A whole 1.25 mi on the TM and lower body strength this morning.  Foot felt OK, just purposely kept the run short.  Also, DD had a girl scout event last night, making chocolates at the candy shop, so we had to eat a quick dinner.  We went to Culver's, a burger place.  I had a chicken sandwich and a salted caramel pumpkin spice shake.  I don't think my TM run covered those calories.    Oh well, I couldn't finish it and DH had the rest, so I don't feel that bad about it.  

Lizzie, so you are off already!  I was wondering when you were leaving.    It sounds like you had an excellent trip here (besides the too-short marathon).  I love that HCBF had such a nice reunion at King and I!  I'm surprised you are convincing him to even consider coming back.  He seemed pretty adamant about not coming back to the Wisconsin winters.     I won't lie, they are brutal and long!  But I suppose it would seem refreshing to you.  At least at first.    It would be awesome if you were here though!  We could do long runs together!    Though not at 2:30 AM.  Haha.  Seriously though, it would be a nice place to get a fresh start for both of you.

Elina, hope the game went well!

Laura, congrats to DS!

Judy, sounds like a great run!

Kat, I thought the 48 degrees would be refreshing to you.     2 watches is not that bad, you see all kinds of things during marathons.    My favorite at Lizzie's was the guy that was running shirtless and had neon pink arm warmers!

Sue, hope the foot issues stay away!

Diane, I'm glad that you are going ahead with Pumpkin!  Hopefully the bruises and any soreness go away.

Sandy, you stayed up to watch "This is Us"?  Wow, crazy lady!     The weather has been gorgeous, 73 yesterday and it felt really good!  Glad you found that opener, I hate when I can't find something.  Drives me crazy!  

Ginny, 66 squats for you too, like Laura?    Nice job getting a workout in without your trainer!

Hi Camille-Cathy!  It is fun to explore a new spot!

Damaris, sad about your dad and leaving PR.

Karen, cool that you know someone that knows Toby.    Sounds like a good tip for MCM!  Water stations at big races are kind of crazy.

Tessa, no updates from the marathon besides that they are investigating.  Though the local news picked up on it, so everyone will be hearing about it.

Carol, I hope you are feeling better.  Happy Birthday!  I guess you will have to celebrate this weekend!

Cathy

Elina – awesome pic!  Bummer on the loss – sounds exciting.  But all you can ask is play your best.  You BEAST you taking out the other player

Cathy – cracking up at shirtless and pink arm warmers!  That’s a first haha.  Also cracking up at you already setting the boundary at no 2:30am long runs if Lizzie eventually becomes your neighbor .  Only Lizzie.  Glad the foot still feels good with the mileage!  Hey, ramp up slowly is the trick.  And, YES, losing stuff makes me crazy

Karen – OMG, I did not know that Toby wears a fat suit!  And, OMG how you sorta know him.  Small world.  And thanks for the MCM tip!  I would NOT have done that.  Have you run NYCM?  Is it crazier than that?  Those water stops weren’t hard to get to though they were SLIPPERY. Hope you got in a great run!

HCK – thanks again for the weather updates!

Damaris – oh, your poor papa!  I cannot imagine how sad that must be for him!  You’ll have to make sure you fatten him up a bit.

Camille – fun to discover a new park.  That’s nice to hear you loved MCM.  I’m really looking forward to it!  Really haven’t been in DC much.  Also nice to hear it’s so well organized.  Hope you got through your to-do list quickly and painlessly today.

Ginny – you copy cat squatter you haha.  Awesome getting those in after the trainer cancel!  I may have been inclined to go back to bed.  Oooh, Halloween Hustle sounds fun!  Who’s your team for the Series?

Diane – happy to hear Pumpkin is still a GO!

Call this morning wasn’t horrible.  Talked to the sales guy later that was on site and apparently the head honcho stomped out of the room and slammed the door after his rant – I missed that being on the phone.  Cracked me up.  Big baby haha.  Oh!  So, I think I mentioned that I’ve been trying to volunteer at a local cat shelter.  I’ve now stopped by twice and they weren’t open either time.  They had posted that they would be open until 5pm yesterday so I made a point of getting there by 4:30.  They also said to knock if the sign said they were closed.  So I stood out there with my donations knocking and knocking and nothing.  Super frustrating.  I get they are all volunteer which is why I want to help but at least do what you say you are going to do.  I’ll probably try one more time and then just give up.  But, the kitties sure looked cute in the window.

On Sunday, I ran the Detroit Free Press International Marathon and boy what an experience.  It was frankly one of my favorite marathons.  What else can you say when a race takes you to Canada and back?  I really loved the race and would like to do the race again (the US Half Marathon course looks like fun, especially with all the beer on the course, as detailed below).

