Marine Corps Marathon 2019: The one where we all drowned

It has been a week since my Marine Corps Marathon experience. I could make this a short post, and say that it has taken me a full week to dry out! (but I won't do that. that would be too easy, even though it is true.)

So yes. 8 days ago I was prepared to take on the challenge of a marathon on the most undertrained legs I have ever lined up with. I had zero expectations, zero time goals, zero plans, and only hoped that I would not be unpleasantly surprised with an uprising of my previous injury at mile 16. (why 16? because that was my longest run for this training cycle. and was on September 12th. So, yeah...)

The forecast was cycling from being ominous (warm, heavy rain) to terribly ominous (cool, heavy rain, thunder, disaster, certain death.) So, I filled my bag with throw away clothing of one sort or another, threw my hands up and said "whatever" (spoiler: overpacked)

I met Danielle and Tyler (her very tall husband) at the airport at some god forsaken hour. For the first time in the history of EVER, I was actually the first one to arrive. I proclaimed that this would be the ONLY race that I would win all weekend.

An uneventful flight landed us in DC just before 8 (AM. told you it was early.) We successfully dropped our bags at our comfortable, convenient, and reasonably priced hotel (Courtyard Marriott Crystal City. There were many choices in the area, and this one was pleasant.) We then called an uber to take us to the expo (or, Danielle did. I managed not to buy a single uber all weekend because I am a terrible moocher/bad person.)
By the time we got to the expo there may have been some whining about being hungry. I will not deny or confirm if this whining came from me. But it might have.

Mission: breakfast

Rage hunger aside, we made it happily and swiftly through the expo. None of us were in the mood to part with cash (except for Ubers) so it was not a lengthy trip. As far as expos go, it was decent. Fast bib pick up, a good number of shopping opportunities, none of which we utilized. This expo was not on the scale of Boston or NYCM, but was certainly more impressive than Philly and Hartford.

Must Do. Can Do. Will Do. (get out of here and eat bacon!)

The remainder of the day was spent eating (YAY!!!) checking the weather (BOOO) doing a little sightseeing (But not tooooo much!) witnessing a hobo fight!!! (they hugged it out???) and touring several grocery stores (which I rarely do, so fun!) Oh, and we also took adult naps which are possibly the most underrated activity (and very important if you have been up since 2:30 AM)

Not a very busy day today...

After meticulously designing our morning outfits (so many plastic bags. duct tape. ponchos.) We were in bed before 9:00. Except Danielle who woke suddenly, and angrily, and proceeded to sleep walk around doing something critical that only made sense to her. Normal activities, all in all.

Morning dawned.
And by dawned, I mean it was pitch black dark until the absurd hour of 7:20 AM. WTF?

We were BY NO MEANS wishing to spend hours outdoors. Danielle, the cruise director extraordinaire, had calculated exactly what time we should depart to make it to the race start on time. And not one minute before.
We donned our race attire.

This is reality. Ridiculous.

At 6:30 we walked from the hotel to the busses that would take us directly to the start.
(straightforward 0.4 mile walk)  We found an amazingly long line, in decidedly steamy conditions. The layers started to come off early.... We lined up with 10,000 other people in a parking garage, and it was far from cold.

600 degree parking garage. dry though, so that's good

In pretty short order we were on the bus for the trip to the pentagon.

Gotta have the bus selfie

OH, AND IT WAS POURING. As we reached our destination, I expressed my concern regarding the long porta potty lines, the deluge, and the amount of time we had prior to the 7:55 start (we reached the Pentagon area just after 7:00) Danielle, in a stroke of pure genius, said "don't leave the bus. we are going to use the bathroom that is ON HERE!!" And THAT is what we did. Sooo smart, the bus driver was totally cool with it, and it saved us standing in a loooong, sopping wet line.

From there, it was quite a long walk. Down a road we went (sweating all the way) through security and a huge parking lot, and into the masses of runners. Feeling a bit disoriented, we concluded that we would simply follow the crowd to the start. (it was just a little bit of a cluster. nothing major, but lots of people/bad weather/chaos.)

