4x800's.   I hate the track and since I do not have access to a lighted track at 5 am, I opted for the road.  The main streets where I live are lighted extremely well there is a flat section that would be good to complete these on with very little traffic.    I had a well laid out plan that of course, did not happen.   I warmed up for three miles but two miles into the warm up, I knew I was going to need a bathroom.   I decided to see how it would go and the first went okay, but I was going to need a pit stop before it was over.   I started heading home on the second one at the end I had to stop for a few minutes.   With just under a mile from my house, it was going to take me a little while to get there.   I started looking around to see if I had other options and remembered that there was one at a house under construction around the corner - SAVED!   Used  the POP and then ran about .25 warming back up and started the third, this was the least eventful of the four.   Recovered for the time it took to run the third and headed in to the fourth.   At this point my plan of using the flat road wasn't happening and  this one had a little incline and a U turn.   At the turn, I had to deal with a car and between the two I really started to struggle.   My split for the first was off because I am garmin challenged, but close to 3:30-3:35, the others were 3:34, 3:34 & 3:40.   Bummed about the last one, but this was SOOO much better than the other two attempts at this work out - one being about 6 wks ago and the other earlier this summer.  These are the fastest I have ever run the 800s and in the last time in preperation for my last marathon the fastest I had run them was 3:45.   So despite the stomach issues, it ended up being a pretty good run.  Cooled down for 3 miles back home.

 Avg Pace 8:28

I had seriously thought I had blogged this run already....but no.... 

3 miles to meet Carrie and Mike

3 easy with them

3 back home

My legs are tired from yesterday and I am in desperate need of a good massage.  I had a great guy in Utah and miss him!   My husband actually isn't too bad,  but he is gone tonight and I have a late flight tomorrow, so it will be a few days.  

On another note, I have eaten terrible and I am showing no signs of stopping!   Last week I was craving sugar and it is completely out of control right now.   I have got to get it together and stop the madness.   I wasn't even hungry either last night or tonight but ate too much dinner and too much sugar afterwards.    I will be the size of a house if I do not get my act together!  Another day of travel tomorrow, so I will start friday......excuses, excuses ..... you can now see why I have a problem.

Long two days.   I ended up not running yesterday morning because Wednesday night my legs were feeling the last two days and my knee was achy.  Even better, my husband woke up early and worked over my legs before I had to leave for Houston.    Should have been done right there.    Due to the storm last night, I got to wait an extra two hours at the airport in Houston, circle Love Field for an hour, go to Oklahoma City for fuel and then fly back and drive the hour to my home......crawled into bed at 2:30 am and did not set an alarm.    My kids started getting up at 6, so I got 1.5 more hours of sleep than if I ran, but not a lot.  I had a few meetings this morning and went in but was home by noon for a quick nap.   I ended up heading out at 2:00 pm - peak heat and sun of the day - 81 degrees and very little shade.   I told myself pace didn't matter, it was about getting the run in.   I ended up keeping it at an easy effort but I was surprised at how fast the easy effort was, especially in the heat.  It wasn't as horrible as I was expecting but by mile 4 my core body temp had increased quite a bit and I was in count down.   I finished at Walgreens and bought a gatorade and water, ran to the school and then walked home with my 2nd grader and picked up my 5th grader from her school.   Our walking took as long as my run.....

Looking forward to a long run tomorrow.

 GOOD LUCK TO ALL RUNNING ST. GEORGE!!!

Avg Pace 8:31

Met the FWRC group this morning.    Perfect weather 55 degrees.   Started out with quite a bit of a larger group but quickly whittled down to Lindsay, Melissa, Emily, Ashley, Elise and myself.   Emily dropped off early on and then Ashley turned around at mile 6.    

 This week has taken its toll and I was tired and up and down during the run.   I used the POP just before mile 6 and had to run on my own for the next two miles and really struggled getting back in gear.   Once we hit the water stop at 9.5 we decided to run hard for the next two miles and recover easy until the end.   Everyone took off and after about .25 I looked down and we were doing 6:45 and for me that is not sustainable, so I dropped back quickly.   We tried to recover and that was short lived for about 1.5 and then we picked it back up until the last mile that was spent, winding and looping to get to 15.   

Splits:   8:43, 7:49, 7:49, 7:41, 7:41, 7:57, 8:03, 7:40,  7:30, 7:24, 7:21, 7:32, 7:52, 7:56, 8:27

Avg Pace: 7:50

Compared to last week, the effort felt much harder and was less consistent but based on this week, probably reasonable.     We spent a lot of time discussing long runs and that for runs longer than 15, we need to be slowing down.......We all agreed, but I am not sure it will actually happen.   For most of us, this is the highlight of our running week.   It will be interesting to see how the mileage compares, they are all running White Rock and I am running Houston.   Also, different philosophies on how long & how many long runs to do. 

Lots of thoughts of everyone running St. George today and I am anxious to read race reports!

CONGRATS to Marcie and a 2:52!!   So excited for her!