Checking in: And Killing It

Okay, so yeah, there goes another month and OMG DIDN'T I JUST SAY THAT I WASN'T GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN.

Yeah.  I'm sorry. Bad blogger! Bad!

Anyway, I am between bathtime and birthday party pickup time and almost-House-Of-Cards time (which is after bedtime) that is also combined with Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream Time and here I am.  Standing in the kitchen, ready to give you an update.

Because this is how I roll lately, people.

School = awesome yet crazy.  Less than 80 days until the AP U.S. History test.  As usual, I am pretty sure I am more worried about it than them, which is saying a lot because they are actually legitimately worried.  But I just want them to DO! SO! WELL! and the weather has definitely set us back a bit--to the tune of almost two weeks.  So playing catch up right about now!

Running has been going amazing.  First, I ran a trail half marathon where I goofed around the first 8 miles and ate lots of grilled cheese and M&Ms at the aid station (standard) and it was a blizzard and I took about 804,402 pictures. 

It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  We pretty much ran in a snow globe.

Kim, Lori, Lucia, and I at the start

A motion selfie

Another moving selfie

Lori, the human snowman, eating a delicious grilled cheese

 Then, the last 5 miles I dropped the hammer and kicked it.  And then, the next day, I thought I was injured!  Nooooooooo.  The very beginnings of plantar fasciitis, which sucked because it was my fault.  I wore my trail shoes which, no joke, still had mud on them from last year's race.  So that tells you about how many times I ran trails in the past 12 months, right?  And I bombed all the downhills.  I mean, HAULED.  It was so fun.  But I paid for it/am still kind of paying for it, so I am just trying to be really careful.

Two weeks ago it was actually sunny--yay!--but I was actually almost injured, so I backed off and ran an hour on the local high school track.  Super boring, but whatever.  Got the job done, felt great, and I kicked ass, so that was good.

Just me on the track, for like, a REALLY long time

Katie and Ana are injured--boo--but this has had me running with some newer peeps, who are equally as awesome.  Mandie, Amanda, Shannon, Jackie, and Jen have been crazy enough nice enough to join me for some killer runs the past two weeks.  Last weekend we ran 18 miles and negative split it, and I felt really, really good.

This weekend we met up again and dealt with a TON of black ice/sleet (PLEASE WINTER. GO HOME.) and snow in our faces, but we did this:

12 miles at an average of around 8:55 (pretty awesome considering the sleet and black ice had us literally ice skating in parts)

Then, it went like this:

Mile 13 8:05
Mile 14 7:51
Mile 15 7:45
Mile 16 7:38
Mile 16.01 = felt a little pukey.

That workout was similar to one I did in the buildup for Columbus.  Back then, it literally made me cry.  This time? I SLAUGHTERED IT.  It was amazing.  I felt like I could move mountains.

We finished out miles 16-20.67 (yes, an extra 0.67 DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED WE WERE ALL SO MAD) at an average of around 8:55 again, which is pretty impressive considering we were basically running like grannies during mile 17.  Average for 20.67 miles = 8:43/mile.

So you know what?  Provided I do not get injured, I'm feeling like I can call my shot here for Athens.
People, I think I just might do this thing.  

So I'm going to hang on for this crazy ride for the next 4 weeks.  I'm sure I'll have a rotten run here soon just to put me in my place, which is a good thing.  All marathoners need to be reminded every once in a while that we are not invincible.

But right now?  It feels good to know that I'm running stronger than I ever have in my entire life.