As I had just run the Chicago Marathon and at a time I wasn't even expecting, I knew going into this race that I had to race it easy.  It's been a few years since I've done two marathons in two weeks, and it won't be the last time I do this, but I'm not getting any younger, ha.

Chicago left my calves VERY sore, especially since I had three calf cramps during the race.  Although I was given the chance to run on Tuesday, I was like hell no, and rested.  By Wednesday, the 6 miles I ran felt awesome.  I had to take a rest day on Thursday for other reasons, and I had to cut my run on Friday short due to time, but it was all good since the plan was to loosen the legs before Detroit, not tire them, right???

We left super early on Saturday and were in Detroit by noon.  We had lunch, checked into our hotel, and headed to the expo.  We were staying across the river from Windsor, Canada, at the Marriott in the Renaissance Center, which is a nice complex by the riverwalk.  It was windy and rainy but we walked to the expo, which was less than 1/2 mile from the hotel.  Met a couple of friends and ladies from Sparkle Skirts, got our bibs, and headed back to the hotel.  But before we did, we notice our PR flag among the ones at the expo, so of course, picture time!

By then it was almost 5pm and we were tired.  I had forgotten how hard it is to do back to back weekends, since you lose the weekend, head back to the office, work all week and away you go again.  I tried to nap but was not successful. Instead, I read an email from the race warning that it MIGHT be canceled due to the 70% chance of thunderstorms from 7am to 11am, which were the first 4 hours of the race.  Lovely.  A part of me was hoping they would cancel since I was tired, ha, but was hoping they would cancel before I wake up at 5:30am so I could sleep in. Priorities!

Hubby and I met Lisa and her BF for dinner at a bar.  The food, the company, and the beers were great.

We headed back to the hotel and tried to go to bed by 11pm, our normal.  I really didn't sleep much.  We woke up at 5:30am and got ready.  Grabbed my Krispy Kreme donuts, Mtn Dew and stuff and we headed out.

My plan was to run the first half of the race with hubby, who was running the Detroit International Half Marathon, and that worked well.  I needed to take it easy especially at the start and hubby didn't go out at PR pace so he kept me centered until we parted ways at Mile 13.  Here is a picture of us near the start:

We headed to Corral G, and met my friend Nick there.  We chatted a bit until it was time to start.  For some reason, we ended up in the front of the G corral, sheesh!  We weren't when we stood there but I guess people kept moving and we ended up feeling like elite marathoners, lol.  I am sure everybody around us was faster than us...

And we were off!  We started heading towards the bridge to Canada in the dark.  The temp was 67F, 65 dewpoint and cloudy.  It really never rained during the race and it never thundered so we got lucky in that front.  I didn't bring my sunglasses because it was supposed to rain, but of course, the sun peeked out at Mile 11 for a while, grrrr.

The sun was out when we headed to Canada through the bridge:

And Windsor was very pretty:

I was looking for my friend Lori that was spectating this year before the tunnel back into the states, and miraculously I managed to see her (I am famous for missing people spectating and looking for me, LOL).  She took a picture of me and we headed off to the US!

The tunnel was a bit warm but nothing bad airwise.  Halfway through the tunnel, the two flags are there side by side and I tried to get a picture of them as we ran by:

Good thing I don't make my money taking pictures because I suck at it...

We came out into the US by our hotel, which was around Mile 8 and headed back towards the bridge again before heading to Mexican and Greektown and hubby's finish.  This is when the sun peeked out and I was regretting my lack of sunglasses but by the time I headed solo to run the second half, the sun had hid again, luckily.

We parted ways at Mile 12.90 or so and I headed towards the second half, which is the same route as the Detroit US Half Marathon.  We both cross his finish and my 13.1 split around the same time, in around 2:35:XX.  I wanted to be at 2:30 or thereabouts, but 2:35 would do.  Then and there, I decided to speed up and see if I could negative split the race.  I did.

The next few miles take us through some residential areas that were shady and had a Fall look. I love that since I don't see any Fall anything where I live.

When I got to Mile 17, I saw the first beer booth, so of course I took one. Then another booth, so I took another, then another booth, and another booth, etc.  SIX beer booths through the one mile stretch.  This is how all marathons should be like!  I didn't abuse my stomach so I only took three but the residents there were awesome.  I also heard they had Fireball shots somewhere in this mile but fortunately for me I didn't see them.

