Day 99

A bonus of having concert duty on Sunday meant I didn't have to go into the office until later in the afternoon.  My morning was great - I slept in, I painted my nails, I read a magazine, I watched tv... but I was productive too! I put some laundry away, did the dishes, and even decorated our apartment for Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Best of all was being able to make lunch at home rather than packing a lunch. It was so nice to make something fresh and eat it on a real dish rather than nuking something in a tupperware...

Yummy fall salad at home!

Food was kind of a struggle for me today - I was starving all day long. I was proud of myself for making healthy choices every time I ate, but man.... I ate more than normal that's for sure. Even still, I feel calm that at least I made healthy choices - which meant passing up the pumpkin muffins with maple butter (Satan) and halloween peanut butter cups (pure evil) at the office. I'm going to try REALLY hard not to eat any office baddies before the marathon. I'll only be at the office 8 more days... I can do it!

Andy was the hero of the day. He came in and moved ALL of my office furniture from my old office to my new space. That stuff is heavy! He is so buff!!! It's not all set up or decorated yet, but I thought I'd share with you guys what it looks like so far. :-)

Still a ways to go, but at least it's painted!

After work I went to zumba, which is normally my favorite part of Monday (and it still was) but halfway through class I started feeling really dizzy. Not cool. I think it's because I pretty much hadn't had any water all day long. Lesson learned! I'm putting myself on a strict hydration schedule for the next two weeks. I know - I'm a dork. But it's scary to get so dizzy!... especially when it's happened to me in the past while running. Gotta take care of myself - I'm too close now not to give it 100%.

Day 98

The morning started with my second to last long run before the marathon - since the taper has begun, it was "only" 13 miles. Anna jumped on board to run all 13 with Andy and I (yay!) so we met at the club to start from there. It wasn't until we were pulling out of the garage to drive over to the club that we realized it was raining hard. Needless to say... this was the mood before heading out:

Do we really have to go?

Thankfully it wasn't raining as hard in that area as it was at our apartment.... but it was still raining.

Anna and Andy have accepted the weather. I'm still not thrilled...

But as it seems to happen more often than not, our efforts were quickly rewarded, and shortly after starting our run, the rain stopped and we had about 12 miles of dry running weather. :-)

The plan for the run was rather complicated, but it helped mix up the scenery by sending us off in a different direction than we normally go. Anna, Andy, and I started at the club... ran 3 miles - made it to Sarah's house.... Sarah joined - we all ran 7.5 miles together, ending back at Sarah's house - dropped her off... then Anna, Andy, and I ran 2.5 miles back to the club. Now THAT took some serious creativity to map that route!

It was fun to have a big running party with all four of us, although we did end up going faster than I typically aim to do my long runs. I was paying for it by the end. Even though we didn't have far to go, I was really struggling. A HUGE thank you to Anna for being my coach/cheerleader that last mile.

All smiles now that we're done!

Babs (yes I'm talking to myself) - let this be a lesson to you to not go too fast, even if you feel like you can!

My back hurt a lot pretty much the minute I stopped running... I did some stretches, and then put on a big Icy Hot patch on my lower back after I showered. I think it helped a lot, although my entire body still feels "used" right now. Did I mention that I'm excited to start tapering???

After the run I had to rush to my final concert duty of the week. This one was for a kids concert. As hectic as they are, I think the programs always turn out really well, so it was sort of "fun." Then Andy and I had our celebration dinner at Dinosaur BBQ with the new clarinetist in the orchestra and his wife. I hope I didn't scare them by how thoroughly I cleaned my plate, but I mean... I did basically run a half marathon this morning, so they'll just have to live with it.

Time for another round of Icy Hot - then I'm hitting the hay!

Total Miles Run: 363.48
Total Weight Change: -10.6

Day 97

Today was a rest day, but I'd use the term "rest" lightly. I started the day off working job number two. The heater wasn't working, and thanks to a freezing cold morning (we're talking low 30s), I was basically shivering at the front desk for 4.5 hours. For some reason I also felt incredibly tired, even though I got a somewhat decent night's sleep the night before.

