What day was it that I said I wish I could take more racecations? Let me see… oh yeah! It was my first Runfessions/Friday Five 2.0 post when I mentioned how I wished I could travel more for races. It’s fitting that today’s topic for Tuesdays on the Run is “do you prefer to travel for races or stay home?”
About that…
Do I Travel for Races? Plus, Spring Training Recap: Week 1
I may or may not have booked lodging for the weekend of Grandma’s Marathon in June. I haven’t registered yet but I did want to snag a place to stay for the weekend in the event that we are indeed able to make a go of this race. The photos of the place aren’t that great so I’m not really sure what we’ll be getting into, but at least it’s within walking distance to the race course so that’s one less thing my family will have to worry about while I go galavanting through Minnesota.
I don’t travel for many races, but when I do I make it count. Apparently. 😉
Let’s assume I do end up registering for Grandma’s. That means marathon training will begin mid February. But first things first — I’ve got a couple half marathons (including Cleveland!) and a 20-miler before June. My training began last week for the 20 Mile Drop. Here’s how things went:
Monday – 6 miles
Monday’s run was officially the last run of vacation with my friends. And it was raining and cold which means I neglected to get a photo of the momentous event. Whomp whomp. I ran with the Julies — Julie squared? I’m not sure how that’s gonna play out — and we ran 6 nice miles together. There were some patches of ice in some spots which made it a bit tricky, but otherwise it was a very nice run. I already miss running with Julie squared!
Tuesday – yoga
I’m back on the yoga train and it feels so good! I can’t believe I neglected my yoga practice for so long. I’m so sorry, please forgive me!
Wednesday – 4 miles
I ran with the pup on Wednesday! This girl is becoming quite an amazing runner. She runs when I say “run,” stops when I say “stop,” and walks when I say “walk.” And when I tell her “go home” she runs home! That’s actually a rarity, though, because she cannot be trusted off the leash just yet. (See Thursday…)
It’s getting to the point now that any time I put on running shoes, she’s up in my grill. “Please mama, please take me running!” It’s adorable. I’m so glad we finally made it to this point because for a while I was worried I did not have a running buddy.
Thursday – 5.09 miles
Yeah, so Thursday was kind of a hot mess. I wasn’t planning on taking Trixie (the dog) but she did the shoe-sniffing-whining thing so I caved to her cuteness. It was still fairly icy, though, and I honestly didn’t want to have to hang on for dear life for 5 miles with her. Thankfully she drove me crazy enough that after a little less than a mile, I decided to take her home. I *thought* I could trust her so I let her off the leash to practice “go home” — yeah, go home #fail. Did not work. I spent about 20 minutes trying to wrangle her and decide what to do. I only had a set amount of time to get my run in before I had to leave to pick up my daughter and I couldn’t just go for a run with my dog running around the neighborhood.
So I did what any other sane person would do — I ran another 3 miles up and down my road. Over and over again. I finally passed my house and saw her standing there waiting patiently for me to come back (for realz?) and I took her inside. I finished four miles of my run. The last mile I ran on the treadmill at home later in the afternoon.
Pffft. Dog…
Saturday – 8.03 miles
On Saturday I participated in the first kick-off run for the Cleveland Marathon. It was brutally cold. I had planned on running to the run and then running four miles with the group for a total of eight, but I called that off rather quickly when I saw “feels like -5˚” because that’s just ridiculous… I run in fairly cold weather, but even I’m not that crazy.
The store was nice and warm, though, and I got to hang out with other CLE ambassadors. We had a great run and the post run spread was quite delicious. Afterward I drove home, took off all eight layers of clothes, tossed on a pair of shorts and hit the treadmill for another 4 miles. Not ideal to split up the long run but sometimes you do what you gotta do.
Roku Stick FTW! Creed on Hulu!
This week kicks off week 2 of half marathon/20 mile drop/marathon training — let’s go with “spring training” to keep it simple. This spring training cycle will be interesting, for sure. I’ve never trained for so many distances simultaneously. Guess we’ll see what my crumbling, hypermobile, old lady bod is capable of! Let’s do this!
It’s been a while since I’ve written a training recap post. I forgot how much I enjoyed them! It feels good to be back. 🙂
xo
TALK TO ME!
What are YOU training for right now?
Do you split up long runs?
Linking up with My No-Guilt Life, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and MCM Mama Runs for Tuesdays on the Run, and HoHo Runs and MissSippi Piddlin’ for the Weekly Wrap.
