April is over already?

I'm a bad blogger! It's been nearly a month since my last post! Fortunately, it is not for lack of subjects that I've gone missing, but rather a whirlwind of a month that has just flown by.

Our next Galloway group, training for America's Finest City Half Marathon officially kicked off last week. We had our first group run last Saturday. Boy was it WINDY!  Nevertheless, everyone made it for our first 3 mile run. The next group coming in will be training for the Disneyland Half Marathon. Both groups will come together within the first couple of weeks. More members, more support, more encouragement and more motivation! 

Since we have two groups running half marathons within 16 days of each other, hubby and I will qualify to be Neptune Half Fanatics after the Disneyland Half! WOO HOO!!!  I'm way more than just "half crazy" but it's going to take a little more work on my part to become a Marathon Maniac.

My personal marathon training program is going extremely well [everyone knock on wood with me please]! I am able to run over 14 miles in the Lunar Glide +2's now so I'd say "transition to minimalist runner step 1 complete"! It's crazy to think I could barely run a few miles in them when I first introduced them into my shoe rotation. I hope to run a race in them soon!  

I ran a total of 157 miles in April, passing 2 more significant milestones (one that extended to include May 1st). While April was not my highest mileage month, I ran more cumulative weekend miles than ever (twice) and had my highest weekly mileage total (which I ran in back-to-back weeks).  

Here's the breakdown:

3/28 - 4/3 = 40 miles

4/4 - 4/10 = 42 miles (back-to-back 13.1 mi and 15 miles on the weekend)

4/11 - 4/17 = 28 miles (recovery week)

4/18 - 4/24 = 45 miles (highest weekly mileage by 3 miles ever and back-to-back 14.5 milers on the weekend)

4/25 - 5/1 = 45 miles (highest cumulative weekend mileage - 3 mi on Sat & 26.2 mi on Sun). 29.2 miles!!

Yes, you read that right - I ran a full marathon as a training run! Maybe even more significant for me is that I was able to run this full marathon distance (a) the day after running 3 miles with our Galloway group; (b) I ran 20 miles during the week leading into the 26.2 mile run; and (c) after running 45 miles the week prior! I realize these are completely personal milestones and I'm likely the only one who is excited, but this is major personal progress! The fact that I was able to comfortably run a hilly 26.2 miles at my most recent marathon PR pace is a great sign I'll be able to reach my somewhat aggressive time goal at Grandma's. I can't wait to run a flat marathon course! My next and last long run will be 29 miles on May 22nd.  It's giving me an itch to look for my first 50K Ultra!

I was given the opportunity to test some new shoes through the Daily Mile team. I've been running in them quite often over the past month. It is a very new brand and type of shoe for me. Let's just say I'm REALLY glad I had already fully transitioned to the flatter Lunar Glide +2's or I wouldn't have been able to be a tester. We can't reveal what the shoes are or what our thoughts are until after we submit our team review to the shoe company. I can't wait to share my full review here! 

In other news, I worked my first race expo!  Hubby and I joined our Galloway group sponsor store, Foot Pursuit, at the Gator Run Health and Fitness Expo. I learned more about how to fit shoes properly with the help of the store manager, Mo. We also talked to many people about our Galloway training programs. It was incredibly hot but fun too. We were thrilled to see so many of our members from our last training group had registered for the race.

Hubby ran the Gator Run 10K that weekend but I had already signed up for the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run at Castaic Lake.  That was SUPER FUN!!! I don't have any pics from the race but I do have a pic of my battle wounds from crawling and climbing over walls, hurdles, mud pits, hard dirt, and KILLER trail run that had us running up extremely steep terrain for almost 3 miles in 80 degree weather. I ended up coming in 11th in my age group!  I will definitely be running this again next year. The costumes some people wore were hilarious.

Showering was not fun for a couple of days after these scrapes!

Over Easter weekend, my almost 16-year old nephew flew down from the Bay Area by himself to spend 4 days with Auntie and Uncle John.  We were on a mission to get his ears pierced (as approved by Mom!). Auntie decided it was time for a belly button piercing (for me, not him!). ;-)  We took him down to Venice to The House of Ink on the boardwalk after much research on safe and sanitary piercing places. We both had a great experience! Loved the staff and the cleanliness!!

We also hung out on the Santa Monica pier and ate at Mariasol Cocina Mexicana. YUMMERS!!!

Me and hubs at the S.M. pier

Work has been pretty busy - overwhelmingly so at times recently.  I took at PTO day on Thursday and hubby and I headed down to the beach for a PTO 10K!  We rarely run together so this was a fun treat for us both. The weather couldn't have been more perfect!

Upcoming Personal Races - these are races where I won't be a pace group leader for our Galloway group members.

June 18, 2011

Grandma, you've been on my mind since December and I am working my ass off to PR big-time! Fingers crossed for a great race day! Just 7 Saturdays to go....which means only 3.5 more weeks of training until the taper begins!! I am nervous about this taper since my monthly mileage has increased by more than 60% compared to the miles I put in before my last marathon.

May 15, 2011

Santa Monica Classic 10K

It has been almost 2 years since I actually raced in a 10K for a PR. With a fast-ish paced 7-mile run on my training schedule set for the same day as this race, I couldn't pass it up. I haven't decided if I'll race in the Lunar Glide +2 or the shoes I'm testing yet - but I'm leaning towards the test-shoes!!!

October 16, 2011

I found out last week from the Nike Women's Marathon that I'm IN!!!!  WOO HOO!!!  I know there are so many women who try for years to get in through the lottery. I am not taking this opportunity for granted in any way, shape or form. The hills are gnarly, but I can already taste that Tiffany Finisher's necklace! I'll be joining a water running class after Grandma's marathon is over so I can keep my mileage up and get some good hill work in without injuring myself.  I've never done any water running before and I'm really looking forward to getting started!  Me and 20,000 other women.... I'll be taking my time AND taking lots of pics/videos with the sports cam for this one! No PR pressure - this one is for the fun of it!

I think that about wraps up April! I promise to start to posting more often again. There's so much to look forward to and write about in the future already!!