After your book discussion yesterday I finally started reading ''How To Lie With Statistics''. Back to forecast estimates today. Those two events are totally unrelated

6.2 sllooowww miles for me this morning.

Very slow miles. The GOD AWFUL humidity and hamstrings kept it slow. I almost turned around after my first loop around the culdesac..but hung with it to see if I loosened up a bit. I did. Hamstrings are still a bit sore...odd because we didn't have a lot of hills! I will be honest and say I probably should have kept the miles between 4-5.  I usually do well with reverse taper. It does feel nice to kind of run what I want and not be on a schedule   We have a cold front coming in later today which is going to significantly lower our humidity for the next couple days. YAY for good hair days!!! And good runs

HCBF broke a tooth last night. After he did that he proceeded to eat a tootsie roll. Is this guy 41 or 10? LOL. I hope the dentist can squeeze him in before we leave!

I am going to look into getting a guest pass at a gym while we are in FL. If its going to rain a lot, I am going to need to release. LOL. I don't plan on running as much..so would like to get some weight stuff in..maybe elliptical. The place we are staying doesn't have a gym.

Diane – I saw you tried the yoga yesterday, how did you like it?

Margaret – Hang in there! Only one more day to get through!!!

Tessa – OMG that is a lot of stairs! Shouldn’t you be resting!?

Run4kupcakes – Nice rainy miles. Really sad about the officer. Thanks for the Gu information! Totally forgot that the local running store probably sells them. Duh Liz. We also have an REI.

Kilmisters – Okay, I was going to ask you if you were going to stay up for the game. I didn’t want to ruin anything tomorrow. SO STOKED. I doubt I will be able to stay awake during the entire thing..might have to take a nap mid game. WOOHOO!!! They sooo deserve this..I hope they can play like they did on Monday!

Happy Wednesday. I kept thinking today is Thursday!

Morning!  I have 5 miles tonight and a losing fight in court.  Thinking of yelling FREEDOM on the way to the podium.

Elina, that's an interesting book title.

Liz, nice run.  I get my stuff from runningwarehouse.com.  They have boxes of 8 which is what I recommend you to order for the birthday cake GU ASAP.  It's limited edition, BTW, so it won't be there long.

Diane, nice job on the run.

Did my weights last night after an achy 4.  My knee feels much better as a result.

Sandy I hand over my keys and they give me the key to a locker.  I could rent one but this works for the few times I go up there. Lunch here is 30 min but twice a week we are allowed to take an hour if we go up to the fitness center to work out.  In my building it's me and my coworker who take advantage....it's free and they have a very nice facility...small pool, whirlpool, all sorts of cardio and weight machines in the cardio room, free weights in the weight room, a basketball court, indoor track, showers.  Some of the classes cost money...yoga was $2, others are $5.  The tanning beds are $5, there's some sort of hydro massage but I've not used that.  They have a couple of personal trainers that do cost more and if you got injured there is the indian clinic right next door.  I don't understand why people in my building don't take advantage of it.

Diane - wow, that's quite a perk you have with the gym set up!  I'd be ALL over that.

Cathy - your post cracked me up all over.  From "Google it up" to "a fun reason for a TURD" to the visual of DH doing yoga from the TV.  Not sure why that last one made me chuckle but it did.  Speaking of garbage - my recycling is overflowing and it doesn't get picked up until next Thursday!  Too many bottles in there.  Ooops.  That would be fun to meet Mr. Math.  I'll have to tell the story about Pacer Guy.  Maybe next week...  Nice morning miles!!  I haven't seen any babies yet.

Lizzie - oh yeah!  Cathy makes a VERY good point about the GUs with caffeine.  Gramma here has a pretty iron stomach but those things do mess me up a bit so beware!!

Whew this is going to be a long day.  Sleepy sleepy sleepy...

I tried to post earlier but my internet stopped working and I lost my post. Dammit. So I went running. It was 80 already with high humidity. The weather said the feels like temp was 98 but I think that was wrong. It was bad, but not that bad. I ran 4 super easy miles, and that was enough.

So my patio furniture got delivered yesterday in three HUGE boxes, each weighing around 100 pounds, stacked on a pallet. The problem with buying furniture that doesn't need assembly is apparently that the boxes are so big they don't fit through the fence gate or front door. So DH is going to have a surprise when he gets home from the airport in a bit because they are sitting in the garage where he parks his car. I tried to open and take out piece by piece but didn't make much headway. I need his help getting the boxes on top down.

Speaking of DH, yesterday I texted him a picture of some really cute catahoula and lab/mutt mix puppies someone is selling on Next-door. Told him I thought about getting him one for his birthday next week, thinking he'd tell me how much time and money a second dog would cost, not to mention twice the poop to clean up in the backyard. I forgot that's my side of the conversation.....his reply was "that would have been so awesome." I don't think we're going to get a puppy.

Tessa, nice stair workout yesterday. I still can't believe you're flying to Detroit and then driving 15+ hours instead of.....flying somewhere closer. You guys are going to have so much fun this weekend.

