8.2 for me. Going to head to abs class in a few.

Run felt pretty good! Raining when I started but then it stopped - darn. I was a little hesitant because my left hamstring has been bothering me a bit. Stupid deadlifts. But it went good! Didn't feel like doing it but got it done. This ends me at 57 miles for the week. Going for 60 next week.

I am going to abs class then heading to get my hair done. This is going to be a long apt...she is squeeizng me in - those usually last longer. She was booked up when I made my apt 6 weeks ago! Anyway, today is also HCF neices birthday. They are doing a pool day for lunch - not sure how that is going to go. We are supposed to have a very wet 5 days coming up starting today. Not sure if I will head over there..I should be back in town about 3. I am still having mental fatigue from yesterdays freaking workday..I wouldnt mind chilling at home and NOT extroverting with ANYONE. Is that bad?? I know its Saturday but I am dreading Monday already.

Oh..french toast yesterday was SO. GOOD!!! I am thinking we will have the same thing after my 20 next week Man, it hit the spot!

Sandy - This place always cracks me up Crazy how you all are my best friends but a lot of us have never met! I talk to you ladies more than my RL friends! Glad you got the Jeep in the shop! So, how will you get around this weekend?? Oh please, you are NOT out of shape. Your body is just fighting something. Plus, this heat doesn’t help.

Susan - Don’t you worry about a thing! HAPPY WEDDING WEEKEND!! WOOOOOO!!!

Run4kupcakes - Nice run yesterday! Like those interval times. If a cupcake turns over in the box, who cares. That happened when Karen had bought Kathryn and I cupcakes. We still ate them..taste just as good! Wow, is DH still driving the Wrangler pretty regularly?? My dad had a Honda that had 350,000 on it. And he SOLD IT!

Docket -  Busy day off for you yesterday! I guess that is how it always goes! You deserved those martinis Agree about the comp time.

Margaret - Good luck!!! We are thinking about you!

Karen - Looking forward to hearing how the baby runners first day went!!

Happy Weekend!

Y'all, look at this group! And we had a few that couldn't make it today, so the actual group is even bigger. I love my walking coaches, we had a couple people that didn't think they'd be able to go three miles, and these ladies walked with them, encouraged them, made them laugh and kept them moving. Everyone finished and the ones that didn't think they could do it are registering for the group.

I ran 1.4 (0.7 down to the park, then stopped and took a bunch of pictures of everyone running by as they did a loop around the lake, then back to get there before everyone finished), then after everyone was done and gone I ran 4 by myself. The idea was to start mapmyrun on my phone and run the 4 mile route for next week so I'd have that to give everyone. However, I apparently stopped the app 4 SECONDS in as I put my phone back in the little pouch on my handheld. So while the run was good, the plan was not successful.

I told them before we ran that I wanted them to think about why there were there and what they wanted to get out of it, and when they came back they had to write it on my whiteboard. Yes, I'm a dork. But it was kinda fun. I wrote mine on there before anyone got back, can you guess which two they are?

New baby runners......my heart is full.

Can't wait to get a race report from Margaret and a wedding report from Susan!

Liz, you sound busy today. Nice mileage for the week.

Damaris, I don't like the partner ones either. Enjoy the four tonight.

Ginny - hey that’s okay!  You are injured!!  Hope you are enjoying a nice summer weekend.

Karen - awwww your posts abt the baby runners make me so happy!!  I love your life and it’s absolutley perfect for you. Oops on the phone route fail but that’s what gmap pedometer is for   And that wasn’t much of a challenge to figure out what you wrote. Just sayin 

Damaris - dang busy day for you yest. For SURE you earned that martini. Have a good 4 later. Funny I used to really like the partner workouts in CrossFit mostly because they were easier with the built in rest haha. But I also do not know what they are like for OTF.

