Marathon Countdown

The Edinburgh Marathon is two weeks from yesterday (13 days away), and I am starting to get excited! It helped a lot to get my last long run, a 20-miler, out of the way this past Thursday. My training had been slightly derailed by all the craziness of April, and I had a couple bad runs trying to get back into it, so I was a little stressed that I wasn't going to be ready in time. I went out on Thursday with a goal of making it to at least 17 miles, since my previous long run had been 14. It was a great day to run - the weather was perfect (just a little windy), and my new mp3 player had arrived in the mail (thanks Mom!) the day before, so I was thrilled to have my music back, and I knew the daylight would hold out until at least 9pm.

I left my house at 5:30pm, and by the time I got to the point I could have turned around to finish at 17 miles, I decided everything was still feeling good enough to go 20... so I went for it, knowing I would feel a lot more confident going into the marathon if I hit the big 2-0. And I did it! It was a bit slower than I had hoped, but that's not a huge concern for me at this point. My legs completely gave out afterwards... I literally had to take a bath that night because they couldn't stand up long enough to take a shower! As I was sitting there contemplating whether my legs had ever hurt that much before, it occurred to me that this was the first time in my life I had ever RUN 20 miles. The longest I ran before Big Sur last year was 17, and in the marathon it was so mountainous I had to walk on some of the uphills as early as the halfway point. So the 20-miler was a milestone for me! :)

Saturday was a fun day, Jose hosted a Cinco de Mayo party at his house and I learned how to make real Mexican tamales! It was fun to hang out with people from the weather flight again, and there was a lot of great food. This coming weekend should be a good one too - On Saturday morning, there is a 5K and 10K race on base, which I am hoping to convince a number of people to run with me. Then Saturday night is CeCe's going-away dinner... sad that she is leaving, but looking forward to a night out with friends at one of my favorite restaurants in Bury St Edmunds. That's about all for now, otherwise just enjoying the beautiful scenery of spring in England and making fun plans for summer!