Danielle's cruise director status was rewarded when we made it (close enough) to our corral just in the nick of time. Layers off, and in we went just like sardines. Cozy cozy, moist and sweaty.

Pro tip: if you plan to run quickly be very certain to line up at the absolute front of your corral. We did not do this. If anything, we were closer to the 4:00 hour area.
For the first two miles, it was jam packed. Total gridlock. On top of that it was pretty wet, very hot (it was well into the 60's from the get go) and randomly uphill. Pretty disgusting. I was feeling a premonition that it was going to be a fairly hideous day. Danielle said "I'm really concerned about overheating" just before we were separated by the hoards of humans. And yes, I was feeling the same way (especially as we trudged up what seemed to be and endless hill.)

Luckily just after mile 2, what had been going up, FINALLY headed down. My legs got it together, and things began to feel as good as one could hope for. Even better, the rain basically stopped and it was *almost* dry for several miles. I had a quick stop at mile 3 to pee, and then I was off again.

As un-crowded as it got

I ran along with very few thoughts until mile 7. At that point, I realized that I had reached the mileage of my "longest run" in weeks. Thankfully, I was feeling fine. Very shortly after that, I was able to locate the 3:50 pace group. I had no specific time goal in mind, but decided to stick with them until I was no longer able to do so. I certainly had doubts about my ability to maintain a sub 9 pace for 18 more miles. Around that time, we began to get some serious weather. The skies opened up in complete deluge several times between miles 8 and 15, and steady rain in between downpours kept everyone nice and damp. The conditions were so warm that I had no worry about hypothermia, but it was simply impossible to do more than focus on the ground one foot in front of ones feet. I needed windshield wipers.

While I realized that we were passing lovely landscape (the river, the Mall, many monuments) I was just not able to take any of it in. The weather was an all consuming problem, and at one point became so extreme that the roads simply turned to rivers!!!

This was after I had passed through this area- but it is a good summary of the conditions

(I will come clean and say that this is not at all the worst conditions I have run in. That award goes (easily) to Boston 2018. This was ridiculous, but I never feared for my health. Maybe my mental health, but not my physical health.)

At mile 20, while leaping over lakes, I slowly edged ahead of the 3:50 pace group. I had no intention of scampering away from them, it just seemed to happen. I expected to see them again shortly, but my motto for the race was to "run each damn mile the way it needed to be run" and that particular mile needed to be faster. I never saw them again (although I found someone from the group at the finish- and determined that they did not start when I did, so we were basically running different timelines.)

The masses of runners from earlier in the day somewhat lessened as the race went on, but it was extremely crowded for the majority of the race. It wasn't until mile 21, around the 14th street bridge (the infamous "beat the bridge" bridge) that the streets really opened up.
Of course, as one would expect, this is also the time when my legs had had enough. Done running. Sore and stupid. I basically sucked it up (as the skies opened up YET AGAIN) and decided to keep on trudging. I really feel compelled to mention how hard it rained. Just when you would think it could not actually, possibly rain any harder: it would. That is how it went. A person could not possibly have become more soaked, with rain such as that!

The final 4 miles were dumb. Mostly because my legs had ceased to work. I saw Tyler somewhere around mile 22, and he promised to locate us with dry clothing at the finish. I also saw fellow Mainer Jaimie around this time, which was fun because it's hard to find friends in a crowd that large.

With 1.5 miles to go, the sun came out in absolute blazes and the temps absolutely skyrocketed. I said to some guy "well, this is fun. I preferred the rain." he looked at me like I had two heads.

Anywhoo. With every step feeling like torture, I ran (we use that term loosely) the final COMPLETELY UPHILL stretch and finished. 3:51:13. Quite respectable, given my lack of long runs/speedwork/training. I was quite satisfied. The only reason that I continued to run those last few miles was out of pure stubbornness, a quality that I actually find useful on a regular basis. I was in no shape for such an excursion.

