Ragging Road Rage Run and Monkey Privates

Random:

• Just got home from the most boring 9 mile run ever. Perhaps it was boring because it was so late and there weren't many interesting people to scope out.  And it was on a treadmill.  Enough said.
•  I gained 4-5 pounds just from eating like a horse and being on my period the past few days.  Always makes me feel great to get on the scale and see that that I'm putting on the pounds to go along with my bitchy mood.  I'm thinking the several pounds of red velvet and white cake that I've been grazing on over the past few days might have something to do with it.  Yay for leftover birthday cake! 
•  I'm loving the 7 comments I got on my last mommy post.  I'm realizing more and more that most my readers/followers are more interested in running related posts.  Now really the low comment count could also be due to the fact that I've been the WORST blog reader in the world the past several weeks and people have probably written me off their blog reading role.  I still read, I've just been at a loss for words (imagine that Chris) and haven't wanted to resort to comments like "great post" or "awesome!".
• My 4 year old daughter kept asking me yesterday what Monkey privates look like.  I told her that they probably look quite a bit like our privates.  She said something along the lines of "Well, next time we go to the bookstore, we can look up Monkey privates in a book and then we will know!"  Tomorrow we will go to the zoo and check out the monkeys!  
• I thought about introducing her to Google images but when I googled "Monkey Privates" I came up with a selection of photos that wouldn't be appropriate for a four year old.  I've gotten some great responses to this on facebook...one of my friends (not naming names) even sent me a great google image photo that she found while googling monkey privates.  Loved it!

Running:

• I hope to get 50-60 miles in this week but I find myself really excited to be done with marathon training and just be running for fitness and fun.  Hoping for a relaxed and fun summer!  I do love training for something but it takes a lot of time and there are some evenings that I just want to have a glass of wine with my husband over dinner and relax without heading out the door to the gym and missing out on family time.  But this is important to me right now and as long as it keeps being fun then I'll keep doing it!
• Sunday was a 13.1 progression run.  It was supposed to be 14 but I cut it short.  It ended up being an interesting run.  The pros:  My husband and I got to run together.  The cons:  I had just started my period, I had stomach cramps, it was windy, we were running in a really crappy area with way too much traffic, few sidewalks, lots of stop lights, big hills, lots of turns and I felt like the biggest Bitch in the world!  It was like running with Road Rage and being on the Rag (do people still use that term?) didn't help. Everything was pissing me off...the people in their cars, the stop lights,  the rain and wind...my poor husband.  But we decided to run close to where our kids were since we didn't want to add travel time on top of our running time.
• Progression run was supposed to be first 7 miles at base pace and then gradually increase speed until last mile is run at half marathon pace.  My goal was to run the second half of the run at lower 7's with the last mile at 7 or 6:50ish.  Considering the elements and how I felt, I'm satisfied with the run.  Here's the stats for all those who care and for my own reflection:

13.1 miles in 1:42.54

8:29

8:29

8:05

7:53

8:08

8:03

8:09

7:38

7:44

7:29

7:30

7:25

7:11

The rest of my week looks like:

Tonight: 9 miles@base pace and drills

Wed:  1.5 mile warm up; 5 x 1k intervals @ 5k pace w/3 min active recoveries; 1.5 mile cool down

Thurs: 4-8 miles recovery/base pace

Fri:  Tempo.  1.5 mile warm up; 4.5 miles @10k pace; 1.5 mile cool down  Cocktail party to go to that night!  Woot Woot!  I have an excuse to get all dolled up!

Sat: 4-8 miles @recovery/base pace

Sunday:  16-18 miles @ base pace

Running goal:  To stay focused and Have fun with it!  I'm not a professional runner so running shouldn't turn into a job.  Yes, I should work hard but I need to have fun with it too!

Personal Goal:  Continue to Relax this week (spring break)...read a good and light novel, let the house be messy, and ENJOY my children! Hug them, love them,  and take them to do things that are out of the ordinary routine!

Amanda