You can tell by the title that I did not run my best race ever this past weekend.  I will get into that in a little bit, but I wanted to share some stories about Alabama first.

Alabama

We had an easy, four-hour drive to Talladega, Alabama.  When we got off the exit, I could not believe how different this place was from anywhere I have been before.  I have never in my life been somewhere so rural before!  I live in the suburbs and its only natural to have restaurants and movie theaters everywhere.  Well, the only places to eat in Talladega were Shoney’s, Country Buffet, City Buffet, The Golden Eagle….all buffets with foods I wouldn’t recommend eating the night before a race.  There was a movie theater that looked like a large trailer that showed three movies a day, none that we wanted to see.  However, we counted six Baptist churches, two John Deere warehouses (right across the street from each other, but two separate businesses) a few tractor supply stores,

and Wal-mart. I can’t forget the best place to get your donuts…

So needless to see we were in the middle of nowhere.  But then there is this:

The race track is absolutely enormous.  One lap around the track is about three miles long.  There is tons of room on the infield for spectators to camp out and park their RVs during the racing events.  The stadium seats 175,000 people.  I know nothing about car racing, but this was really cool to see up close.

We picked up my packet and laid around our hotel since there was nothing else to do.  We went out to the nearest Italian restaurant, Olive Garden, 35 minutes from our place.  We had a yummy dinner of salad, bread sticks, and pasta, stuff I have gotten in the past many times.

We walked around a couple of stores and Jordan found a pair of pajamas that looked really nice on him.

So all night I had some stomach pains that I tried to ignore and before I knew it, it was race day morning.

OUCH.

Every time I walked around for more than a minute or two, I got the absolute worst pains in my stomach.  It felt like someone was digging a knife into my stomach and it hurt so bad I had to bend over and stop walking.  This continued all morning….along with visits to the restroom every few minutes….sorry.

I warmed up for the race, feeling very dehydrated from the morning’s activities.  My legs felt great, however.  I was wondering how I was going to race if I had to double over and take a break every few minutes walking to the start…I decided to hope for the best and get excited to race.  Some pre-race pictures:

Bill Rodger spoke before the race and he walked right by me!  I was pretty excited about that.

The gun went off and I was feeling pretty great.  I was averaging 6:45 pace, which is just a few seconds faster than my PR pace.  My legs were feeling good, and I worked my way up to third place.

Mile two the cramping started and I tried so hard to not worry about it.  At mile 4 the pain was honestly unbearable and I stopped a few times to visit the restroom.  I started up again feeling even more dehydrated and very lightheaded.  I couldn’t stand straight up because the cramping was bad again.  At this point I realized I could either shuffle through the next 9 miles, or drop out.  I decided I could not put my self through the stomach cramping (I just wanted to lay down flat on my back) and not have to worry about finding all the restrooms along the course.  It was a miserable 2.5 miles of a jog to find Jordan at mile 6.5 and call it a day.

It really was disappointing to drop out of a race, but I realize runners, even elite athletes that are getting paid to race, do it all the time.  I could have ‘sucked it up’ and shuffled through the last half of the race, but I wouldn’t be proving anything to myself other than, yes you can run 9 minute pace for  9 miles, and I was worried about my health at that point.

The friendly people of Talladega took me back to our car on a golf cart so I could get the heck out of there sooner. I was so relieved to lay down in the car.  We left and went to McDonalds, where Jordan got breakfast and I started hydrating with a mix of Powerade and some Sprite.  The rest of the day, I was as sick as a dog!  I was so relieved to finally be home, and I was able to eat some soup for dinner.

I looked up my symptoms on the internet (so obviously I can diagnose myself now) and it seemed that I had all the symptoms of food poisoning.  I have no idea where I got it from (if my internet diagnoses is correct) but I don’t really care.

I’m bummed this trip to Alabama results in a DNF, but I’m not dwelling on it.  I have a 10k coming up soon and I’m hoping to redeem myself there and move on.

So, if you have had food poisoning before, do you think that’s what I had?  I kinda hope so, because I’m not sure what else could explain those horrible abdominal pains!  Thanks for reading!

I’m sorry if you have been dissapointed that I did not post the past two week’s ‘training recaps’ lately.  I know they are so exciting to read….they aren’t much fun to write, either, but I like to write out what I’ve been up to running wise so I can read about my blogging friend’s workouts and not feel as creepy.

