Milestones and Goals

Sunday:  5 miles with Jerry
Monday:  4 miles
Tuesday:  14 miles
Wednesday:  4 miles treadmill
Friday:  10 miles
Saturday:  4 miles

Total:  41 miles

Sunday:  20 miles
Tuesday:  5 miles with local momma-speedster Jackie
Wednesday:  8 miles
Friday:  4 miles
Saturday:  13 miles

Total:  My First FIFTY MILE week!

WooHoo!  I did not plan to run a 50 mile week but while doing the math in my head during the last mile of saturday's long run, I realized that I would have 49 miles for the week.  It did not matter that it would be a high mileage record for me, I needed to do one more mile and make it 50.  I know that a 50-mile week is poppycock to lots of runners out there, but for me it is a new milestone.  So the last 3 weeks of training went really well at 45, 41, and 50 miles per week.  It's taper time.  My goal for the marathon:  Enjoy and Finish.

The twenty mile run stunk though.  We had spent the morning down in the Valley cheering on many friends during the Fools Run 50K, especially my pal V who came from Maryland to run her first trail run.  It was super cold and windy although the sunshine was awesome.  Here we are after the finish.  She makes everything look so easy!  A pot of coffee at our house later, and we once again said good-bye to each other.  Then I changed and headed out for the dreaded 20-miler.  Jerry joined me for the first 10 miles.  That was nice.  The second 10 miles were torture!  I was beat down by the wind and solitude.  I hate it when that happens.

Abby will have her first track meet this week.  She did a pretty nice job keeping up with her running over spring break.  A 6:40 mile on the treadmill kept her motivation up.  She has some nice goals set for track this year.  I think her 1600 PR is 6:32 so she is fairly certain she will crack that. 

Gina has been having a good old time during her break from swimming.  She set a goal that she would walk or run at least one mile every day during the season of Lent.  She has not missed a day and has covered some nice ground.  She is also doing push-ups everyday and whatever else she can come up with - exercise ball, uphill lunges,  etc etc.  She is a pretty funny girl and listening to her find new muscles has been quite humorous.  I know that swimming is a GREAT sport, but it is not weight-bearing exercise and some of those muscles could use some strengthening.  So we are hitting the bike path as much as possible.  Our walk on Saturday evening was great - we had seen Jane Eyre at the theater which set the girls off on perfecting their British accents.  I spent the entire walk smiling and giggling to myself as they carried on their rather silly conversation:  As do I sister, Quite Right, Oh you vex me,  and so on and so forth........

We also passed our one-year anniversary of being vegetarian!  That feels really great!


The other milestone is that Gina now officially can drive!  What a strange feeling to sit in the passenger seat as your teenager takes the wheel.  I think I was sweatier after that event than when I did the 20-miler!  She actually did a great job, but we have a lot of work to do before hitting the roads for real.  For now we are sticking to parking lots and the roads that connect the schools and anywhere else with limited traffic.  But if you live locally - consider yourself warned!