Lizzie - dang girl with your mileage. I’m barely running half that!  #oldgrammaprobs or really just #lazychic   That is one busy day with the hair appt. But if I remember you drive like an hour to get it done?  Hope you get some relaxing time - you for sure had an exhausting week. Oh I’ll survive fine without a vehicle this weekend. When you are boring like me there is nowhere to go. If I do feel the need to get beer or food the liquor store is less than a mile away and the grocery less than two miles. Easily bikeable. Cld even walk if I was ambitious. I’ll survive.

Thinking of Gatsby and Sue!!

12 mi this morning. Hard. Did loops so I cld swing by water fountain. Almost baled after loop 1 but am glad I didn’t only because it wld still be hanging over my head. Output shows I’m hydrated but I cannot get rid of this headache. Now trying beer 

Got out for my run in between rain. got in 5 miles I was actually hoping to run in the rain, would have felt way better. We've got some sort of tropical storm like event going, so it was really humid. Yuck. Now it's pouring & I am so glad I am not going out any more today.

Lizzie, from the other day, I think you've mentioned you get overtime? Can you use that to bargain with Mammel for what is not really comp time? Not sure if there are any state laws in VA that say otherwise, but maybe frame it as you had to work extra these days for the CEO (or whatever), so if you leave X hours early, it keeps you at 40 hours for the week. If he's under any pressure to keep salary costs down, this makes a ton of sense.

AnonymousGuest, nice turnout!

I agree with Ginny -- but we have inside information on the "run 100 miles" one!

Congratulations Karen on all those new baby runners. I think a lot of them will make their goals!

Checking in from Spokane. I drove 1300 miles in 3 days. Runs, notsomuch. I have been running but not very long runs, the longest was a 10 miler this morning on a bike path near DD's apartment. I don't think the city wants people to use this bike path, it's on an old railroad bed and it's not at all at grade, nor are there easy access points except at the end.

Best wishes to both Margaret (race) and Susan (wedding)!

On Sunday, I ran the Missoula Marathon, my 48th marathon and one more state on the quest.  It was a hot day for marathoning and I had some issues with my asthma and elevation, but it was done and not too slow at that.

Ever since Martha's Vineyard in May, I've been having asthma issues again.  Been using the long-term asthma inhaler, which I had dropped for close to two years.  With that, comes some side effects, so I wasn't happy.  On top of that, the week before the marathon my breathing issues were so bad that I had to start on prednisone. I sure loved the extra 10lbs I gained before the race, says no one ever.  But at least I could breathe better...or so I thought.

We arrived in Bozeman, Montana on Friday late afternoon, and as soon as we went to the rental car, I started having breathing issues.  I didn't even think the elevation in Montana would be too bad so I wasn't even prepared or expecting this.  Bozeman has around 5400ft elevation, so would think it was low enough but noooooo.  I was taking very short breaths like a fish out of water.  Oh, well, it is what it is.

We found a Mexican restaurant for dinner for margaritas and burritos (of course, always Mexican restaurants ) and went to bed. We headed to Missoula the next morning and early, since we were still in EST time and we woke up at 6am MT.  Missoula is lower in elevation and once we arrived, my lungs started to think they were breathing better (3400ft).  I went from this race is going to suck to I can run fast now, a clear sign that I had elevation stupidness.

On our route from Bozeman to Missoula:

There is a reason why it's called the Big Sky state.  The sky is gorgeous...and BIG!

We had lunch with my friend Lisa and her friend Abhay at one of the many Missoula breweries and the food was amazing.  I had a pastrami Reuben which I've not had in ages and their beer batter fries were awesome.  Stomach was happy!

We went back to the hotel and I ran 3 miles on the hotel TM. Whoever thought of putting the guests' laundry inside the gym is an idiot. It was like mid 90s outside and as hot indoors thanks to the dryers constant work.  Anyway, 3 miles done.  We had dinner at an Irish Pub where I had probably the best chicken pot pie I've ever had and went to bed early enough even for me.  I slept maybe three hours so at least there was some improvement from my last race.