Pretty soon, I was at Mile 19 and heading to Belle Isle.  It was here that I noticed how much the residential area had protected us from the brutal winds.  Wind forecasts were in the 20-30mph with gusts in the 40s.  This area was easily unprotected by anything and very windy.  But I pushed on.  The Belle Isle segment is around 2-3 miles around the island and this is where the winners of the US Half Marathon (who started 2.5 hours after us) passed me.  I felt slow, ha.

By the time we left Belle Isle, it was Mile 23 or so.  I felt really good by then, although I had some 12mm miles when I fixed my sock or when I took too long of a walk break at the water stations. But I continued on and had no muscle cramps or anything like in Chicago.  I couldn't do the math well, but it looked like I had a 1-2 minute negative split already so long as I didn't dilly dally, so I pushed on.  I knew Iceland had been at around 5:09 and I really wanted to run faster than that.  But the wind was brutal, so every step I took felt like I was moving inches!

Mile 25 had us almost there so I pushed on.  I see the sign where we have to turn to finish and my GPS had 26.65 already and the finish line looked like it was a mile away (only .30 from there, though).  I was 0.10 from the finish line when a gust of around 40mph hit us as a headwind.  We stopped, all of us.  We couldn't even move.  Some people moved sideways.  It was like WTF.  Debris falling over us, etc.  We tried to continue on and finish but we could only move a few inches and felt like we were outside during Hurricane Irma trying to run.  Finally, the gust went away and we were able to finish, but not before the wind wrecked my beautifully prepared ponytail, LOL.

Before:

After:

I definitely felt better than I looked at the finish line, LOL

Final time was 5:08:44, and I felt like I could've run faster or even some more.  The race was super fun, the beer was excellent, and it's always a good day when you can run and feel strong the whole distance.

Next up, Indy Monumental HM and Space Coast Marathon to finish the year!

Excellent race report Damaris...Congratulations again!

Happy to see no snarky comments about how dang old I must be as when I was a kid baton twirling was a thing. I sucked at it, not because my teacher was the future MIL to Toby, but because I was super shy and had poor posture and absolutely no stage presence. I did get a trophy once, I think I was 5th. Out of 5.

8 easy miles around the hood for me, then a trip to Target. I am re-gifting the boo bag I got and then making one more since I'm supposed to give out two. Made things easier only having to buy stuff for one, and I don't really like the stuff in the one I got.

Damaris, great report! Made me remember my Detroit Marathon, that was a fun race.

Liz, hope you're home and relaxing by now.

Laura, yay for DS and his team!

Cool pic, Elina!

Kat, please tell me you are flying out of SA and not driving to Austin for that flight. 5:30 is an okay time to get to the airport, but a flight that early? Yikes.

Judy, I love it when a run you didn't even want to do turns out great. Good motivation for the next time you don't want to go out!

Diane, so glad you're still going to do Pumpkin. I think DH has rented an Impala before and said it was a surprisingly good car. Should make for a comfy ride to the race.

Susan, I hate when that happens with the diet. Last week no matter what I ate, I gained weight. Seriously like 3 pounds by the end of the week and I barely ate any ice cream. I think it's going away now though. At least I hope so, maybe I need to schedule the colonoscopy sooner rather than later - gotta make sure to weigh myself after going through the prep!

Sandy, I did run NYCM a couple years ago. Early aid stations were bad, but it didn't seem as bad as MCM. Maybe because I started earlier in the crowd and was running faster (2015 NYC I was running around 4 hours, 2009 MCM I was running 4:30-5). I am getting excited for all of you, yet still wish you'd done this three or more years ago when I lived there! Okay, so I didn't know you or Kat or Lizzie then, those are just minor details!

Ginny, yay on the 5-year plan buddy? Darn, I was hoping it was the prep I did, not me, but sounds like it may indeed be me. DH skated through like it was nothing....well, he complained about being hungry and I remember him at about 10 am declaring "we're going to need more popsicles!" Yes, do the 15K. I think 15Ks and 10 milers are the best distances to run, I wish they were more popular.

camille, glad the weather is improving for you as well. I love finding new parks and places to run.

Cathy, slow and steady with that recovery. Thanks for passing my name on to that girl on fb, she contacted me this morning and I'm going to see what I can come up with for her.

Tessa, busy day for you! Is this the only class you're teaching this semester or are there other days?

I did open the poop sample envelope and read the directions today. One step closer to sending my poop through the USPS.... It seems kind of dumb that I have to do it since I'm getting a colonoscopy, I think it's just standard practice for them when you get the full testing and blood work done and since I hadn't been in awhile, she's having me get everything checked. And now I'll stop obsessing over my poop. For a little bit anyway.

So..I need to vent! 

