Bump of a Training Week, 22 Miler, and Gratitude

Honestly, this was a hard week for me.  In so many ways.  It was one of those bumps in training that had me feeling pretty lousy until today.  I started the week with the flu right after a 30k race/training run with the last 13ish miles @ around marathon pace.  Not only was my body tired from the harder long run, but I was sicker than I have been in a long long time.  Lucky for me, my husband stayed home from work on Monday to help take care of me and our sick kids.  This was a HUGE help.  


On top of being sick, it was THAT week.  You know, the one right before your period where all your energy is zapped, you want to eat nothing but junk, and you feel like crying at the drop of a hat or snapping at everyone for saying the WRONG thing, looking at you the WRONG way, or for just being in the room at the WRONG time.  


Let's just say that fitting in my planned workouts this week was HARD. I ended up with 67 miles out of the 70 that I was supposed to get in so I feel pretty good about that..considering.  I found myself barely plodding through every run and feeling an overwhelming amount of fatigue. I did manage to fit in one decent threshold workout.  Although it wasn't what I had planned and didn't go down in the books as a "great" workout by any stretch, it did get done and I'm stronger for it.  


22 Miler is in the books baby!
I'm normally one who doesn't mind running alone.  In fact, I've always enjoyed it more than running with a partner (other than my husband).  However, lately I've realized more and more what a blessing it is to have found a friend and compatible running partner in my friend Nicole.  We don't run together often but when we do, I often leave feeling charged and challenged.  I was so very grateful that Nicole was able to run with me today so that I didn't have to plod through 22 miles on my own.  After this week, my spirits were pretty low when it came to running and I was just feeling an overall BLAH. Usually, I'm a pretty positive person but there are just those times when you need a friend who will listen to your "Blahs", doubts, and "ho hums" without judging or getting sick of you.  This was one of those runs where Nicole just let me process for the first few miles.  She listened and let me know she understood.  That's all I needed.  Thankful for this today. I'm glad that we can be there for each other in this way.  Our 22 miles together left me feeling recharged, motivated and EXCITED to finish this Boston training STRONG.  She even managed to get me kind of excited about racing a 10k next weekend. 


22 miles.  Easy pace. 8:06 average.  First mile 8:47 pace. Last three miles for me were : 7:38, 7:29, 7:25.  The cool thing was that I felt like I could have kept going for at least 4 more miles at this 7:25 pace.  This is a good feeling to have after a 67 mile week and recovering from being sick.  


Thankful
So much to be thankful for:

• A husband that picked up the slack BIG TIME this week.  He cooked all week, was so nice about me taking off for a three hour run with my friend after church today, and he didn't complain at all.  
• Some really supportive and wonderful running girlfriends who have been there for me every step of the way through this training.  To encourage, advise, tell me like it is, love me and believe in me more than I do myself sometimes.  
• Some beautiful spring weather this week.  
• My mom...so proud of her.  

• My mom coming over to lead my kids through a painting on canvas experience.  So neat.  I've always wanted to have my walls filled with art from my kids over the years and I really wanted to have something of theirs on canvas but didn't know where to start.  

I think it is really funny how my son's abstract ended up looking like an angry bull.  Fitting.  He isn't angry but he sure is like a wild bull in a china cabinet sometimes.  

• Feeling strong and healthy. 
• It is my husband's 33rd birthday this week and my daughter's 5th! Yes, it is a busy week with planning for 9 five year olds to come over to my house for a party and getting family together for my husband but I love celebrating birthdays!   
• A day off of running tomorrow and an open day to spend with my two younger kids.  These days are precious and I savor them so very much.
• Boston is in 5 weeks!   

Amanda