Both the marathon and the half started at 6am but at different locations.  We had to get to the buses no later than 5:15am and we were there well before then.  We said goodbye and I ate my standard KK donuts and Mtn Dew on the way.  Lisa and Abhay managed to get to the same bus as me.

Our start was around 11 miles from downtown, after which we met the HM course at around Mile 15 to run 10-11 miles of that route.  The race is relatively flat (not Miami flat by any means) with a big hill between Miles 14-15.  My coach had me train for it by doing some intervals at 5% and I ran most of it without issue, except I was running as a slow as a turtle parade, as you will see in a minute.

At the start, I saw a fellow INKnBURN fan, Lula, and we took our picture:

And we were off!

Miles 1-15

The high for the day was 90-94F (I don't recall), but the start was in the mid 50s.  It sure didn't feel cool at all for most of the race and by the halfway point, it just felt like I was running in Miami, without the humidity, of course.

Since I've had breathing issues for at least a week, my plan was to run easy for as long as I could and adjust accordingly.  So, I started at my typical easy pace.  By Mile 8, I was done, almost literally.  I guess what I thought was workable lungs were only for walking, lol.

The course was entertaining enough, with lots of great views and Disney-esque photo stops.  So, I took it easy and stopped when I needed to.

Pace: 10:49, 10:31, 10:20, 10:17, 10:17, 10:19, 10:23, 10:27, 11:08 (stopped at medical tent for vaseline - they didn't have any), 10:43, 10:53, 13:00 (stopped at medical tent for more vaseline - they didn't have any), 11:21, 15:26 (hill and stopped at medical tent for vaseline - they have it finally!), 11:37.

Miles 16-20

At this point, I decided to run/walk the race. I felt super winded and with no energy (typical of a bad asthma day), and I knew that if I continued running I would pay for it later.  So, I started having more fun on the course, grabbed mimosas, Disney-esque pics, etc.  I also saw a girl who had give me some vaseline on the course limping, so I walked with her a little bit to make sure she was OK. She told me that she had a brain injury that sometimes made her brain not communicate well with her body and today was just one day (hence why she was limping), to go ahead and that she would finish no matter what.  Hearing about her running the marathon with a brain injury really inspired me to continue on.  What's a little bit of asthma compared to a brain injury?  I'm lucky indeed.

Here are some of the pics and videos I took on the course:

https://www.facebook.com/drosichschwartz/videos/10155734093286332/

https://www.facebook.com/drosichschwartz/videos/10155734242016332/

Paces: 10:52, 12:34 (piano man), 13:48 (girl I walked with for a while), 12:55 (banjo brothers), 14:13 (texted my husband to check if France was winning the World Cup - it was).

At this point, I'm tired and it's hot.  it was somewhere in the mid 70s and getting hotter.  The race has no shade for the most part and, although not humid, it was draining for sure.  I texted my husband here to say I am most likely walking the rest of the way.  Then, of course I proceeded to run/walk and maintain whatever pace I had before.

Miles 21-26.2

Most of the people were outside with hoses to keep us cool.  It helped a lot but it was still hot, ha.  I couldn't breathe well at this point, so my run/walking got a bit shorter, but I was still moving.  Everywhere around me had people walking left and right.  Somewhere around here I knew I didn't even have a sub-5 in me (my goal for this race) and when the 5 hour pacer passed me, I really didn't care.  But anyway, I was moving and going, even if I couldn't breathe.

By the time we reached downtown and that sign above that the pain cave would be over in one mile, I texted my husband that was less than 0.30 away from the finish (since he was waiting for me) and he texted back: the finish line is downhill.  Awesome.  I had something to look forward to.