I have been “under the weather” starting early Labor Day weekend (9/1) and finally started feeling better last Saturday (9/8).  My chest was tight, I was sneezy and tired, and my legs were dead.  Unfortunately, I had to relax my running a little bit.  I’m good with pushing myself when I need to push, but I try not to be an idiot and make myself sicker.

Week 4 I ran a total of 52.5 miles, with two decent runs earlier in the week before I started feeling poopy.  I had a 12 mile medium long run on a Tuesday that I did on the treadmill.  The first 6 miles I ran 8:00 pace, then dropped down every two miles, so that the last 2 were at 7:41 pace.  Thats not super speedy, but its mentally challenging for me to do any sort of faster pace run on the treadmill.  I need tips on that!

Thursday I did 5×1 mile repeats on the road, which is best described as a course with ‘rolling hills’.  I was happy with this workout.  My splits were: 6:30, 6:30, 6:31, 6:31, 6:34.  I was tired and gagging at the end of the last interval…it was pretty steamy out that morning.

I lifted two times that week, skipped yoga because I was lazy, and skipped the long run because I was sick/fatigued.

Week 5 I entered the week feeling under the weather, with a goal to complete my first 20 mile run of the season.  For me, doing five 20-22 mile runs are the most important part of my marathon training.  They are hard and take a lot out of me but I feel that if I do 5 of these runs, and finish at a fast pace feeling strong, I build a lot of fitness and endurance for the big 26.2.

I did no workouts last week besides the 20 miler.  I started very conservatively because I was afraid I was going to bonk, based on how my week was going.

Splits: 8:24, 8:14, 8:10, 8:11, 8:21

8:26, 8:07, 8:05, 8:01, 8:05

7:55, 7:47, 7:55, 7:52, 7:38

7:19, 7:18, 7:26, 7:27, 7:13

I felt great at the end (besides my legs aching) so I was able to pick it up.  Next time, I will start a bit faster since I had a lot left at the end.  This run made me happy again after struggling to get any kind of running in last week.  I lifted twice, skipped any kind of yoga AGAIN and logged 55 miles.

This week I have taken it pretty easy, only doing a little ‘fartlek’ workout yesterday.  I was very heavy legged from the 20 miler and from not stretching/foam rolling as well as I should.  I was kind of bummed I didn’t feel up to 6×1 mile, but I have a half marathon this weekend and thought I should get my legs feeling good!

Saturday, Jordan and I will be traveling to the homeland of Ricky Bobby so I can run in the Talladega Half Marathon!

Can you believe the race starts and ends on the Talladega Superspeedway?  That is so cool.  I’m not a racing fan by any means, but it’s really neat to see something like this only a few hours away from home.  It looks pretty flat from the course maps I have been looking at, too.  The race has a BBQ ‘lunch’ and concert right after, and the race director e-mailed and said the course will be decorated with Ricky Bobby quotes.  I’m sure it will be like no race I have been to before .

I don’t really have a time goal for this race, I just want to finish strong at the end and feel like I tried my hardest.  I’m hoping to run the last few miles faster then the earlier parts of the race.  Obviously, I would like to run close to my PR (1:29:02) but that may not be realistic, since I’m in the middle of training right now.

Come to Talladega and run if you are nearby!!!!

Taking a break from the boring weekly training recaps, I have a non-running related post for you to enjoy!  It has been hot and humid as always here in Georgia (so I don’t know why they are already selling hot pumpkin lattes at Starbucks ?!) so we headed to the lake to visit the dog beach with the puppies.  I feel so lucky we are a short, 15 minute drive from here!

Packing for a trip to the beach with two spoiled doggies is just like packing a  diaper bag for a baby.  We had leashes, collars, two doggie seatbelts, four towels, bones for chewing, a cooler filled with water, a dog bowl, baggies for potty time, and blankets.  We had them sitting nicely in the back, ready to go.

Did NOT last long

Halfway to the lake, we had to pull over and I came to sit back with Bruno and Penny sat up front next to Dad.  Bruno was nervous in the back without one of us, and would start to cry, which prompted Penny to bark her head off at him.  They were perfect after the switch.  I guess we will be traveling 10 hours to Pittsburgh with me stuffed in the back again!

