ONE Month Til The Chicago Marathon!

Happy Friday the 13th!  My unlucky happening of the day so far is that I missed the train by about 1.6 seconds.  But the next one came almost right away AND I got a seat, so I think that's pretty lucky.

And then I got to work and my director had made these for everyone:

I'm not sure whether is was a cupcake or a muffin, but I'm gonna go ahead and call it a muffin since I ate it at 8:30am.  A muffin with frosting.  And coffee in my UD Alumni mug, per usual.  Sometimes I wake up in the morning and declare that it's going to be a healthy eating day (actually I say that every day), and then things like this happen and I decide it's OK because it's Friday and I'm running 20 miles this weekend.  I need to really work on my nutrition though.

Even more important than it being Friday the 13th - Happy 1 Month til the Chicago Marathon!!

This morning, I texted about 10 people I know running the marathon with a reminder that we are 1 month away.  The responses I received were all over the board.

Most Excited goes to Angela: "OMG I can't believe it!!  Happy Friday!  I hope it's a good one!"
Least Excited goes to Mac: "ugh don't remind me"
Favorite Response: Marisa sent a bunch of the unhappy/nervous looking emojis.

I'd say the general feeling is one of nervousness and being under-trained.  Does anyone actually ever feel prepared for a marathon?  I would think not because how can you ever feel ready for something like that?  I am definitely excited for it, but also nervous that something will go wrong.

The weather today would be absolute perfection for the marathon.

I did another 7 mile run last night in the exact same time as I did my run the night before.  It wasn't my intention to go any faster than 8 minute pace and I wanted to do 10 miles.

After a mile on lakefront path, looked down at the Garmin and was surprised by how fast I was going without even thinking that I had picked up the pace.  I was feeling good so I decided to go with it.  But then, at 3.5 miles, I turned back around to head north and right away I could tell why it was so easy heading south and that it was NOT going to be easy getting back north.  Such strong wind.

8:04, 7:24, 7:22, 7:35, 7:47, 8:03, 8:02

So despite the times being slower when I came back north, I'm pretty sure it was a consistent effort the whole run.  I'm also glad I did not get blown away into the lake.

I stopped to take some pictures because it looked really cool.  One wave came up and drenched my legs all the way up to my shorts.  So the remainder of the run was in soaking wet shoes and socks.  When I started, I thought about how wonderful fall weather is for running.  But then that wind really killed my excitement for fall.

Are you having a particularly lucky or unlucky day today?

How do you know if you are ready for a marathon?  Or any race?

A Nice Sunday Morning Run and This Week's Training

I met Mac this morning at the Elk Grove Forest Preserve to run the 7.7 mile loop.  It was a great conversational run - I learned a bit about Mac's ranch days in Montana which involved some elk hunting (legal elk hunting, of course).  We ran the entire loop without any regard to how fast we were going or our pace.  We estimated the first half was about 8 minute pace and then we picked it up to a faster pace for the last few miles.  There was less talking and more heavy breathing during that last mile! I could not wait to get home and make some breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes.

I had more than just that little one...but I had to eat it while it was hot and the next one was on the skillet so I snapped a quick pic and then dug in.

It was such perfect fall-like weather again today.  It's terrible as far as summer weather goes, but it's absolutely perfect for running.  If the marathon day could be weather just like this - about 60 degrees, partly sunny - I would be a happy camper.  Or runner.  I think ideal marathon conditions would actually be about 45-55 degrees, but I would take 60 degrees too.  Unfortunately, we won't know what the race-day conditions will be like until 11 weeks from now.

Recap of Week 7 of training:

Monday - 7 miles normal
Tuesday - Track Workout - 3.25 miles total
Wednesday - REST
Thursday - ran about 2 miles, then walked an hour w/ Catherine
Friday - REST
Saturday - 16 miles
Sunday - 7.7 miles w/ Mac
Total Weekly Mileage - 36

So now here we go into a plan for Week 8:

Monday - cross train
Tuesday - track workout
Wednesday - 6 miles
Thursday - cross train
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 18 miles
Sunday - REST

I decided that I'll use tomorrow as a cross training day since I had 2 good runs this weekend and I really want to get in some biking!  I still never did a fartlek like I said I was going to do last week, so maybe I will try to make Wednesday or Friday into one.  I'm getting a little nervous for the higher long run mileage now since I haven't done these long of runs in about 2 years.  But having Angela to run with this weekend and then my training group should hopefully help me out and keep me going strong.

What is your favorite thing to eat after a run or workout?