Done! And now to find watermelon.... 

My main concern was how damn hot it was. Just boiling! I skipped all scenic photos and beelined for the water and shade. After a LONG walk to the where the finishers party was (on legs that were just incredibly shitty) I discovered that small tubs of watermelon were being passed out. With zero thought, I promptly ate 4. What happened next was this. Tyler located me in the throngs of people, which must have been a real chore. And (like the fun person I am) I promptly announced that I was planning on being sick soon, and needed to the care of that. He offered to take photos. I declined. I dry heaved a little and then sat sadly on a curb until I recovered.

Thankfully, things improved quickly after that little fiasco. I felt better. It was a nice day! I was sopping soggy wet. Danielle finished and fought the crowds to find us! We took selfies.

Winners!!!

Then we escaped the crowds and headed back to the hotel to take wet nap baths (as we were both departing for various locations and we had no hotel room shower....)
I was deeply offended to discover that my bad weighed considerably more than it had on the trip there. I assumed removing a significant number of throw away garments would leave me with a lighter load. I did not take into account the weight of absolutely sopping race kit and shoes. Gross.
I made it to the airport, and (annoyingly) it was a lovely day...


Despite the mess, I would say that this is the best big fall marathon I have attended. I liked the course (the puddles and white and yellow lines sure looked nice) The race was run in an organized way and transportation was pretty straightforward for a big city race. This race was less expensive to attend than Boston, or NYCM in both entry fee (it is not a major) and hotel (about half price from Chicago, for example, and so very much less than you would pay to stay in Boston or NYC.) Flying from Portland was a piece of cake, and took less than 90 minutes (we paid about $280 for tickets if I remember correctly, which was annoyingly expensive for a quick trip.)

The aftermath was pretty painful. Thankfully, no sign of my injury even thinking of making a comeback! Just days upon DAYS of being more sore that I can remember being post marathon since my first Boston (those hills get you the first time.) Considering my training, it was to be expected.

So here I am, in recovery mode, with Boston training looming on the horizon. It is too bad that this training cycle didn't come together well enough for me to claim a 2021 BQ last weekend, but I knew that would not happen. It looks like I am going to have to get after it in Boston yet again, if I want to participate in 2021.

Good things about this race:
-Pretty friendly lottery . I don't know anyone who did not get in!
-One of a kind. It is a rare day that you get to run past so many national monuments, and then be given your medal by a Marine! Very fun experience.)
-DC is a user friendly city, and shockingly quiet which none of us expected.
-Many choices for lodging, food, beers
-Many runners, you will never be lonely
-Start and finish are essentially in the same place. No point to point logistical hassle.
-solid medal. and (this year) nice shirt for participants. this seems NOT to be the case yearly (see 2018 for an example...)

I had to find proof of how bad the 2018 shirt is. BAD. This bad. 

-I imagine that if you have close ties to a Marine/are one, this would be a very moving and emotional race experience. It certainly is unique.

Bad things about this race:
-If you require frequent hydration, carry your own. There are a couple long pauses between water stations (which are otherwise excellent. also, several food stations)
-If you did not bring a cruise director (I did!) navigation to things like shuttles could take a moment to figure out. (if you don't know the city)
-big hill in final 0.1 mile. That sucks.

Training for Marine Corps Marathon: Week 16

This should be the first taper week after. long, arduous summer of training. 

Since that didn't really happen, I'm looking at a marathon in 13 days while shaking my head a bit, and saying "what the hell is THIS!?" 

That being said, things are generally fine. 

What is fine:

-My leg is 100% pain free. I am healed.

-I had a very successful 1 hour 5 minute run on Thursday, with no ill effects. 

-I clearly am not overtrained! Yay

-I have succeeded in creatively training, and making lemonade out of lemons (as one does)

What could be better:

-Well, I could be a good bit more fit.

-Like, a great great deal more fit.