We parked and walked a bit to the beach.  We were happy to have the whole ‘dog beach’ to ourselves!  It was pretty big and we walked for a bit with the dogs on the sand.  They were both really excited.

Penny has been to the ocean before, but Bruno has not. I went in first with her, and she swam right in!

happy little swimmer!

By this time, Bruno was trying to pull Jordan in and swim with us.  We set him out  in the water, and he started doggy paddling to me!  It was so cute.  I think its cool how dogs just know how to swim.  He didn’t seem very scared and we all played in the water together and took some more pictures.

We took breaks from swimming and walked around the beach and up and down the rocky parts of the shore.  There were a lot of people out boating on the water and that was neat to watch.  Next time, I would love to bring their steel stakes to put in the sand so we could attach their leashes to them and have a picnic and relax while they rested.

my babies!

It was a fun, but very messy time!  I had lots of towels to wash when we got home and they both got a much-needed bath.  We rested, then Jordan and I cooked a delicious dinner.

He grilled himself a massive (24 ounce) steak…

kind of gross...

and I prepared/he grilled salmon for me and a sweet potato for each of us.  I sautéed veggies and made a peach cobbler, using Georgia Peaches, of course.

my plate: grilled salmon, sweet potato, squash

the big man's food. two plates required.

so proud he ate a sweet potato

Happy Labor Day!  I’m crossing my fingers that it starts to feel like Fall here soon…

Week 3 was a cut back week according to Jack Daniels (running coach, not whiskey).  Since my peak mileage will be 75, I only had to run 52.5 miles last week.  I thought it would be beneficial to take a day off instead of running low mileage each day, so I assigned Thursday to be a no-running day, since I was scheduled to work 12 hours that day.

Here is how week 3 played out….

Monday: 6 miles easy @ 8:39 felt pretty poopy, and it was very humid for this one.  I lifted weights in the afternoon.
Tuesday: 6 miles on the treadmill @ 8:13 pace.  Was planning on doing my workout at the track that evening, but ended up working late.  Oh well.

Wednesday: 11 miles total, 5xmile repeats on the road – not flat, but not super hilly.  I was pretty happy with how this workout went, especially since I know my splits would be a lot faster on the track.  6:40, 6:37, 6:39, 6:40, 6:38.  I will be doing this workout again tomorrow, and plan on adding another repeat and trying to keep my average pace the same or better.  I did some abs after this workout.

Thursday: Off day for running!  I did get to lift weights before work, though.  Off days are good for my body, but I am definitely much happier when I get my run in first thing in the morning.

Friday: I ran 7 miles @ 8:00 pace and felt great.  My legs were very happy about the rest day.  I did form drills, strides, and abs after.  I listened to an interview with Shalane Flanagan while running, and she talked about how she did strides almost everyday for her 10k training.  I vowed to start doing these a couple times a week!

Saturday: I ran 6.5 miles around home @ 8:16 pace, and it felt easy.  Did abs after.

Sunday: 16 miles total with Jordan hanging out on the bike.  Ran 5.7 @ 8:06 pace, then turned around and did 5×5 minutes fast.  Splits are a little bit fast because its slightly  downhill this direction, but I wanted to work on my turnover.  I would not be able to work on that as much going slightly uphill!  The kicker was there was only 1 minute of jogging rest between each repeat.  This workout is a nice transition to a tempo run, since the rest is so minimal.

Paces: 6:27, 6:24, 6:27, 6:22, 6:28

Cooldown of 6 miles @ 8:06 pace

Go check this blog out….these guys are trying to break the world record for the 1000 mile relay run.  They are doing this for the Kevin Dare Foundation.  Kevin Dare was a pole vaulter competing for Penn State, and tragically passed away in a pole vault accident at the Big Ten Indoor Championship Meet in 2002.  Some of the guys on the relay team competed in my conference during college, so it’s pretty cool to see them working together on this!

And here are some puppy pictures!  Happy Hump Day from Bruno and Penny!

Monday: 6 miles @ 8:50 pace, feeling pretty awful.  I tied my shoelaces too tight on my long run yesterday, and I could barely get through this run! Hurt so bad!  At least I knew that it was from my shoes and not some mystery injury….after I ran did yoga to try to stretch my feet out.  It did help.  I iced my foot through the day.

