A Perfect Weekend

...despite my little surgery stuff.

Yesterday I rested, and definitely felt the effects of the surgery. I took another long nap, and then took Bug to see the ducks and the Lake with Matt.

Happy Bug.

"Duck!"--Jackson Bug

Coach Emily said I was to run "12 miles about 30 seconds slower than race pace." Two weeks from today is the big show. I was a little nervous after my run last weekend when I wanted to barf from my 4 miles at race pace, but I set out anyway. Matt went mountain biking in the morning so Bug and Mugsy and I had a nice long walk, followed by pushing around a plastic-bubble-making-lawn-mower around the yard. When Matt got home, it was his Bug Time and my time to run.

And it just clicked today.

It was tough at the end, but mostly because it was warming up a bit and I ran out of fluids. I went through 30 ounces and 1 gel during the run--and I could have used at least 6 ounces more so I could have one more gel at the end. But I held my pace and even ran the last one at 8:15.

12 miles. Average pace of 8:20. Pretty evenly split with even a little negative split.

So, one more mile and that would have had me at a PR for a half marathon today. But I focused on good nutrition and stretching, because today is not the day. Today is the last long training run. The day will be in 2 weeks, when I go as close to 8 minute miles as I can for 13.1 miles. Which is risky, but I just have a good feeling about it. It's going to be a good day.

For the rest of my Sunday, I grilled chicken with cranberry-orange sauce, baked potatoes, and made a nice salad. And then Bug, Matt, and I went to play at the park.


I forgot all about the fact that my stitched-up, gaping-wound-filled hair looks like Ethan Hawke's in Before Sunrise. And that this week is going to be INSANE in the MEMBRANE with the AP test Friday. I just got to listen to my little boy giggle on the swings, and it was allllllll good.



So in the words of the great Ice Cube, "I gotta say it was a good day."

I always wondered what I'd look like with blue highlights

So I had surgery today.

Yuck.

See, I've had these stupid lumps on my head forever...but they were getting bigger, so I had to have them removed. Not really a big deal, but still scary for me who has total "white coat" syndrome. Do you know how much fun it is to listen to the sound of incisions being made in your head, and then feeling the sewing of the BRIGHT BLUE stitches in your scalp?

Let me give you a hint. It's about as much fun as it was when I was awake and had to listen to the sound of my wisdom teeth being yanked out of my head. SQUISHHHHHHHHHHH.

In other words...FANTASTIC!

All kidding aside, it's over now and I'm lucky that nothing is serious. On a comical note, as I was in the recovery room, the nurse said to me, "Well, you must be a swimmer or runner or something." I replied that I was kind of all of the above (although swimming is questionable these days, until someone installs a pool in my basement), to which he replied that my heart rate never rose above 49 during the procedure and my oxygen was "at 100%. the whole time." Whatever that means. I know it's good, though, so that's pretty cool.

Training has been going well. I did a nice hour fartlek run on the dreadmill last night while watching Lost and The Office with Matt. Today I'm off, and tomorrow I probably will be, too, since I can't wash my hair until late tomorrow. I look pretty hawt right now, too. So I'm hoping to squeeze in a 12 mile run at :30 above race pace (so I'm looking at 8:30s) on Sunday evening. I think I'm going to have to dreadmill that, too, just so I'm not far from home in case anything should go wrong with the blue highlights. I'd rather do it on my own outside to practice pacing, but I gotta do what I gotta do. No sense being 4 miles from home with a bloody head, you know? The doc said I'd be fine to run this weekend, but I would just feel better near my house.

(Call me a pansy if you must.)

I'm getting psyched for the race. For several reasons, this may be my last aggressive goal for a little while. If you know me, then you know why. So I'm really looking forward to pushing it extra hard. Blowups be damned. "Well-behaved women seldom make history," no?

For now, I'm off to start a new trend...I hear blue plastic highlights are SO 2009.