Last week was another good one, with a lot more running than I have been able to do. If this marathon was in 8 weeks, or even 6, I would be cautiously optimistic. 

But it is in 13 days. SO I AM VERY OPTIMISTIC. Yes I am.

I'm optimistic that I will finish.

I am optimistic about running each mile the way it needs to be run. 

I am cheerfully optimistic about having a solid adventure.

I am certainly optimistic about running a new course in a city that I really enjoy. 

Seven years ago me would already be re-injured trying to pull off a late in the game 20 miler. Seven years ago me would also be pretty stressed out, and probably a touch negative about the way this training cycle played out. Actually, seven years ago me would be losing her shit. 

Present day me seems to have learned some lessons, both in rolling with the punches, and in being more chill. Because I have accepted where I am at. Total peace with it. 

No, it's not ideal conditions for a BQ. But, I am now healthy and have created a good fitness base for winter training. 

I am about to run a race that many seem to consider one of the best, and this is exciting! Perhaps I will be able to enjoy it a bit more, with no real possibility of speed records on the horizon. 

So, what did I do last week?

Tuesday: 

30 minute run

30 minute bike

Thursday:

1:05 run

2 hour bike

Saturday:

40 minute run

30 minute bike

Sunday:

20 minute run

20 minute bike 

Early winter recap

It was a Fall of highs and lows. 

Per the norm, I have had a lengthy blog absence but I hope to be able to regain some level of consistency from here on out. 

Quick recap, mostly in pictures. 

Reunited!

In early October my cousin Evan came back for a weekend of constant athletics.
We biked in the rain, climbed mountains, ran the Bethel trail race and spent an afternoon trail running at Bradbury. It was certainly one of the most fantastic weekends of the fall and one that ended too soon!!

Sunset on Hawk Mountain, early October

New babayyyy!

The same weekend that Evan visited, my new pony arrived! I bought him in July and he finally arrived (from Germany!) in October. He is better than anything I ever could have hoped for, and I am so incredibly excited to see what we can do together.
(and no, this is not a horse blog. but believe it or not, a horse blog is coming soon. Details TBA)

Last Bradbury outing 

Amazing weather

Eric and I enjoyed one final Bradbury day late in the season. Both of us enjoyed our dirtbag status so much this year, and I haven't enjoyed running so much in a while! Apparently, the fear of tripping and falling down a mountain is fun to me....??

Lester.....

In early November, our youngest dog became severely and suddenly ill (complete renal failure). We chose to hospitalize him for the best treatment, but it quickly became apparent that he could not be saved. Heartbroken, we brought him home for hospice care.
We had him with us for several days before we knew it was his time.
This was a really hard time for us. I have struggled to find peace with his sudden passing and have only recently been able to become more at ease with what happened.

Running away from the feelings....

Eric and I both needed time to clear our heads after his passing, and found that hitting the road for some quiet runs helped. It was tough.

Birthday hike!

A couple weeks later my birthday weekend arrived, as it seems to every year. It's nice that despite this, I never ever age.

Eric, Kate and I went off of a wintery hike, fueled by peppermint mochas and coconut lattes.  (#fueledbynomad) (and beer by Norway Brewing!)

It was a chilly day, but we went 6 miles waterfall hunting, (gnome hunting too, but you had to be there!)

Birthday beer!!

Legit

 And then winter came, or at least the daylight hours became much fewer.

SAFETY

After our trail running days came to a close, we weren't really sure what we would do for fun.
It's hard to beat running up and down mountains and drinking beers in the back of the truck afterwards....

Being the geniuses that we are in the Bradlowski household, we decided that all Saturday runs would end at the pub.

YOU GUYS. What a stroke of pure brilliance! Nothing makes a double digit run more fun than knowing that beer is waiting at the end! (and so is Lee, to pick us up!)

So that's pretty much it, in the fewest words possible.
Cheers.

Bear Bones Brewing, our current favorite.

Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon, Lumiere's Challenge 2016 part 2.