I got the official email about the course being short. I knew it was short, but officially hearing it hurts. Like, I worked so freakin hard for that race. To the point where the last few miles I didn’t think I was going to finish (I blame conditions) - but I wanted it SO bad. All for nothing! Like, do I even show the medal? Wear the shirt? WTF.

I am super bummed. I know I ran a great race..I know I pushed hard and I am proud of myself for that..but its not “official” and its bugging the crap out of me! ARRRGHHHHHH!!!! I feel like they should offer more than an "I am sorry". How about my money back!? Sigh. I am depressed about it I guess. Especially since its not like I can just go race another one. I would love to race Richmond in 3 weeks..but if my body isn't ready - it isn't ready. Then I will have to do another round of training before I get there. Its just frustrating and I am super bummed.

Laura - Congrats to DS!! Hope you get some miles in tonight!

Judy - don’t you love when you hate getting out there but then it turns into the best run ever? Those are awesome.

Kathryn - If I am recovered enough I may race it..but the way my stupid hamstring is behaving I am not sure. I will play it by ear. May be a game day decision. I am getting excited for MCM for you!!!

Susan - Smart to rest the foot!

Diane - Oh I am so happy to hear you are still going to do Pumpkin! That weather is icky.- but you are right, its supposed to be hard Plus, not much we can do about the weather! I wish someone had those magical powers. I hope you are rocking the gramma car.

Sandy - I am so excited for your race this weekend! I am going to sign up for tracking for both you and Kathryn! WOOHOOO!!! One more run!! I too avoid the weather the week of race day. LOL. I just get too scared to look! You will do great Did you find out if you would get a refund from Delta? That stinks about the race..sad about the fires though. Yes, we flew right into MKE..those tickets were only like, $215 each. NOT BAD at all. Of course they weren’t direct but thats okay. Everything went as planned That never happens, right? How frustrating about the cat shelter! I would call them when they are open and say “UH HELLO IM TRYING TO DROP OFF DONATIONS AND WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER!” But I am mean sometimes..LOL.

Ginny - The colonoscopy prep I hate was just apple juice! Well it was mixed with some kind of powder but it tasted like apple juice so it wasn’t that bad! I think if you mention something about the medicine prep they give you something else. Nice job on the substitute workouts. WALL SITS SUCK! Halloween hustle?! That sounds fun!!

Camille - Hope you had a good 5 and have fun at the quilting club!

Docket - Ruger was happy to see us but he is really exhausted! He didnt even come to the kitchen when I was cooking Oh no on your dad..you can feed him!!! Loved reading your race report. Sounds like you had high winds like I did! Glad you didn’t have calf cramps!! LOVE THE MEDAL!

Karen - Of course you don’t suck at the coaching thing SILLY. Nice 8! Small world about this is us! I love the Boo bag idea. I have never heard of that. Cute. I can’t picture your DH participating. LOL at your comment to Susan “I am hardly eating any ice cream. Maybe I need that colonoscopy sooner” LOLOL. Love it. OH I am proud to say I have mailed my poop before. I had to give like, 17 samples. Seriously. They provided a bowl shaped object and several spoon/vile like things. LOL. Thats all I will say about it. LOL.

Cathy - Glad the foot was tolerable on the treadmill! Are you going to try one outside? OMG that shake sounds SO GOOD! I don’t think I would have been able to finish it either. MMMMMM. I am kicking myself for not getting cinnamon ice cream last night. I love cinnamon ice cream! And I have never seen it anywhere else. Agree on the fresh start. I would just have to get him on board..he comes on board and then goes off board hahah. The whole family thing..I would Love to have our own adventure together there!

Kilmisters - Oh..sorry about the loss! Are you saying you had that fall!? Be careful out there!

Tessa - LOL..no ring on this finger yet. I was telling my best friend that if he does it this year, I bet it is this weekend (our 1 year). If not..then who knows..no rush on my end! I already know he is my forever  I hope the kitties came through surgery okay! Hope your day settled down!

Kathryn and Sandy - I am sad I will miss you two this weekend! How I could forget that this weekend is the 1 year anniversary..I dont know. I will be cheering from RVA!

I am going to work tomorrow. I remembered that I have to meet a new chef..kind of a big deal and something I really pushed for for over a year. So gotta be there.

OH I just tried those "veggie tots" - instead of potatoes inside its cauliflower! SO. GOOD. Seriously. YUM. Even the boy liked them!

6.1 with intervals. I went to what I thought was a lighted track. I swear at one point it was. It no longer is. Kinda dark finishing up, but had plenty of company. I got to see all the track behavior runners complain about. I was one of the only runners there. Lots and lots of walkers, 2-4 abreast. The lone walkers were on cell phones and weaving all over the place. Couples hold hands while walking. Little kids running across all lanes.