Once job number two was over, I ran some errands, including a much needed trip to the grocery store - then it was time to make dinner.

Not again...

An empty pasta bowl and bottle of water can only mean one thing... long run tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to run 13 miles (starting to taper!!) and then have a pretty involved concert duty - since I won't have any time between my run and concert duty, I spent the rest of my time after dinner getting everything ready for job number one tomorrow afternoon. Andy's help was very much appreciated. :-) And then of course I did laundry too so that we'd have everything we need to run tomorrow. It's pretty much been go go go since I got up this morning, so now I'm reaallly tired - not exactly a very restful rest day!

Day 96

My back feels like someone used it as a punching bag. The massage therapist told me I'd be sore today, but I guess I didn't take her very seriously because I was surprised when I was. My lower back is tender to the touch... I'm amazed I don't have bruises. She suggested I ice my lower back today, and then use a heating pad on it the day after. I thought a massage would aid my recovery. I never thought I'd need to recover from a massage!

Even so, it must have done some good, because this morning I ran my fastest 7 miles ever! 

Super fast!!!

Thankfully with concert duty every night my office schedule can be a little flexible, so Sarah and I had a running date this morning! I wish we could run together more often - obviously I enjoy her company, but she also magically gets me to run faster than I would without her. I'm so impressed with myself, haha, especially because I mapped a semi-hilly route for us AND the wind was really whipping around (and for some reason it never seemed to be at our backs). I'd also like to give a shout out to Panera - they gave us cups for water without us even having to ask (guess we looked thirsty). Thank you for not treating us like bums looking for a free handout!

Sarah has the best running shirt ever

Alright, time for me to change into concert clothes and head off for another round of concert duty. Can't say I'm looking forward to it... 

Total Miles Run: 350.38

Total Weight Change: -10.9!!! It seems too good to be true, but I have been a good girl with food so far this month. Gotta hang on until the marathon!

Day 95

This was the view during my run today...

22.5 miles in 55:00 ?!?

Alright alright, I confess. I didn't run today. My knee REALLY hurt (so strange how it feels fine one day and is excruciating the next). It was also super cold outside, so that didn't exactly make me eager to get out there either. Anna suggested that I substitute my run with spinning - since no classes worked with my schedule, I hopped on a spin bike and watched TV. I set the resistance low and tried to pedal at a decent pace... I was surprised that it was actually kind of hard, and most of all I was surprised how bored I was! I thought a change of scenery and being able to watch TV would be a treat. Wrong.

My plan was to spin for the same amount of time that it would have taken me to run 7 miles. I ended up being about ten minutes short of my goal, but I had to stop because... I had a massage scheduled!! After a quick shower I headed off to get my 60 minute deep tissue massage (thanks Mom!!!). It was not nearly as relaxing as I thought it would be. Honestly, I'd say it was about 90% pain, 10% relaxation. I told my massage therapist about my training and that my legs could probably use the most work. She started on my back and then said, "Has your lower back been hurting?" Well now that she mentioned it... yes, my back has been killing me after these long runs. Turns out I apparently have the world's biggest knot on the right-hand side of my lower back - same side my knee hurts... I wonder if there is any correlation there? In addition to working on the knots, she also smeared biofreeze all over my back... that stuff feels so weird! Anyway, by the time the massage was over I felt mentally exhausted from trying to divert my focus from the pain all hour long - hey, I suppose working through pain will come in handy during the marathon... can I count this as training too?

My night ended with another round of concert duty, followed by some negative comments from some disgruntled orchestra members that really ticked me off. Whatever. I just wish I were better at letting things like that roll off my shoulders.

Tomorrow I'm running again! You'll get proof, I promise.