Sunday morning, after not nearly enough sleep we were up again at 3:00 for the big event of the weekend. The half marathon.

The lines to get onto the buses that would take us to the start were remarkably long. There is a huge difference in the crowd level at Port Orleans Riverside vs French Quarter. Luckily, there always seem to be abundant buses and we were on our way in less than 15 minutes. (in January, at POFQ the lines were small. no wait. spoiled, we are.)

Rather than heading over to Epcot and the delightful parking lot, we headed to ESPN Wide World of sports for a refreshing combo of parking lot and highway. Change is good.

A nice change of scenery. Road. Whoot!

Because of the bus lines, and then taking our time in the interim (porta-potty stop, catching pokemon) by the time we got to our corral we were only about 30 minutes to the start. The corrals seemed to be more relaxed than at Dopey, meaning, on marathon weekend if you showed up to a front corral late you'd be kicked out (not out of the race, but moved to a later corral.) At this race, people were loading into the corral as it started.
Since Eric was in corral B (I moved back to be with him). Running together seemed like a fun idea since we had gone our separate ways in the 10k!
"What pace are we running" I inquired. "8:30's" replied Eric. For some reason this seemed completely sensible.
Right on schedule, at 5:32 off we ran. Into the dark, dark night (see people? this is a night race!) 

The scene: Quite dark. Neither of us looks thrilled.

We actually got off to a good start. There were some miles of dark highway. So, we ran away from ESPN and banged a left on the Osceola Parkway (in my head I mix this up with the Okeechobee parkway, but whatever!)
After that, close to the 5k mark we transitioned to some fine Animal Kingdom parking lot (very little, thankfully) and then into Animal Kingdom. As much as I enjoyed running there in January I found it a bit tricky in the dark. Not terrible, but tricky. More fun than parking lots though.
There are quite a few pictures of the two of us running through AK, me looking DEAD AHEAD (because terror?) and Eric looking sad. I remember being ok at this point so our faces were not reflecting our true feelings....

#2 hahaha

Immediately after concluding our trip through, and then away from AK, a potty break was needed. I took the opportunity to take immature photos of the shitters. Someday I will grow up!

After Animal Kingdom came my favorite stretch of road ever in the history of races: Bear Island Road and the Wonderful World Of Waste Water Treatment. In true Disney fashion, there are distinct notes of Febreeze to make you think you aren't smelling noxious fumes.
Ahhhhhh. So lovely!

In reality, nobody loves that stretch of road and when you FINALLY make a right onto Floridian Way you are happy to see it.

Our pace is pretty damn steady except for the potty and water breaks.

While we were able to keep a relatively steady pace throughout the race, neither one of us was having an easy time. The combo of a brisk 10k the previous day, the humidity (high by our standards) and being just a *touch* untrained were taking a toll.

While we didn't totally throw in the towel we did take a couple water breaks. Mostly, we tried to stay positive, count down the miles and, (if you were me) you tried to avoid Eric's sprinkler system sweat (impressive!)

There was no on course congestion, it was extremely easy to proceed at a comfortable (or uncomfortable) pace without having to get creative. No off road running needed.
As we all know, I don't pay a ton of attention to character stops but my feeling is, there weren't very many. I have been to random races with more on course entertainment than this had. 

 YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THIS IS!!! All together now: "glorious PARKING LOT FINISH!!"

So yeah, despite being passed aggressively by Belle, Tink (and a sweaty Peter Pan) and a man-cat in the final mile, we finished.
We miiiiight not have won this one but we did pull off a sub 2 hour finish (1:57:19 I believe.)
Next time we are feeling a bit tired at a Disney race, we might opt out of running and become character photo people. This race, for both of us, was neither the best nor the worst. It was a solid "MEH" across the board. So maybe we need more time with the Country Bear Jamboree or what have you.

Disney does race medals RIGHT.

