Build It and it WILL Come

I texted Lori last night and asked her when the hell 20 miles wasn’t going to suck so bad..unfortunately…she didn’t really have an answer….just a little commiserating…yeah it sucks kinda thing. Oh well. I keep thinking its going to get easier and I know it will…and I’m half sorry I didn’t top off with the 20 one time like so many plans and be done with it…because then I’d have never really known till race day how much harder that last 6 was going to be!



This run was not awesome for a number of reasons. For starters…I wasn’t planning on doing the whole 20 when I left…actually it was supposed to be 22…but that’s not really the point anymore. You see…the kids ended up not having school yesterday due to the grownup temper tantrum that the Unified employees are having….so I was going to cut the run down to 15 miles so I could get back to them. And since the run was only going to be the 15 miles…I started and continued to run faster then I would have if I had planned on the whole 20. The decision to tack another 5 on the end came around mile 12 when I was near my friend Dawns and I knew I could get more food and a bathroom break. This run was also not awesome because it ended on the path near my house…and due to the fact that we had a HUGE melting session this week…a big ass section was underwater…and there was no getting around it…there was only going through in my brand new shoes…duh. And again…much like last time…the only part of me that felt bad was below the knees. And as I sat in an ice bath afterword…..nursing my protein coffee and wondering aloud how the hell I was ever going to run 26.2 when the 20 was kicking my ass……my almost 15 year old put it all in perspective by saying ‘you just have to get used to it Mama’. Leave it to my child to remind me to have patience…endure...struggle though. Build it and it will come. And it reminded me…of how bad 13 used to feel while training for my half…and how now…13 is a sweet spot…a regular walk in the park. The thought of 13 miles doesn’t scare me…or hurt me to do…it doesn’t even bother me anymore. So I just have to focus…keep my eye on the prize…and keep doing that 20 till it doesn’t scare me..or hurt me to do....or even bother me anymore. If I can make that happen with other miles…I can do that with 20. I just hope I can do it in enough time to make that 20 into 22 or 24 before having to knock out that 26.2 on race day.


And next week…ahhh next week…is a stepback week…with my long run only 8 miles. Today I had a cross training date with Billy Blanks that I was able to do before the kids got home. An easy..or as easy as any of his workouts are…45 minute session with a 10 minute stretch on the end…felt incredible. I’m still sore today but not horribly so. Tomorrow is 3 to 5 easy followed by 6 or so on Sunday. Depending on how I feel I may flip flop those.


So that’s my week in a nutshell. Skip and Dom are at Skips bowling league…yeah..I’m married to that dude. V is over at his friends house to be picked by grandma in the morning because I gave him away for slave labor for the weekend. And me? I have no real plans outside of running..which sounds just about perfect.