Tuesday: I was planning on doing my speedwork, but my right foot was still sore.  It was actually my right ankle was hurting.  I theorized that since I barely tied my shoe yesterday, my ankle had no support when I was running, which is why it was sore today.  So, another easy day of running it was.  I ran 6 miles @ 8:32 pace and lifted weights after.

Wednesday: Did yoga before I went to work, and decided to do my speedwork in the evening when there was much less humidity.  When I run in the morning, it is typically 75 degrees at the start with 96-98% humidity.  It can be pretty draining running in the humidity, and I really struggle with hydrating enough afterwards.  I have been mixing Gatorade with my water and it has helped and I think at this point I am accustomed to running in warm, humid, Georgia weather.  But my paces are often slower than my training plan suggests, but that’s normal.

That evening, I set out to do the exact same workout I completed last week, 7×4 minutes hard with 3 minutes easy.  Last time, I really struggled running in very humid conditions.  I left the house at 7:30 that evening (which was hard, since Jordan and the puppies were snuggling on the couch!) and the evening air felt absolutely wonderful, as it was 84 degrees and only 80% humidity.  That made a huge difference!

I felt strong and confident running this week.  I told myself to not focus on the paces and just try to run with good form and effort.  I think that helped.  My paces for the 7 four minute segments were::

7:00, 6:58, 6:47, 6:49, 6:40, 6:48, 6:33

*ran these on an out and back loop with rolling hills

Not as fast as a workout on the track, but I felt happy with it.

Thursday:  Easy 6 miles @ 8:28 and lifted after.

Friday: 7 miles easy @ 8:27

Saturday: Jordan, the most dedicated husband ever, loaded up his mountain bike to join me on an 18 mile run in North Augusta.  It is so nice having him there with me, since I don’t have all my running girl friends (or my dad!) from home here with me.  What makes me happy is that he actually enjoys going out, as long as he downloads some fantasy football podcasts to listen to and gets his coffee from Circle K on the way out.  A lot of the run goes alongside a golf course he likes to play, so we always watch to see how the player’s shots are as we go by.

Thank you, Jordan!

I ran a 5.25 mile warmup (around 8:10 pace) and felt pretty good.  I took a gu and some water and did the next 6 miles at ‘tempo’ pace.  It was tough, but I made it the whole 6 miles, averaging 6:56 pace.  The splits weren’t super consistent, but close enough.

6:51, 6:57, 6:58, 6:45, 7:00, 6:59

I did a very slooooow 6.75 mile cool down @8:48 pace.  I was dead tired and forget to take another gel.  I usually take one every 7 miles, and I didn’t realize how much it helps me.

cooling down

Sunday: Ran 8 miles easy @8:11 and felt pretty great!  Spent the rest of the day relaxing and cuddling with the doggies.  One little puppy got very comfortable.

16 weeks left!

Last Monday, I started my 18-week marathon training program for the Kiawiah Island Marathon Saturday, December 8th.  The course is flat and fast (though not a large race and few spectators to help along the way) so I am really focused on getting a marathon PR.  I am aiming to run under a 3:10, but am really hoping to get close to that 3hour marathon mark.  I like to give myself hard goals, so that if I miss by a little bit, I still get a huge PR.

After a friend inspired me to run further while completing her own 80-mile week, I decided to reach a peak mileage of 75 for this training cycle.  This means that not every week will be this high, so my mileage will be in the 60-75 range the majority of the cycle.  However, that is a lot to me, and I am very aware that I need to take care of myself so that I can endure 18 weeks of hard training.  I am really trying to make a point to take care of myself better, so I’m holding myself to the following things.

FOAM ROLLING

I used a foam roller (contraption of pain) for the first time in college.  It hurts a lot, but it is supposed to help your muscles recover and is similar to getting a massage…but is free.  I’m usually too lazy to really do it after every workout, but after running on the beach, my right hamstring was really tight.  After every run, I used the foam roller on both legs and made a point to put it on the part of my leg that was hurting and push my body weight down on it.  It hurt like heck, but its feeling 95% better after a week of this.  I ran a hard workout on Tuesday and really took my time rolling out my legs after, and I have much less soreness than normal.  I would be kind of a dummy to not keep using this daily.