We got on a bus, sweatily, and cruised back to the resort (where we should have taken naps!)
The takeaway message from the many Disney race experiences we have had this year: The medals are frigging pimp. HAAAAYOUGE. The 10k medal we earned this weekend was larger than 98% of my marathon medals. The Half and Challenge medals were equally robust.
I like this kind of overkill. 

You really can't beat Disney Bling

After hastily showering and briskly preparing for the day, we were off (again..)
We had a bit of bad Disney juju at this point...
We had a 9:30 breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest (which is one of those d-bag pain in the ass reservations to get....) We gave ourselves 75 minutes to get there, and 75 minutes later had been unable to even get to the park. UGH. Any other park you can Uber too, but not the MK. Anyway, after being up for hours, running, and not eating, this was maddening.
So, we got mad and then moved on and ate a hot dog.

Magic Kingdom

A fuck ton of people

Everybody and their brother was at the MK so after a couple hours we had to peace out. *sigh*

Disney Christmas tree plus that guy with his kid

We took a moment to rest up and regroup. The problem with the 3:00am wake up calls is that it leaves you with very little gas in the tank to run on. We fully intended to spend ALL the time at Epcot for the after party and we needed to snooze a little and prep for the jugs of wine we planned to consume.

"jugs" of wine

The after party was fine, as far as I could tell. It just felt like a normal night in Epcot, at Wine and Dine plus an extra half hour of standing in line to get a wristband.
Since this was a "perk" for our race we tried to stick around for a while.
However, not much changed between "normal" hours and "party" hours. Except for some food vendors closing up for the night (bummer.)
We sampled some food and tiny wine, and enjoyed the fireworks. It was a really beautiful night and we focused on soaking in the warmth before returning home the next day.
Pro tip: skip everything at W&D and simply head to Canada for the amazing tiny steaks!! What a bargain and so delicious!!

So thus concludes the final installment (of 2016) of the Disney Race Shenanigans.
This was a good weekend and there are always plenty of wonderful moments at Disney.
For me, personally, it's probably time to move on to some other race/travel adventures for the next year. The key is variety and as seamlessly as RunDisney manages their races there are many more places to see, and to run in. (long story short: I doubt I'll ever want to run every single Disney race in one year. There are other Disney races that interest us, but they can wait!)
I wouldn't be shocked if we end up back in Disney at some point for more running. It really is the perfect place for a trip with friends and family, who might enjoy running and racing on different levels. You go out and enjoy  race or two (and a park or two!) and then relax and hang out. It would be a blast to go back with our little nieces and nephews (AND their parents...) We'll probably spend some time away from Orlando next year and then, who knows!

The aftermath....

Typical Maine October. It goes from glorious and 70, to dismal and 30 overnight.

Glorious and 70

Maybe not dismal. But definitely cold.

As planned I took a full week of rest after Hartford. Since my job keeps me so mobile I was getting plenty of active recovery. A few years in the marathon business has taught me not to eff around with the week after a big race- I have never gained anything from getting right back to the grind!

I took a short run exactly one week post race. It felt quite good. I had been pleased with how my body had recovered and despite feeling like I was catching a head cold (which never really happened) I was basically back to normal.
I headed out the following day, still feeling good.
Exactly 2 miles out I got a stabby ankle/calf/instep pain that decided to stick around. Eric and I immediately aborted the run and called my very helpful Dad to get us home. (thanks dad!)

Post aborted run. Clearly not too upset. Look at that yard, what a mess!

The next day the pain was still there so I called up my chiro for some serious help. Pain in that area is very unusual for me and I wanted to get to the bottom of it before resuming the kind of prancing that is normal for me.
This bump in the road meant that a few more "rest" days were in order but the timing was ok. The serious races are over for the year and it is important to heal!

My chiro found that a weird tight big toe tendon had caused the issue and quite a bit of painful work was done on my foot/calf which I really hated. I was declared otherwise in great shape so after another couple careful days I got back to some easy short miles.

So far, so good. It's always excellent when it's an easy fix!

In the meantime....

