First bad run of the training cycle this morning. There's always a reason when things don't go well. This one is easy 1. Three days of horrible nutritional choices 2. Fairly large mileage increase this week 3. Added intensity this week 4. Tried to run my longest long run of this cycle progressively Nuff said. 12.5 miles on the TM this morning. Beat the heck out of myself to get that much done. I'm gonna lick my wounds, maybe do some easy miles a bit later this evening. I'll catch up later.

10k Race this morning.... Course ended up being a two lapper--ran the 5k course twice. Supposedly it wasnt planned this way, but an IKEA grand opening changed the plans. Met up with my training partner, and we both had a plan of breaking 1 hour. I thought, maybe based on my 15k times I could do 58 minutes. 1st mile 8:23--wow, that was fast-better slow down--left my tp behind fairly early. We both agreed we'd run our own race. 2nd mile 8:19-feeling pretty good, expected Id begin to slow down-at this point I was just gonna go with the flow 3rd mile-8:49-slower-but happy to be about half way all under 9 mm. No doubt Id finish unde 1 hour with some time in the bank 4th mile-8:31--was still feeling good 5th mile-8:47--Somehow I lost track of mileage. thought I was finishing 4 when I was coming on 5--gave me a good mental boost to finish strong 6th mile--8:14--fastest mile was the last one Finishing time-53:12 Really didnt expect that. For the first time, I felt I ran a perfect race for me. FInished strong, but didnt feel I had much left. And a 14 minute pr to boot (granted my only other 10k was my very first race right after I began running--but Im not complaining). My tp finished in about 59:55..so he beat his goal as well.. We also decided we are definately doing the Pig Half in May and the AFM in September. So no more crazy talk of doing the full Pig. Looking forward to the Heart Mini 15k in 2 weeks.

How cool to finish so strong, Murph. Really well paced and a fantastic PR. Race day adrenaline is the best

WTG Murph! What a great race. Erika, how is the lingering crud coming along?

HI GUYS! Awesome PRS this weekend. Murhpy, you were flying. Great work. Brian, That's a fast 5K and really good speed work for your marathon. P2R, We should get special awards for running sick, Erica too. My race was very hard. Struggled to sleep the night before but felt better than I had a week. Friend met me at my house at 6:00 a.m. Navigated our way to the race in the cities just fine. It felt really cold while we waited and this would lead me to add layers, which would of course be a mistake. The course goes around a lake with lovely buildings and houses. We ran on the street, while the non-race runners ran on the trail. Think they were the smarter runners, as they didn't pay $50 to run and the trail was not icy. There were lots of icy spots, and with so many people ahead of you I was afraid we were going to go down like dominos. By mile 3 I was feeling fatigued, mile 4 aerobically warmed up but knew I was not well. But I kept running, stopping at the water stops and getting some recovery. Then some decided to run on the trail, so I jumped up there too. These guys (not part of the race) started to flirt with me, and well you know how I love attention. It was fun chatting with them, and it took my mind off how crappy I felt. Then one of them tells me that I better get back on the street because here the path and went a diffeerent way than the street. "Oh shit". I ended up running 10.10 miles to get back on the street. For now on, no more flirting with men until after the race is done. Time 1:34, avgp 9:24, the time sucks. I ran 12 miles with avg. pace 9:09 a few weeks ago, it was just running it this time. At the finish we got "Kiss me I'm Irish" necklaces, grabbed a couple for my kids. The shirts are asics shirts with real nice fabric. They served us glass bottled water after the race, weird. Too heavy to carry. One friend won $300 for her placement, that was VERY cool. (She is running 96 mpw training for Boston.) We went to real running store and got told exacty what I thought about my feet, slightly over-pronator. A group of us went out for pizza afterwards. Running friends are the best.

Bugs: I think you did great! Running in cold air with inflamed bronchial tubes and chest congestion after taking care of sick kids. Don't know how you do it. Murph: Congrats on the 10k PR! Could be the break from running was what you needed with the extra work stress. It doesn't take many miles to feel like your over-reaching when work stress goes nuts! Not to mention needing the time to get over the cough and cold. Brian: Nice PR! I ran 21-miles on mud trails today. We had rain yesterday so I had to deal with 6 water crossings. It was good cardio. I averaged 141 bpm (between 65%-70% of Heart Rate Reserve for me). It was also a lot of time on the feet as it took 4:15 to do it. Different running working the heart at that level yet only averaging just over 12 minute miles. My legs are sore but nothing aches or feels knotted up. I think the weekly trail run has helped with leg strength. It doesn't do much for speed or pace consistency but I can work on that during the week. I'll be racing a 1/2 on Saturday. Hope I can get the benefit of going long another time this close to Marathon. I think I'll try doing 80% of average weekly mileage from training this week. 60% next week and 30% the week of the Marathon.

Bugs, did you at least ask for his phone number to make him feel good, even though you are married and never gonna call? wink Lets see, a kabijillion races for Bugs and she still dresses to be warm before the gun goes off and gets overheated and flirts with the guys during the race. Some women will never learn.... tease. In two months she will be complaining its too hot to run outside. Just like Miss Alaska when the temp goes over 0. 21 miles on the bike with the g/f, in 24 mph winds. Proud of her that she is learning to control the bike in the winds, and that she gets out and tries. Frustrated in that she treats it like a beach cruise rather than training. And she wonders why she never gets any better/ Faster.

welcome Hank!! congrats on your long run and nice weekly mileage!