KNEE EXERCISES

It has been a while since I got injured, but I hurt my knee running out of control fast down a big hill in May 2011.  Yeah, it was really dumb but I was really angry about something that happened at work and running fast is a little healthier than binge drinking…I have had no knee pain since going to physically therapy last July, and I would like to keep it that way.  Most of my miles are on hard pavement, so doing a few of the exercises I learned will help keep my knees happy.

HYDRATING

At my physical in mid-July, I complained of fatigue to my doctor.  I was a little worried that I was having low iron levels again, so she ran some blood tests.  Happily, my iron levels were okay and she determined that I was dehydrated from running in the morning when it was very humid, and advised that I sip a sports drink during the day.  The taste of Gatorade  or Powerade is a little strong, so I mix it with water.  I have noticed a definite difference in my hydration.

SLEEP

I’m sure every one of us could use more sleep.  I wake up between 5:30 and 6:00 most days, so I am aiming to go to bed around 9:30, as opposed to my usual 10:30.  I think 8.5 hours of sleep is ideal for me when training, so I would love to get this much most nights.

PROTEIN

In reading about the olympic runners and their training, many of them mentioned they have a protein shake immediately following a workout.  I’m jumping on that bandwagon and mixing protein powder with skim milk or making a fruit smoothie with protein in it immediately following a harder workout or lift.

I have also been reading a few different articles to learn how to become a faster runner without adding any additional miles – I know I won’t be able to handle much more running than I am doing right now without getting injured or burned out…

Form Drills and Striders

In college, the day before a hard workout or meet, we would always run fast strides at the end of our run and something do form work.  The formwork that I started doing again are the “ABC” drills I did back in college.  I don’t know how to explain it and don’t really want to photograph myself doing them, so please look at this link for a great explanation.  I do 3 of each drill, with a fast stride of about 80 meters back to the other end of the road.  I really try to focus on my form on these fast strides, making sure I land on the balls of my feet and turnover quickly.  I have set a reachable goal to do these twice a week during training.  It only takes ten minutes extra, so I should have no excuses!

Extra Stretching/Running Yoga

Cross-training can really help you become a better runner, but when I add it on top of my training plan, I get fatigued very easily.  I won’t be taking any spinning classes during marathon training, unless I have a small injury and need to do something low-impact.  However, doing yoga 1-2 times a week helps to prevent injury and loosen up my muscles.

Lately, I have been going onto Youtube.com and finding different yoga routines to do at home, all for free.  Here is a link to one that I like to do as a stretch after running.

Yoga For Runners

And here is one that, although is only 30 minutes, can kick your butt pretty good!

Yoga for Detox and Weight Loss

Down dog!

Happily, marathon training is off to a good start.  I was able to get in 60 miles last week, including a ‘speed workout’ and a long run.  I was able to lift 2x, do yoga, and work on my core 6x.

Monday: First day of marathon training!  I ran 6 miles on the treadmill (8:13 pace) then did abs and 30 minutes of yoga.  I spent some time with the foam roller as well.

Tuesday: First ‘speed’ workout.  I’m calling it a ‘speed workout’ because I did not feel fast at all.  I woke up early enough and headed out to the road by 7am.  It was 78 when I left the house (which isn’t all that hot) but the humidity was 98%. I felt like I was running through a rain cloud and it was actually hard to breathe the air was so thick.  I knew this workout wouldn’t live up to my expectations, but I told myself to focus on completing it at a hard effort and not worry about pace.

The workout was 7×4 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy.  I found a piece of road that was only a little bit hilly, unfortunately, I was unable to find a totally flat area to run these.

I felt miserable and slow during each and everyone of these.  I was happy that mentally I hung in there and didn’t let my slow paces discourage me.  To give you an idea of my usual pace, I run 1000s on the track at about 6:00 – 6:10 pace.  These were done on the road so they should be slower, but the humidity definitely challenged me.

7×4 minutes hard ran at

7:08, 7:16, 7:20, 7:24, 7:18, 7:28, 7:12 pace

The distance for these varied based on how fast (or slow) my pace was, but they were about .55 of a mile.

Yikes!  10 miles total.  Was so happy to be done!  Lifted that afternoon and was BEAT.

Wednesday: 6 miles @ 8:13 on the treadmill.  Did some drills outside and some abs.

Thursday: 10 hilly miles, 8:08 pace.  Kept a pretty consistent pace, and was very humid again.  I brought water with me and that made a big difference.  Did some abs when at home.