Eric and I are in the 10 day countdown of going BACK to Disney for a bit more racing. (more on that later.) What I'm saying is that our "quiet time" is over!!

However, we enjoyed our quiet post race weeks, we actually cooked nice dinners, kind of cleaned the house and had a bit more free time. We hung out with Andy at a friends wedding which was fun, we don't see him enough and he is NOT coming to Florida with us this time, boooo!
We made the most of the evening, even though we weren't playing Disney trivia!

Wedding time!

File this next bit under "things that don't normally happen to me"

Stride box contacted me a while back to see if they could send me a free box.
I dubiously, and honestly replied that they certainly could, but that I am not really a big fan of monthly subscription boxes.
The box was filled with the usual suspects, samples of running fuel (all caffeinated so not for me) a couple snacks (again, the caffeine- so I'll pass...) Some oatmeal which was tasty and a buff type thing.

Would I subscribe? No. This box did not change my mind.

It might be a cute gift for a new runner in your life who isn't yet sure what they like to snack on mid run, or someone who isn't familiar with runner specific brands. Since I know what I use, and what I like I really just don't need something like this, cute thought it may be.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement but hey, I'm honest.
I think "boxes" in general are a fun idea, but (for me) too expensive for the value they bring to my life. 

Stride Box contents

So that's it from here.
More soon about the upcoming Florida adventure!

Hartford Marathon training. Week 14: All done

I had hoped to find the time to knock out a weekly blog post for the past 6 weeks. Clearly that has not happened. It seems that the first thing to go when I am quite busy is the blog! That was indeed the case in this situation.

How do I condense a 14 week (YES, FOURTEEN week!!) training cycle into one blog post without turning it into a 10,000 page novel. I'm not entirely sure.
*for those of you new to the blog: know that, for me, a 14 week block of structured running is nothing short of a miracle. Previously (for Boston 2016) I managed 13 which was quite good, and I was very fit at the beginning of that 13 week period.  This one started at a lower base fitness level because June was my recovery month, where I ran 80 miles, did strength work and got rid of some minor muscular issues so that I could stay healthy all summer. I have been known to run a 9 week cycle which is indeed insane.*

So how did it go, training through the hot hot summer??
(prepare to get REALLY sick of hearing about the weather. Now that is is basically winter running seems like nbd. Just last week it was like, 86 though. Remember that..!!)

Thank heavens for Eric and his bike/portable water stop

There were many days where it was jarringly hot and/or humid. There was a stretch of time in September that certainly was cooler than the 95 degree days of July but was SO incredibly humid. I have never sweat so much! I was lucky to have Eric join me on his bike on a few of my longer/hotter excursions. Having a few extra bottles of water made my life much more enjoyable (and the company was pretty good too!)

The dark line is most certainly sweat.

There was structure to my running but flexibility as well.
My weekly goal was to have a hill workout, a speed workout, a run that was part easy and part base pace (which would progress towards MP as time marched on), a long run and a recovery run.
According to my training log I actually managed to do this. I always plan on one "slacker" week where things are allowed to go downhill but with the exception of that week I was right on track.
I am quite flexible on what days my workouts fall on, I might have a plan going into the week but with the ever changing conditions of my job flexibility is key. For me, it is never a disaster to have to swap things around. As long as it is all done at the end of the week I am happy!

I ran 114 miles in July.
193 in August.
208 in September.
*and now I quit!!*

My hardest workout was on September 7th and was HM pace 6x1 mile repeats, in absolutely brutal humidity. I made the lovely discovery on this particular day that, when you sweat like a pig no matter HOW much body glide you use your shorts will STILL chafe you until you bleed. Mmmmm.

It was a good workout, but VERY hot. And chafed.

My best workout was the Lake Auburn Half- a day where 13.1 miles at MP was remarkably comfortable, especially considering (MORE) cloying, dripping humidity.
The nice thing was, at that point in time I was extremely well adjusted to bullshit weather so it didn't cause a single problem. There was even a huge thunderstorm! It was really quite exciting.
I felt excellent throughout and the pace felt great. It was a good day.