Liz, I laughed several times at your post yesterday. Like Damaris, I order mine from Running Warehouse. Free two-day shipping and no tax, plus I have a discount code from Marathon Maniacs so get an additional 15% off. I buy them by the box of 24, because DH also uses them cycling. But until you figure out if you can tolerate them and which flavors you like best, your local running or cycling store, or sporting goods store like Dick's or Academy should have them. Looks like that tropical storm is going to hit Florida so the first part of your trip is going to be pretty rainy. Good idea on finding a gym.

Elina, your book doesn't sound like quite the page turner.....but maybe it is for you. I had a job once where I'd get my boss to tell me what she wanted the outcome to be, and then I'd provide the numbers to prove her side. It was kinda fun, especially since we both disliked the guy on the other side of the argument.

Diane, that gym setup is quite the perk. Nice job on the speedwork and yoga. I wish I could stick with yoga, but I have trouble concentrating and get bored.

Damaris, FREEDOM!!!!! Have a nice run later.

Sandy, that seems like a good reason for a TURD. In my world, any day for the entire week after a marathon can be a TURD with no guilt.

Cathy, I have to say seeing you post about doing short runs in the morning is kind of nice .

Okay, hitting post. Better not lose this.....

Just got back from a fire drill..I should have just left. I mean, we did plan it. LOL.

Diane – I actually sent an email to Planet Fitness to see if they had a week pass…so we will see. Statistics confuses me..luckily I never had to take that class! Awesome on the yoga!! That means they did some core work. I would love to have that perk at work!

Docket – Good luck on both the miles and in court today! Okay, I will order some birthday cake GU ASAP 

Sandy – I would have made it a TURD day too if I had gone to bed that late. It was worth it though Oh no on Leo!!! Glad he came home! What race are you volunteering for??? Body Pump was tough at first..but once I got loosened up it was good! Felt good to move around. Went light on the legs but heavy on arms. Oh, so we are switching weather patterns this week?! LOL. GOOD..YOU CAN HAVE IT. Haha. This weekend is going to be a washout for the entire East Coast though. So, that sucks! Pacer guy!!!!!! PT!!!

Cathy – Nice miles this morning! I am jealous of your cold hands haha. HEAT ON?! AHH! Super jealous. Awe, poor DD. Hope she feels better! Man, we are all thinking it is the wrong day of the week! I was thinking that I would download the Motion Traxx app for elliptical workouts. You said you had a good sweat going and I hardly ever sweat on the elliptical..so I will give it a try I figured that the caffeine GU’s would upset my stomach (coffee does sometimes) so I wasn’t going to risk it. I need to do some research on the best ones for a sensitive stomach. I know they are out there. I figured I would try them though since I tried the Powerade during the race last weekend and did just fine! I am going to check my grocery store, too.,

Karen – YAY for patio furniture! Poor DH haha. He can take a nice nap with Riley on the new furniture now . Nice miles! Oh man, two dogs is too much! I like what you got him already for his birthday I have the same issue with yoga!

Have a good evening all. GO CAPS!!

OK, here is the RR:

On Saturday, I ran the Martha's Vineyard Marathon, my quest for the state of Massachusetts and another running adventure.  We had tons of fun!

Since this race required a bit more traveling, including ferry rides, driving, etc., we took off on Thursday morning en route to Boston, MA.  We spent the night there and then drove to Falmouth, MA (where the ferries to Martha's Vineyard are) and the island.  We left a rainy and stormy Miami for a rainy and stormy MA and the weather forecast for the race including 100% of rain, 15-20mph winds, and clouds.  I was glad for the rain (not so much for the wind), and the clouds, as this race starts too late for May (8:30am) and, without the no sun and rain, it would've been too hot to marathon.  But we were lucky.

We arrived in Falmouth before noon and headed to the ferry to travel to MV for the expo.  It was a very windy day and they only had one ferry that arrived far from the expo (the same for the race), so we had to take not only the ferry but a bus.  It ran us around $50 for the expo trip and another $40 for race day.  But I was glad to stay on the mainland because between the weather being windy and rainy, and the island not having much to do except the beach, we would have been stuck on the island without much to do all Friday.  Instead, we drove around Cape Cod and found a great Mexican restaurant for lunch!

The expo was at the finish line, and it was just a few tables with the package pickup and all the goodies.  I forgot to take a picture of the goodies but here is what we got with each bib, with the exception of the medal, which would be received after the race, of course:

This is the second year for the race and it appears that they took every suggestion given last year and improved it.  It is a small well-organized race, for sure, with lots of fun activities to do at the finish that I think were not as many due to the weather, but not their fault.

We spent the afternoon driving around the Cape and having lunch, and resting.  We were in bed by 11pm with a 6am wake up time to head to the ferry in time for the last ferry to arrive before the race, the 7am.  Because of the wind again, they only had one ferry arrival location but the race had school buses waiting for us.  Last year, there were complaints about not having enough buses, but they had two this time around and everybody on the ferry managed to get on a bus so they worked it out well.

The start of the race was located at the MV High School and we got there with enough time to hit the potties.  There was a big line but from what I had heard about last year, they had more potties this time around.  I had no issue going to the potty and arriving to the start line as the Anthem was being sung.  Perfect timing.

