Only 14 Miles to Vegas!!

Yet another week of training has flown by!  We're (un)officially into Week 6 (we didn't run yet this week, so it won't be official until tomorrow).  I can't believe how fast time is passing!  I guess between the 40+ hours per week at work and the ever-increasing number of miles we're running, plus all of the extracurricular activities, this is to be expected, but DAMN!

Last week was a pretty good running week for me.  We ran Tuesday-Wednesday-Saturday last week.  I can't remember if we "cross-trained" (read: walked) at all - it's all a blur. 

We ran our 4-mile runs before work both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tuesday I remember being so, so, SO cold during most of our run.  And I was haulin'!  I'm not sure if it was the 2 full days of rest (Sunday and Monday) before running again or if it was the fact that it was so cold at 5am, but something kicked me in the rear end and kept me moving that day.  Wednesday my left knee was really sore again, so it slowed me down a good bit.  Also, Suz and I slowed to a walk and before we knew it we had walked a quarter mile because we just kept chattering away at each other.  Oops!

Thursday was not only rest day, but it was THANKSGIVING, which could only mean one thing in this household... FOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!! 

Suzanne, Nick and I cooked a full Thanksgiving spread at our place on Thursday.  Suzanne and I were really worried about how dinner would turn out, being that it was our first time actually cooking to this extent, but EVERYTHING turned out so, so yummy!  We were actually emotional about the simple fact that we cooked dinner.  I was trying not to cry as we started eating.  It's silly, but it meant a LOT to me (us) that we managed to pull this off.  Suzanne tackled the turkey (cleaning AND cooking) and mashed potatoes, and she baked a pumpkin pie on Wednesday evening.  I took on the stuffing and the gravy, with no actual recipe, just verbal directions and a general list of ingredients/cook times from Mamaw, plus the memory of what Mamaw's stuffing and gravy should look and taste like.  I hit both spot-on.  Boo-yah.  Nick was in charge of sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls, and apple pie.  It was all perfect!!  And, of course... (Warning:  I'm about to get sappy!)...  While I couldn't be with my family or most of my friends/favorite people, it was wonderful to spend the day and share this first-time cooking experience with two of my closest friends.  *Tear*

Friday I had to work (boo), but my counterpart Scott and I agreed to skip out early and make up the hours this week, so I was home by 2pm and Suz and I hit the Scottsdale Fashion Square around 3:30pm.  While we did not actually exercise on Friday, I think it's safe to say that shopping for nearly 6 hours sufficed as cross-training for the day.  And if my body didn't get a full workout in that day, I assure you that my checking account did!  ;)

Saturday morning Nick met me at my place and we set out on the canal for our first 6-mile run.  I have to admit... it wasn't all that bad!  Except that it was COLD!  It was only 39 degrees when we set out around 9am.  Say what?!?  WE LIVE IN ARIZONA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!  This is unacceptable.  But after just a mile and a half, I was quite toasty and had to shed one of my three shirts during our first stretch break.

Since we ran northeast from my place, McDonald was the halfway point.  Once we reached it, we'd just double back to my house, and that would be exactly 6 miles. 

When we started, it seemed like it was soooo far away, but about a 1/2 mile from McDonald when I spotted the bridge over the canal, I realized that it really wasn't all that far.  When we reached McDonald, we stopped for maybe 5 minutes to stretch and strategize.  Since I don't want to hold Nick back on his training (and since he's 6'4" and has a stride length that probably doubles mine), I encouraged him to run ahead of me and meet me back at my place since I hid my key under my car.  I also challenged him to make it back before Ohio State kicked off at 10am, which gave him 28 minutes to cover 3 miles. (He made it back at exactly 10am and managed to catch kick-off!  Yay for Nick!)

For the second half of the run I was battling myself more mentally than anything.  I watched as Nick's red t-shirt became a blob, then a dot, then completely disappeared as he ran ahead of me.  But I used that as my motivation to keep pushing ahead.  I kept telling myself to keep running just in case he decided to stop and wait for me, because if he had done that, I didn't want to keep him waiting any longer than necessary.  Probably a strange way to motivate myself, but it works for me (I used the same method when we ran at the Tempe Town Lake for our 5-mile runs - pushing myself so that Beth, Steve and Nick didn't have to wait so long for me to catch up to them). 



My round trip with 2 stretch stops and minimal walking was 1:11:00.  If you shave off 5 minutes for stretch/rest/strategy stops, it works out to a 10:47 pace.  I'd like to think that my first few miles I'm pacing faster, and then the last half of my run I slow down.  Actually, I know this is the case because for the first half of the run, Nick slows his pace to run with me, but I also know that I increase my pace to try to keep up with him.  (I'm gonna start calling him Ichabod Crane because his legs are so damn long!)  Either way, knowing that I AM SLOW, I stopped for a few minutes along the way, etc., I'll take this pace!  I've never run a good mile pace.  The best I ever ran was in 12th grade when I ran an 8:24 mile. 

Speedy Gonzalez I am not. 

But I'm doing it!  I'm running the required mileage each week.  And each week it's getting easier.  I'm still nowhere close to ready to run the entire 13.1 miles, but each Saturday when we knock out another long run, I feel more and more confident that I might actually be able to do just that! 

In 5 weeks of training I have run/walked over 68 miles in 16.5 hours and burned approximately 5800 calories.  WOW!

This week we'll be running Tuesday-Wednesday with our long run on Friday (6.2 miles) after work because on Saturday morning we leave for Vegas!  My good buddy Scottie's getting married!  He and his FABULOUS fiancee Maresa are getting married in a run-thru wedding during the P.F.Chang's Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon!!  I'm so excited to share their special day with them, and the fact that they're running similar race as we are, it's given Maresa and me even more to talk about and bond over!  I love her already and am SO excited to finally meet her in person!! 

So, in a sense... Only 14 miles to Vegas!!