4 Days of recaps.

Thursday~ I actually forgot to update my Thursday when I was updating the previous days ( on Thursday) D'OH!
Thursday I went to the gym ( without puffing on my inhaler- it was a brain-fart) and did the elliptical for 30 minutes and that was it. My breathing was OK. It was a bit labored, but nothing to be afraid of. I then taught 3*2*1 a few hours later. I could totally feel my lungs during class. My lungs were not happy with me, but at least the cardio segments were only 3 minutes long at a time. Ugh.
Friday.~ I taught spinning in the early morning and could feel my lungs sucking in air HARD. Ugh. After class I did some core and plyometrics. I felt fine during this.
Saturday~ OFF! We were out of town and I had every intention of taking a walk before breakfast--nope. Oh well. A day off was needed.
Sunday~ 16 miles!! I did the first 6 with 2 friends from my running group. Thank goodness....16 miles would be pretty tough to do by myself. We hoofed those miles in about an 8:40 minute mile average. They both were coming off of running 10 miles the previous day at about an 8 minute mile pace so they were kind of tired! The next 10 I did by myself at about the same pace or a bit slower. I had a few bouts of tightness in my lungs but nothing major. I also had my rescue inhaler on me just in case. I was super excited that my old Polar GPS did not cut off and my iPod stayed on! Woohoo!
The weather was beautiful which is why my asthma was probably acting up! Lots of new growth and wonderful allergy/asthma inducing stuff! Love it though.
I pretty much feel like garbage now. It might be all the goodies I inhaled ate on Saturday at a family Easter gathering. So much yumminess! Time to get it back together.....(tomorrow)

The countdown begins!! 8 more sleeps......

Today is the last long run of the season. Of the year. Of training. The last long run before my second marathon. Eeeeek!!! I will be pounding the pavement for 10 miles in about 1.5 hours. i know i have said it before, but I never thought I would think 10 miles was not a long run. That's just crazy. It's about 35 degrees out right now. I would like it to be in the mid to upper 50's come marathon morning. Please and thanks to Mother Nature. I assume she takes requests. Oh and no rain too! Thanks much.

I will be done sooooo early today. It's going to feel strange getting home before my son takes his afternoon nap!

Saturday Long Run

Today was a preview of the Grand Rapids Marathon course. Kind of. We only ran 20 miles of it, not the full 26.2.

It was a great route...except for a few snafu's that were just plain annoying.

There were to be 4 aid stations. The first one was at mile 1. Yea....stupid!

The 2nd one was at mile 9 or so. Ever stupider!! Yes, I said stupider.

So by now we are very thirsty and ticked off. The rest of the aid stations were way too close together, but that's better than too far apart as we experienced in the beginning of the run.

Mary and I decided to try and hold a long run pace faster than 10 minute miles. We normally are 10 minute miles at the fastest. We totally blew that out of the water. We averaged a 9:22 pace for the whole time! We both felt REALLY GOOD!!! This gave me a confidence boost for sure. I hope I feel nearly this AWESOME when the actual marathon comes (22 days!!) The weather was beautiful. Overcast, slight humidity but nothing crazy and lows in the 60's. I ended up wearing shorts a tank top and a long sleeve. The long sleeve ended up around my waist at mile 9 ( water station) as I got way too hot by mile 3!

All in all, today's run was a huge success. Afterwards, Mary and I got a much deserved coffee drink and went to the farmer's market for some fresh fruits, veggies and homemade pizza crusts. Great day for a run!

Here We Go!

All plans are a go!
Had an awesome sushi dinner last night with my hubby and new friends!
Miles is doing great. We are certain it was just a fluke puking incident.
I am off to meet my running crazies to put in the 18 miles.
Good thing I passed on the saki last night!