Hubby and I started at the same time (Wave 2) but, again, he left me in the dust like in KY.  He finished in 2:15 or something like that and he didn't get any rain (but he was rained on while waiting for me, lol).  The race goes straight into a tight little trail (paved) that spanned at least half of my race.  The HM split from us by Mile 3 or thereabouts, but those first miles were so crowded even though the race is small, since the paved path was narrow.  This part of MA, and MV included, looks like it's still in late Fall, with the path in the woods looking straight out of the Blair Witch Project.  It had an eerie feeling for me, and I wouldn't have liked to be around there at night or alone, ha.

Miles 1-5

I had not planned on racing this, but at least I want to run it at easy pace.  By Mile 4, after our split with the HMers, my operated knee started hurting, a sign that it would rain soon.  Then, my right ITB started hurting, and for good measure the left ITB and my left inner thigh.  I was like WTF by Mile 5, get your shit together, legs.  I was regretting not running my shakeout run due to laziness, since I know it always comes back to bite me not moving for two days and I guess this was it.  But it was not good for my patella to be hurting this early or at all.  But, it was what it was.  I was running an easy pace, but feeling off due to the pain.

Mile 6-10

This is where the mile markers appeared off.  At first, I was ahead of the mile markers by 0.12 after Mile 5, but Mile 6 and it's 5.5 "mat" was off by 0.50!  I asked a guy running next to me, my new BFF, I guess, what mileage did he have and he said 5.5.  I'm like nope, you're wrong, but I won't tell you.  The marker was wrong. There is no way I was running a 1:01 for 5.5 miles;  that is way slow for me.  So, I opted for just letting it go and hoping I didn't end up having a 26.70 marathon, you know?  But in the end, the markers corrected themselves and I didn't.

Also, I found Miles 6-13 hillyish.  They advertised the race as having GENTLE rolling hills.  Bullshit!  If you go up 40ft in 0.02 miles and you have to walk because it's faster to walk uphill than to run it, and the downhill makes you stop for fear of falling, that is neither rolling, nor gentle.  I know I live in a 0ft elevation location, but I know a hill when I see one.  I had around 20 of those "gentle" rolling hills in the first 11 miles.

This is probably the gentlest rolling hill I saw:

We passed by the airport, and all I remembered was the show called Wings and Joe Hackett flying from Nantucket to MV:

Mile 11-15

Around these miles, I quit and got my shit together.  I had to walk an uphill that was faster walking than running, and after the walk, my knee felt better, so I incorporated walking at the water stations and while eating my gel, mostly because my ITB and the knee were a fucking PITA.  So, at Mile 11 I felt I was slow, but Miles 13-15 were fast notwithstanding the walks.  We finally got out of the Blair Witch woods and headed towards the beach for what my husband texted me would be full headwinds.  It started raining at Mile 11.

Miles 16-20

Miles 16-17 were OK, but Mile 18 is where I quit.  FTS.  We headed to the only fully flat section of the course, towards the beach, in a full headwind.  I had started stopping to fix my shoes at Mile 14 on, thanks to all the sand and debris coming into my shoes due to the wind and the rain.  The back of my legs was black and this is how I looked at Mile 25 when I texted my husband that I wouldn't break 5 hours because I was lazy and was removing sand from my shoe:

Miles 21-26

I really had quit trying at this point, although I thought I could still run a sub-5.  It was raining, windy, going slightly up and down, and mentally I was like whatever, not going to break a record, why bother trying.  I was still having fun, but it was tough going at this point, mainly because of the weather.  However, I was glad I wasn't running there on a sunny day because there is no share anywhere on the course.  I texted hubby my progress every so often, and at Mile 25, I took the picture I just posted and sat for a minute.  Making sub-5 impossible.  But at the time, I didn't care.

Here are some pics of me from this section. At least I look like I'm trying:

That Fucking 0.20

This is what happened at the finish.  I am finally turning towards the park where the finish line is.  You have to go and do an almost perfect rectangle to finish, so I passed by the finish line, turned left, then turned left and another left and then straight to finish. I still thought I could run a sub-5 until I saw what I had left to run, ha.

Then, this guy by my husband, who was taking pictures of me, started taking pictures of either my ass or of someone right behind my ass.  So, I decided to run like the devil was out to chase me and not let her pass me.  I was fine until we headed to the grass.  Did I mention my knee was hurting?  Well, she does not like grass.  I tried as hard as I could and was running 9mm or something like that, but in the end, she fucking passed me right near the finish.  These are the pics my husband took of my attempt to not be passed by someone who was probably 10+ years younger than me, lol:

Then, I was done. And what do I do when I see the second photographer for the race?  Priorities!

Awesome.

I finished in 5:01:02.  I wish I had cared about the sub-5 at Mile 25 instead of on the last stretch.  Still, it's my fastest marathon this year, believe it or not, and 12 minutes faster than KY and 8 minutes faster than Disney (which is flat as in, really flat, people).  So, there is that...

I have 5 weeks before my next marathon.  And this one is hillier than KY.  This is the last time my husband chooses my races.  The end.