Great Run...Hard Recovery :)

Today's 18 miles was a great run for me, ran with my friends which is always good, and kept a decent pace-thanks to those good old friends! Why run alone? My right foot (the same PF problem) was noticeable and bothered me more for the last 5-6 miles but still maintained an okay pace. Unlike last Saturday's 20 miler which was extremely HARD mentally and physically painful for my foot and another favorite old friend--the left IT band. Oh the 30's, such a new world of aches, pains and injuries! I'm told that in my 40's I have even more to look forward to experiencing! Ha! I'm fine with all of it because I have so many friends in their 50's and 60's who are amazing runners and still running marathons. So, I'll count these aches and pains as "rites of passage" and reminders to STRETCH!

I'm really feeling like I'm into my training by now with two 18's and one 20 under my belt. Next week is the LR half marathon, which I don't expect to run fast, but it will be good training. After that I have just two more 20's (or a 21??) and one 18 for my ultra long training runs, with some shorter weekend long runs mixed in. (a 13 and 14 here and there.)

As for my recovery today, YUCK! I've accomplished nothing except the 18 miles and finally a shower! Unless you count laying on the couch, eating, and watching one and a half movies! My "to-do" list for tomorrow just grew another foot: house cleaning and laundry, grocery store, and a pile of school work! I'll survive. I actually have to get dressed and put make-up on for a birthday party tonight! But it will be lots of fun with our friends.

And I really need to post some pics of my weekly running groups! They have no idea how much I love meeting up to run with them on our assigned schedule of days, routes and distances. (I join a group that meets consistently on Mondays and Wednesdays and another consistent group on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I trade off meeting different groups for weekends depending on scheduled distances etc.)

Time to go accomplish SOMETHING! :) [besides 18 miles in 2:35:12 at an 8:36 pace.]

Officially in Training...

I have officially registered for Boston and been accepted so now it's on for real...Hotel reservation is taken care of and the only thing left to do is get my flight and train. I'm so excited for the "Girls Weekend" in Boston with Lisa (My aunt from Indianapolis---our third Boston together), Melanie (from Stuttgart, our second Boston together) and Raquel (from Cabot, her FIRST Boston)----so exciting!

So training is going okay, ran 13 last Saturday with patches of ice and the dam bridge which was ALL ice and I had to walk/slide across the whole thing while holding the railing, really fun, let me tell you. But I made it, logged the miles. Today I met the LR marathon group at 0:dark O'clock in the morning (6!) and ran 16 miles on rolling hills, which were great actually. It was a decent pace until about mile 12 when my plantar's started to bother me but I finished in 2:18 with an 8:40 pace.

My true goal is to somehow become injury free by April 21 and be able to run the marathon with only the normal amount of pain involved with 26.2 miles, and not excruciating pain levels of injury. (which I have experienced several times-two IT band flare ups and one painful PF marathon...)I'm told it is possible for the PF to be gone by then, time will tell...I must STRETCH!!!!!