This week just blew by. Honestly, I barely remember it as I’m going back picking out the pictures I was thinking ‘was that even this week’. This week in July is a busy week every year because not only is it my birthday it’s my little sister’s too. That fact led to us considering it birthday week in our teen years which is a tradition I held onto into my now later 30’s with an iron grip. After all celebrating my continuing existence is a multi day affair. Add work and a boat day into that and well it was a busy week. Actually this week I felt a little under the gun because I was trying to finish up continuing work for a group of people and then get onto a new customer’s place. Of course everyone had new ideas for projects which is great but I didn’t make it to the new place until Monday… which was cool.
Tuesday 6.5k: This week it threatened to rain or actually rained pretty much everyday. So the humidity was very high and fitting in all the work was going to be tough. My work truck had to go in for an extensive estimate process so I ran while that was all going on. Confession time the shop is near to my race day turn around point and I had the opportunity to cover that ground again but… Knowing that it was hella hilly I went the other way, which was pretty hilly too. So much for the easy route! It was still well before noon and the sun wasn’t out yet so conditions weren’t terrible and it was an okay run. When I got back Chris (the truck) was ready and the damage wasn’t going to be too bad! Last week and this week I’ve noticed that I’m in general getting slower. It’s really common in training to reach that point. At least it always happens to me. Actually I have a science of post on that coming up so give a follow if you want to know more!
Wednesday 6.5k: Kudos to me I got up and got this one done before work and some potential rain hours late in the day. Even though it wasn’t raining it was 98% humidity and 18C. I did my tried and true running route and took what I swear was some decent running pictures in a very pretty spot. However I’ve been finding my camera has a hard time focusing with all that water in the air. So you must look past the blur. This run was fine if a bit slow. I was a little later than I’d like getting out the door for work even though I got up and ‘got ready’ in time to run. If runs are much longer than this one the morning might just not be a viable option to run. All in all it was good and by the evening she was a little wet so the lost sleep was worth it.
Saturday 19.5k: Friday I got rained out at about 2 and I really did mean to go back to work or at least get my run in but it quickly turned into 2 hour nap time. I had been saying to honey that I probably have to skip a run soon because I was just dragging on my runs for over a week so If that Friday run goes by the wayside then so be it. You never know though I might make it up on Monday. I am starting to notice that the tank is starting to empty and that has me thinking long and hard about my original plan to squeeze in an extra 20 miler. Maybe it’s best to just do the one and think that the 18 miler two weeks before isn’t really all that different. Basically though I have to make a final decision on that this coming week.
With full birthday festivities later in the weekend I actually got up early on Saturday morning. It’s almost like as training gets more intense I have no choice but to do what I originally set out to do! I was actually ready to hit the pavement a little earlier but it was still a bit chilly for one outfit being the right outfit so I hung back for about an hour. For the first time in over a week the humidity was down, it was only warmish and I felt really strong. When I’ve trained for halfs in the past this is where I start thinking that a full might be a good idea. It’s crazy that I can really struggle with the shorter runs in the teens and then for the most part feel strong after these almost 1/2 length long runs. Which is to say it went well. PS notice the coast guard just hanging out in the background.
Monday 6.5k (birthday run): Disclaimer alerts! I actually did 6k, I picked a ton of mushrooms along the way so I walked quite a bit. Little known fact about me I like to forage for mushrooms in my spare time. Which means I accidentally found some chantretrells while I was re-tieing my sneakers a few years ago and now I go back and pick them. I wanted to pick some today so I headed out on my regular route the opposite way and found a new stand of mushrooms. It was like a present from mother nature! Plus I got to wear my new nike trail running gear that honey got me. It was slow but I got about three pounds of mushrooms for lots of yummy risottos!
Confession time I decided to include Mondays run in last week’s training but that probably means I’ll be skipping one in week 10. Which by the way how crazy is that next week is week 10! I’m almost halfway there! I would say it’s all down hill from here but that’s not really true is it? Instead I’ll just think I’m closer to the finish than the start. You can check out the plan I’m using here. If you want a sneak peak of my training follow me on instagram! Are you training for a marathon this year? How is your training going so far? Leave it in the comments below!
Sweat Sweetly 
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