Friday: 5 miles @8:08 pace at the park with Jordan.  Did some form drills after.

That night, we went out to an Italian place to carb up for the long run the following morning.  

When we got home, we took the dogs out for an evening walk around the park.

buckled up....safe weenie

Despite being buckled up in the passenger seat, Penny tried her hardest to see what we were doing in the back.

Hi guys!

Look at Bruno's big old tongue

Saturday: Jordan and I headed out to the Greenway to do a 16 miler – I would be running, he would be on the bike.  We were having a good time, he was listening to a fantasy football podcast and I was feeling really good, ready to have a great long run.  However, at mile 4 a violent storm rolled in.  Jordan checked the weather on his phone, and said it would storm pretty much all morning.  Then the lighting hit and the rain came pouring down.  We took off for the car, and I decided I would be doing my long run the next day.

safe in the car

I ran for 5.6 before jumping into our car to escape the rain.  Once at home, we did an upper body and abs workout together.

Sunday: I had planned on a 16-miler, but had to do 17.4 to hit 60 for the week.  I decided to do a 16 mile progression long run and a 1.4 mile cool down.  I started at 8:13 pace and every two miles pressed the button to speed up.  Each time I pressed the button it dropped 6-7 seconds/mile, so I ended up finishing at 7:30 pace.  It was a tough run, mostly because it is mentally hard to run on a treadmill for that long.  I am glad I did it, though.  I averaged 7:50 for the 16 mile portion.  After my cooldown I did some abs and a few leg exercises.

Pretty happy with how week 1 went… onto week 2!

A bunch of awesome things have been happening lately…..in no particular order

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days Movie

I LOVE this children’s book series by Jeff Kinney.  The stories are written in comic book format and are just plain silly.  I got into these while nannying for 9-year-old twins last summer, and they loved it when I was reading and bust out laughing.

An excerpt from Dog Days

I got two of the newer books for Christmas this past year, and was really happy.

Reading the Classics

So anyways, this past weekend the Dog Days movie finally came out….I didn’t see it yet, but I’m really looking forward to it!

Book Club and The Kitchen House

I joined a book club here in Georiga and our first meeting is this Wednesday.  It seems like a great time, since everyone brings cocktails and appetizers to the meetings.  The book we chose for this meeting is fantastic.  It is similar to The Help, and I liked it just as much.  Go read it…now!

Lavinia, a seven-year-old Irish orphan with no memory of her past, arrives on a tobacco plantation where she is put to work as an indentured servant. Placed with the slaves in the kitchen house under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her new adopted family, even though she is forever set apart from them by her white skin. As Lavinia is slowly accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles an opium addiction, she finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When Lavinia marries the master’s troubled son and takes on the role of mistress, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare and lives are put at risk. The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail..

-from Simon and Schuster’s website

Penny is the Favorite Dog at the Vet

Poor Penny and Bruno picked up a cold at the kennel , so they needed to be seen by the vet this past Friday.  Since Bruno causes such a rucus when he comes, they said I could just bring Penny and they would give them the same medicine.  Penny LOVES going to the vet.  She lays down on everyone’s feet when they go to pet her and she has a goofy corg smile on her face the whole time.  She was even smiling when they took her temperature – and that was not taken orally, by the way.  I was a very proud corg owner when the vet told me she has the most wonderful personality a dog could ever have.

Laying down on command

Chili’s Quesadilla Salad

Jordan and I used a gift card to Chili’s Saturday night, thanks to my dear brother, Corey.  We took pictures to prove that it really happened.

The Mister

ready to go!

We went to restaurants like Chili’s and Applebees a lot in highschool and college, and really haven’t been there too much lately.  Sometimes chain restaurants get a bad reputation as being boring, but we both had really good meals here, and the price was great.  They had $2.99 maragaritas, so we both got one, along with chips and salsa for an appetizer.  An appetizer was included in the 2 for $20 deal we selected our meals from.  Jordan had a cheeseburger and fries and I had the quesadilla explosion salad.  It was really yummy, and I liked that it came with a cheese quesadilla.  The balsamic dressing was really good and the veggies were all nice and fresh, no wilty lettuce.  I’m excited to come back again.

And obviously, the olympics right now are a favorite of mine.

