chicago marathon: week seven

Monday – Rest.

Tuesday – 3 miles. Hooray for late night thunderstorms! I can’t tell you how excited I was when I stumbled outside and found a huge puddle of water in the parking lot. Not only did we need rain for obvious reasons, but it finally cooled things off. Other than feeling a little sluggish from a restless night of sleep, my run was quick and easy.

 

Wednesday – 6 miles. 4 miles.  W.T.F. On this run, I came to the sad realization that I am indeed getting old. How in the world can an hour of playing kickball (a 5th grade P.E. sport) leave my hamstrings and back so tired hat I contemplated buying a walker? Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit, but this run suck major BAWLS. I wasn’t too worried about my sore hamstrings because I can generally push through the pain. But when the ol’ back is giving me grief, well, that’s a different story. When I left the apartment I told myself to go slow and take it easy. I kind of knew deep down there was no way I was going to be able to finish six miles, but I told myself to give it a shot. Not even a mile in and I was in pain. Probably should have stopped and went home, but I pictured myself 3 miles from the finish line in Chicago and told myself to keep going.  I figured I’d better get used to the idea of being in pain. I know, I know…it’s major crazy town, but I needed to hit some kind of mark before turning around no matter how sore my body felt. Even though I only ran 4 miles, it was a mental victory. For me, sometimes that’s all that matters.

 

Thursday – Rest.

Friday – Rest.

Saturday – 12 miles. Wakey! Wakey! Do you like running double digits before you eat the bakey, bakey? Sorry I couldn’t help myself. Listy and I (that’s right, the running partner is back!) took on our first double digit run together. Thankfully after two days of rest my back was in tip top shape. Phew. We didn’t really have a game plan other than doing an out and back from her house. To keep our minds busy besides the usual gabbing, we zigged and zagged through Denver neighborhoods. “Oooh, let’s go that way.  I see a trail! Let’s jog through the University campus.” Needless to say we kept ourselves entertained and before I knew it, we were running our final 2.6 miles around Wash Park. I will say that my butt started to hurt towards the end. This happened to me last year when I was training for the Big D. Whenever I start running more than 10 miles, my body always go, “Wait a minute. I didn’t sign up for this.” Don’t worry, we had a chat. All shall be well for next weeks 13 mile run!

 

Sunday – 3 miles. Zero. My paranoia got the best of me after our long run on Saturday. I am still babying my feet and decided to rest instead of going for a run. I know it’s good for the body to do some kind of light workout after a high mile run, but I didn’t want to push it. I need my feet to 100% by race day!

Total Miles: 19