Just Plodding Along

Settle in. This recap is a long one. Where to even begin? Relays almost feel like a wedding. You spend months preparing and thinking about it, getting the right outfits, finding transportation, travel arrangements, lodging and then in a flash it is over and you are left exhausted with a vague memory of awkward dancing that may have occurred around 3 a.m. without alcohol as an excuse.   On Thursday I headed to Portland to meet my Hood to Coast team- Hey, Wait for Me! After getting delayed in Las Vegas due to a late flight arriving, a missing air stewardess, the wrong paperwork and a storm (seriously I am not sure anything else could have gone wrong) and much panicking on my part wondering what would happen if I couldn't get there I finally arrived to be greeted by my friend Katie with my own personalized sign. Fancy! We even had enough time to hit up the Portland Running Company pre-team dinner so I could hand over all my money in exchange for much needed long sleeve swa...

Last weeks training: 8/11 to 8/17 Mon: 1 mile warm-up and 4 miles with the goal of 9 minute miles. Turned into a 9 and a 9 and a 9:13 and a 9:20. Lifted weights Tues: 7 miles of hills and trails. When I first moved here I was not excited about the desert but running out here is actually kind of awesome. Wed: Lifted weights, Pilates and 30 minute swim Thurs: 4 miles on the treadmill and Pilates Fri: 6 miles of hills and trails. Sat: Nada Sunday: 45 minutes of spinning, lower body: squats and lunges I almost ran more miles last week than I ran the entire month of July. That is kind of fun to see! My main focus has been getting fitness back for the relays coming up. At first I thought my relay legs for Hood to Coast were gonna be super hard but looking more closely I have some of the easier legs overall. Whoop! Well except for my middle leg which is a lot of climbing but I am hopeful all the hills I have been running will help with that.  I am getting supe...

The range of emotions when I finally realized that my second leg of Hood to Coast is like 750 feet of elevation climb in 5.75 miles.... And that they recommend wearing a bandanna due to dust..... So I better get on training for that.....

Look where I was this morning That's right! 6am body pump for the win. Unfortunately my arms would not stop shaking after (may have gone a little too heavy) and that coupled with being short on time before work- I have postponed my tempo run until tomorrow morning. Arms seem vital to trying to maintain an 8:35 pace for 35 minutes.  Speaking of running (when am I not speaking of running) some exciting news on the relay home front. My friend Katie in Alaska has a team going to Hood to Coast and asked if I would be interested in joining them for a little running fun. After I got done screaming while jumping up and down I calmly replied I might be into that. Just kidding. I am pretty sure I used all caps and a criminal amount of emoticons to say Please Yes Please can I tag along! Fingers crossed August 22 & 23rd I am hanging out with an awesome team making my way to the coast!!! Katie you rock!!!! An if it couldn't get any better Stacey, a friend from high school, a...