I reached the finishing chute and headed there as fast as I could (10:36mm).  My name was called but they sure didn't know how to pronounce it, lol.  Saw my husband taking pictures of me which he accidentally deleted, sigh, and finished in 5:14:55.  I had a full medical team on me as soon as I finished (even though it wasn't as hot as I heard it was last year) to make sure I was OK and let me go as soon as I they were sure I was.  Collected my giant medal and picked up a Coke and a bottle of water.  The extra sugar felt nice right then and there.

Here are some official pictures of me at the finish line:

After the finish, I met a friend from the RWOL forums, Curtis:

And one more state was done.  I wish I could've breathed through the race, but I sure wasn't breathing much all week in 0ft of elevation, least of all at 3500.

I seriously don't know how I'm going to finish UT next month, which is more than doubled Missoula's elevation.  I guess I'll join the turtle parade for sure.

Rest day for me! Much needed! Wanted to sleep in a bit more but couldn't for some reason. Lots of early mornings this next week. Ugh.

My hair turned out GREAT! No more dark roots She kinda talked me into extensions. To add a little length and "fullness". She doesn't charge very much to put them in, but apparently the actual "hair" is expensive. She is going to send me the link of what I would need, and I am going to wait for them to go on sale They stay in for 6 months!

So, yesterday we were in a MONSOON ALL DAY. I mean pouring rain. Once I got to my hair apt, it just got worse. My usual 1 hour commute home was predicted at 2 hours. So I swung by my parents place and hung out with my mom for a little while until the traffic cleared. She showed me her wedding dress She wants me to wear her veil. Very pretty but it is off white..so I guess it depends on what color my dress is.

WEDDING SHOW TODAY! Should be fun!! One of HCF's friends is very crafty..she brought me some stuff to wear today. A cute handmade peacock pin that says "bride" and a sash! How sweet. I will have to take some pictures

Karen - Aw Karen. I had a smile the entire time I read your post. You are such an awesome coach! Look at that turnout!! And I think you’ll be able to remember everyones name I am with Ginny, you have found your calling

Ginny - I saw you were out on a run this morning! Hope it was a good one!

Sandy - Nice 12 yesterday!!! Hope the beer helped the headache I hope that crud is almost gone, too!

Cathy - Nice run yesterday! Jambalaya? I have never had it! It always looks yummy. I hope you are out there rocking that 10 miler! I am loving seeing you get back to double digits!

Docket - I hate working with a partner. I would have skipped, too Loved your RR. When you say you gained weight with the prednisone, is it water weight? Are you still taking it? And HOW ON EARTH can you eat MEXICAN a few days before a race?! NOOOOO. A woman with the brain injury running a marathon!?? Wow! What an inspiration You had a great time considering how you felt! And that course was BEAUTIFUL!! Love the pictures. I loved keeping up with you via Facebook Congratulations! Even if you join the turtle parade for UT, that course is going to be gorgeous!

Run4kupcakes - Nice run yesterday! We got DUMPED on yesterday! ALL DAY. Did you? I think we are in for wet weather for the next 5 days. Yuck. Oh, well one reason the comp time thing pissed me off is because in the past, Mammal has allowed me to use OT time to leave early or to come in late. For that exact reason - costs. But suddenly, he doesn’t want to. Now my other co-worker, he allows him to use comp time for being late….it was just a sudden change. He is throwing his di!ck around. Before I left, he actually wrote me an email and said I didnt have “good management skills” because we had some chairs left in our atrium from the event (they were being taken down at 5pm..it was 4pm). He is just trying to provoke me to BLOW UP. Okay, that went into a longer rant. Sorry.

Tessa - Enjoy the time with your DD!!!

Kathryn - Those darn cheap asses at work! Aw, thanks for the compliment!

Kilmisters - aw, glad the run to the city for beer worked out! And nice miles yesterday! I love days full of nothing Oh man, I have to admit that the week before vacation - work seems to be a nightmare. Hang in there!! Keep your eye on the prize!

Have a good Sunday everyone! I have a headache, too! What is going on?!