Galen Rupp

He was the first USA runner to earn a medal in the 10k since 1964!  That was such a great race to watch.  He has shown the world that American runners CAN compete with the East Africans and that a slow and steady approach to training with Coach Alberto Salazar works.  It was also really cool to see that his training partner, Mo Farah, earned gold in front of his home crowd.

Tirunesh Dibaba

I admire her not only because she blew everyone away at the end of the 10k, but shes short and small.  She gives me hope!  She made running the 10k look effortless.  I wish I had the turnover that those legs have.  She is being called the greatest women’s track athlete of all time.

source

Gabby Douglass

She is so freaking cute!  I’m so happy her smiling face will be on a cornflakes box and she earned GOLD!  PS I think her hair is beautiful!  Gymastics is a favorite event to watch because I’m simply in awe that these teenagers can do things like vault into the air using their own strength and flip effortlessly from bar to bar.  Seems so scary!

Shalane and Kara

I really liked watching these two bffs in the marathon this morning.  They both ran really hard races and were there for each other when the race finished. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Kara was actually just behind Shalane, in 11th place.  I tear up every time I see this picture.

source

Marathon Training Starts TOMORROW

Finally, my training plan starts tomorrow.  I am following the training plan inside Daniel’s Running Formula for the 70mpw (at peak) plan.  I’m excited to have something to follow, finally!!!  Hopefully this plan will get me to a PR marathon in December.

Time to go watch the men’s 100 meter dash, again!

Last week, Jordan and I were able to meet his family in Hilton Head, South Carolina for a week at the beach.

This vacation was great because we were able to visit with family we haven’t seen since March, AND because it is only a 3 hour drive from our house to Hilton Head.  From Pittsburgh, it is about a 13 hours drive.  It was so nice to not have to leave at 5am for a long day of car travel.

The only downside to the trip was that the condo was not Pet Friendly.  We took the pups to a new Kennel, which we really liked.

Bruno at the Kennel

Penny looking at her new home for the week

We left at 12 from Georgia and got to Hilton Head around 3.  We had plenty of time to kill before everyone else was ready to check in, so we went to the outlets for a bit.  I have been looking for a crossbody purse for a while, so we walked into Coach and they were having a 30% off sale!  The purse I liked was $99 (on a sale) so I ended up getting a pretty decent deal here($70).  I am a big fan of the Coach Outlet, it always seems like they are having great sales here!

We checked into our place and were so excited to hang out with our family!  We had a homemade Italian meal for dinner with everyone.  We rented three condos to fit everyone.  They made homemade sauce with meatballs, pork, and beef.  It was the best sauce I have had.  This is one of the things I miss about Pittsburgh!

The rest of the week just flew by!  One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to start each morning with a run, before it gets too hot.  It’s also nice to exercise first thing in the morning so it doesn’t interfere with anything else we have going on.

What I loved about Hilton Head is that it has miles and miles of bike paths around the island.  This made running so easy!  I did my long run Sunday (15 miles) entirely on the bike path.  It was very warm and humid on the path, so I made sure to bring water and had Jordan meet me outside our condo for a refill.

Later on in the week, I discovered that the beach was a great place to run in the morning. The beach is very wide and packed at low tide.  It was really enjoyable and I took a lot of pictures.

Jordan was able to golf with his cousins, uncles, and pap three times this trip.  He went in the morning and we had plenty of time to spend every afternoon on the beach and at the pool.  Our condo community had two pools.  The water was almost too warm, same with the ocean.

We went out to eat a lot as well.  We went to: It’s All Greek To Me, Steamers, Nick’s Steak and Seafood, and The Black Marlin.  All my meals were good, and I think I liked the Greek food the best.  We went to Sweet Carolina Cupcakes Bakery three times for dessert – no ice cream this trip.  The cupcakes were delicious and I had the Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, and Snickerdoodle.

family!!

Another fun thing I did was paint pottery with my sister-in-law.  I painted a coffee cup for both Jordan and I.  This is before they were cooked and glazed.  I decided to make mine a motivational coffee mug!

The last night, we had an early dinner so we could watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony.  I hope you thought of us when you saw the Corgis appear!  That was definitely our favorite part.

It is always sad when your vacation over, but I was actually very excited to pick up our babies from the kennel.  We were all so happy to see each other!

I will leave you with this fantastic picture Maura took Saturday night!