Day 94

I'm happy to report that I ran my 7 miles this morning. :-) Since I have concert duty for the rest of the week, I am able to go into the office a little late, which meant I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to fit all 7 miles in before work. I was especially happy that Andy decided to join me too. It was our first time running since 20 miles - I think we were both a little hesitant so we busted out the foam roller in hopes it would help loosen us up before heading out.

Andy and the roller - It's amazing how much this hurts

The first 2 minutes of the run did not feel very good at all. We both looked kind of ridiculous starting off - I was hobbling again - but I was amazed at how quickly the aches and pains went away. It felt good to run. I felt awake and alive. Our pace was even good, which I find impressive considering it had only been a couple days since our long run. The worst part of the run... no water. I didn't bring any (I know that's dumb) and I probably could have made it home, but I ducked into a coffee shop and bought a bottle of water (thankfully I had money on me, because they weren't going to give me any water for free... rude). I need to be better about carrying water with me on these longer weekly runs. Thankfully there are only two more 7 milers left in the training schedule!

Now I promised to show you proof that I did it... so here I am - sweaty and showing my watch. :-)

7.01 miles - 9:32 pace

The rest of the day was busy (work and then concert duty) but fairly uneventful, except for some exciting news I received this afternoon.

Dylan Campbell Field

Happy birthday Dylan!! And a BIG BIG BIG Congratulations to Emily and Jon. I'm so happy for you guys, and I can't wait to make the trip out to visit as soon as possible. Em - you're going to have to get a running stroller! Then Dylan can do a race with us!! For those of you who don't know, Emily was pregnant with Dylan when we ran the Johnny's 5 mile race together in March. I think it's pretty cool that I got to run his very very first race ever with him. :-)

K - I've got another busy day tomorrow, and somehow need to squeeze in another 7 miles. It looks like we're in store for a cold and rainy morning, so I might do this one a little later in the afternoon. Or maybe even inside... *shudder* 

Total Miles Run: 343.38

Total Weight Change: -8.9

Day 93

Well - today turned out to be ok, but it sure felt like a struggle.

I was in no mood to run this morning... the backs of my calves were as tight as tight can be. That didn't feel good. Plus the temperature was down in the 30s and I haven't unpacked my cold weather running gear yet so it just wasn't going to happen.

Job number one is super stressful this week. I was on the verge of a mini meltdown at the office, so Andy rescued me and got me a coffee and a vegan pumpkin cookie with chocolate chips (it was really delicious). It was just what I needed before going to a meeting that I was really dreading. I was also having one of those "I'm constantly starving" days, so it was good to have an extra snack too.

Job number two turned out to be fine... it's just exhausting to run from one to immediately work the other. I actually brought a change of workout clothes for after my shift - I thought I might run until I realized I forgot my knee strap... so then I thought maybe I would do something different like the elliptical, just to give myself a change of scenery... but by the time my shift was over, I couldn't get in my car fast enough - I was just too tired.

A couple of good things happened at job number two. Marcia told me all about her husband's amazing ultra he ran this last Saturday (it was 31 miles). If he can run 31 miles... I can probably get my butt out the door to do my 7 tomorrow morning. Also Tim, one of the members who is a super runner and very friendly, stopped to talk to me about my training. He said he asked his friend, who just ran a marathon, if he would have done anything differently. I guess his answer was that he wouldn't have slacked so much in his last two months of training. I wouldn't say I've slacked yet, but it sure is tempting. Tim's story helped me accept that I need to suck it up and do it. 7 miles tomorrow morning friends. I AM GOING TO DO IT!

And now I'm going to eat this delicious dessert snack Kristin brought me tonight... thank you Kristin and Pinterest! I know I've already had a pumpkin cookie today, but eh... it looks tasty and I'm tired, so my willpower is pretty much shot at this point.

Chocolatey Marshmallowy Cereal Goodness

Good night friends. If I do not post proof of my 7 mile run tomorrow, you are all allowed to call me bad names and make me feel sad. If my own motivation won't get me out the door, maybe the fear of feeling ashamed will!