ShufflingSista

5.5 "easy" miles.  Well, easy for the gals I was running with, not so easy for me! It was a good challenge though and I felt great for getting up early & getting the miles in with the speedy gals.  I was good & got in bed at 9:30 last night.  Tonight I'm up a little later, but still hitting the sack before 10pm.  Not bad.  Yesterday I turned in my registration for Saturday's 20 miler. No diet coke since Friday.  Did pretty good on the diet until 8pm when all the junk food in the house starting calling to me, caved a bit : froz yogurt (not so bad)  and chocolate donut (really bad). Tomorrow am abs & arms and possibly 3 miles.

went to abs & arms class, so good! saw theresa t. there and she dragged me out for 4 miles after class - good to have motivated friends!

Took my new Mizunos out for a spin to make sure they won't give me blisters or any surprises on race day tomorrow.  No problems, but I'm still nervous that something might crop up over 20 miles.  I've ran in this style of shoe before, but wore some Asics in the interim.  SO- we'll just have to see...

20 mile Trail Run tomorrow.  I'm not "racing" this.  I signed up so I would commit myself to at least 1 decent 20 miler during marathon training.  Up 'til now the longest I've gone this season is 18.  I felt really good on that 18 miler, but then crashed at mile 14 the week after on my long run.  So tomorrow is a mystery.  I'm trying to go into it mentally strong and want to use this as a gauging run to see where I'm at, and at what pace my body feels comfortably challenged.  A 2:50 would be nice tomorrow, then a BQ will seem more attainable this year at SGM, but I'm expecting more of a 2:55-3:00 tomorrow. 

I plan on eating really clean today and getting in bed early tonight!

I wasn't sure what category to log my miles in (threshold, etc) But basically about 5 of the miles were marathon pace and the rest were challenging, but not as fast.

SO- Basically, after running this I feel more prepared for SGM and excited for SGM! I did not make my ambitious goal of keeping 8:35 pace, but the race was much more hilly than I expected so I'm not too disappointed with 9 minute miles.  Last year I ran SGM with 9:11 av. pace and I'm confident that I will keep under 9 minutes miles at SGM this year thanks to all the downhill.  How close I can keep to 8:30s to get a BQ time still remains to be seen.

It was a rushed morning.  Started with my Garmin not working- urggghhh! I charged it yesterday so it would be all ready for this morning.  When I went to take it off the charger it was blank and would not turn on. (Of course after I got home from the race it was working?!) So I printed out a pace band and grabbed a digital watch- not the ideal pacing systerm. I picked up my friend Lenae and I made it on the bus with 5 min. to spare. Started with the Sole Sister gang. We all got spread out with Theresa P. & Tina finishing first for our group, Theresa T. & I finishing next, then Conaday, then Stephanie & Shelly.   I felt really good on the downhills and uphills were a struggle.  Downhills and flats I was between 7:10-8:30, but the uphills squashed my overall pace.  Don't have my splits unfortunately due to the Garmin issue.

The course was beautiful!! Wish I had a little camera in my pocket.  We passed a nice little pond and some horses up on a cliff- both would have made spectacular postcards.

The race was pretty well organized.  My only complaint was that there were only 2 porta potties at the start!! But the aid stations were every 3 miles and were well stocked and I saw at least 3 porta potties along the way.

I feel really good, no injuries as far as I can tell.  Not even too sore- EXCEPT for my toes- darn it!! I have about 5 sore toes, I'll probably lose at least 2 toenails.  Thank goodness for nail polish.

My only other whaaa- beside the garmin & toes is that I'm SICK OF 4TH PLACE!!! At least 3 of my friends who came in AFTER me placed! I wasn't out there to place today, but I was kinda bummed when my friends placed in age groups under & above mine and I didn't.  Those 35-40 yr. olds in my division are unstoppable obviously! Ah well. I really didn't train to deserve a AD award anyway.  A big CONGRATS to our very own bloggies, Marcie & Dustin for their 1st Place Accomplishments- whooo-hoooo!!!

SO- if you're still reading this ramble- mission accomplished.  Didn't hit the wall, feel more prepared for SGM and am encouraged that I can at least PR at SGM this year even if I don't pull off a BQ.

Happy Running & Racing bloggies!