Lake Auburn Half, 1:45 felt easy

My WORST workout was my final 20 miler. I was exhausted, I could not get my GI system to cooperate and to add insult to injury I fell down face first at mile 14 like a total spaz.
Eric came to rescue me at the end and the car promptly died.
WT actual F.
(thanks to my Dad for coming to the rescue. and then, to the car for starting right up as soon as he got there, no jump start needed. my car fears the dad wrath perhaps...)

At the beginning of this training cycle most of my long runs were pushed off to the end of the day because of the (previously mentioned....) hot weather. It is a beautiful thing to head out in 86 degrees and feel it plummet like a night on Mt Everest to a frigid 79. :-)
What REALLY is nice is finishing up around 8:30 or so and still having daylight.

8:30PM, August

My "early season" long runs were slow and (guess what!) hot. I was happy simply to struggle through them and finish. Sometimes completion is better than style....
By late August I had gained both fitness and acceptance of dying a horrible heat related death and knocked off a few totally decent longs. The days were getting shorter though....

7:15PM, early September

With the exception of the Lake Auburn race (plus extra miles) my last few long runs have been less than fantastic. Really not special at all.
(ok. looking back they weren't ALL bad but my last 2 have been downright ghastly and that's all I can remember right now!!!!)
I think the cumulative fatigue that comes at the end of a training cycle, plus 5 days of insane horse showing, plus a variety of other small issues gave me that less than fresh feeling. Add to that the inability to get my stomach to behave and there has been some genuine misery. Luckily, the misery only lasts as long as the run does because I feel fine after and am not one to mope over a bad run.
Oh, I also lost my daylight over the past 2 weeks. It's now dark all day.

Sunset: 6:20PM

So what has been good about this training cycle?
I learned to wear spandex on really hot days to avoid the bloody chafing. This is a good tip as clearly I am a newbie runner.....

I was consistent af. I chugged along and got it done. I might not regard this cycle with the reverence that I still have for my Boston training plan- which I felt was perfect- but I worked hard. (and despite my truly shitty, in so many ways, final log runs I did continue to enjoy running even through the summer quagmire.)

I tried to have a fridge full of amazing beers at all times. (I am OUT now. Hint hint beer loving friends, beer mail would be most appreciated!! (doug. jeff. I'm talking to you ;-))

Be still, my beer loving heart....

Despite my protestations about high mileage weeks in my last (long ago) blog post they happened very organically. My highest mileage week was 54 and I had 3 weeks of solid 50's and a few more in the mid/upper 40's.
I'm basically Shalane Flanagan.
(at half her speed and half her mileage but honestly, WHATEVER.)

I did not get hurt, I did not throw up, I did not quit running. (all good things to avoid.)

I got to see pretty things.
So idyllic.
Much nature. 

It really is one of my fav views though.

I hatched a metric fuck ton of pokemon eggs.
I love pokemon. If you say you don't then you are missing out!

Oh look a stupid zubat in the yard.

I also did not have to run in the dark at all and I did not see any bobcat.

In the midst of all this I also had a wonderful season of work, a successful show season for several people in my barn and (just last week) I got my own horse into the FEI arena (international level). A big accomplishment that took a lot of work and patience and which I am tremendously proud of.
I'm also beyond thrilled for my young rider student who walked away with a giant 6th place ribbon in her Regional Finals class- in a stacked division of beautiful riders on gorgeous horses! (lucky for her, she is also a beautiful rider on a glorious horse and she has a damn good work ethic which is more important than anything.)
Anyway. All of this was very good.

My fresh little FEI horse!

With 6 days remaining until Marathon day all I have to do now is chill.
I put in some good work and I am hopeful for good results, decent weather (who am I kidding?) and a cooperative stomach as I really don't want to have to run from porta-potty to porta-potty...
Fingers crossed.