A Week Full of Firsts

First order of business in this blog about my week of "firsts" is a HUGE congratulations to almost half of our Galloway group members who ran the "Camarillo YMCA Love Your Community 5K" last Saturday (yes I'm behind on blogs this week!). Even though we have an 11-miler already behind us, this was the first race many had ever run and the first race we have run together as a group! It was also the first time the Camarillo YMCA has hosted this event. It was a wonderfully fun and exciting event. We will be back to participate again next year!

The trail portion of the half marathon our group is training for is on the Chesebro trail in Agoura Hills, CA. After 2 days of heavy rain last Friday and Saturday, most of the trail has been severely damaged. Two of our pace group leaders ran it on Saturday after the first day of rain and had a very difficult time navigating the rough terrain and deep mud; struggling to maintain balance and avoiding nasty falls. After a report back from them Saturday (prior to the Saturday afternoon/evening down pour), I decided not to run it myself on Sunday (I had a planned 17-miler that would have me running 8 miles through this trail) purely from a safety perspective. I'll get to this later, but I opted to play it safe by running my LSD entirely on the treadmill. Yes I know I'm crazy......

Chesebro Half Marathon Course

Hubby decided to check out the conditions on Monday morning to asses the additional damage done by Saturday's rain. This was his first solo trail run! Let's just say it took him over 3 hours to finish the course. Parts of the trail are almost completely washed out and/or the mud is 2-3 inches thick. Small holes in the grassy terrain and deep crevices formed by small streams running across whatever part of the trail was still in tact caused unstable footing and made running almost impossible. We had hoped to take our Galloway group out this weekend to run the trail for exposure to it prior to race day, but with these reports back on the trail conditions and more rain on the way, we'll be sticking to the streets and throwing in a few hills to continue building endurance and strength this weekend. The city and race organizers will change the course prior to race day if the trail is deemed unsafe by park and city officials. With all the hard work and trail running we have already been doing, I'm confident we can handle any course thrown our way!!

Let's back up one day and talk about Sunday's 17-mile LSD. This is the first time I have run more than 15 miles on the treadmill. The reasons for choosing to run this 15-miler on the TM was purely for my own safety and piece of mind. I had the stomach flu or food poisoning several days prior to a planned 23-miler and I was fearful I wasn't hydrated or fueled properly for such a long distance. I tried to go for 20 on the TM that day, but my body would only be able to hold on for 15.

On the heels of a full week at work and 2 days of heavy rain (which thankfully broke for a while Saturday morning so we were able to race in the sunshine!), I was more inclined to stay in bed watching TV. With this 17 miler on my schedule and an aggressive time goal for Grandma's marathon, there were no excuses for (a) skipping it all together; or (b) cutting it short and hope the 20-miler I'm running on March 6th doesn't kill me.  Trying to make the best of the tug-of-war going on in head ('you should be running outside - the sun is coming out!' vs. 'wouldn't you just like to stay home and be lazy'), the compromise was deciding to run it out on the treadmill, fueled by a little motivation from Clark Kent (aka Superman) via Smallville Season 2. After almost 10 seasons together, we have a close relationship you know... so what if he's made of cardboard? ;-)

Comic Con International 2010

I continue to struggle with treadmill guilt. This day was no exception. While my friends in the mid-west and on the east coast stick it out in subfreezing temperatures, here I am in beautiful Southern California, the sun is shining and I'm voluntarily choosing to stay indoors, running in essentially the same spot for over 3 hours. "Real runners would take advantage of this gorgeous day". I just wasn't feeling motivated to get all my gear out, pack my fuel belt full of Sports Beans, Water and Accelerade, get in the car, drive out to flatter ground and add another hour to an already time-consuming run.

It wasn't until I posted my TM work on Daily Mile (Sign up and start logging your workouts with us today!) that my guilt over copping out on finding an outdoor alternative course slowly began to subside. I got a few comments about being 'hardcore'. That confused my guilty brain for a bit. Hardcore? More like "wimpy-core" I thought. Wouldn't 'hardcore' mean that I tackled that trail despite the conditions? I'm so thankful for the support system I have find in the DM Community. It's because of days like this, when I'm not feeling good about a run (for whatever reasons), I understand the importance of surrounding myself with fellow runners to bring me back to reality and bring the accomplishment to light. I mean, really, I'm feeling wimpy and lazy for running 17 miles on the treadmill??  My definition of lazy seems to be a little outrageous. We are our own worst critics at times I suppose.

In the end, my final time spent running the 'mill was 3 hours and 16 minutes. Just enough time to watch the first 4.5 episodes of the season. I loved re-living those old episodes. It was about the time we started watching Smallville that I made a lot of big, positive lifestyle changes, including starting to run again. So while the show itself is filled with Superman-like messages about being a good example and taking selfless actions for the good of others, I also associate it with the New Vera (who is now 4 years old - LOL!).

To help pass the time and keep things fun, aside from staying invested in the events of each episode, I mentally kept track of all the things Clark accomplished and discovered about himself while I ran my piddly 17 miles:

Image credit:  www.scificool.com

1. Jumped into a tornado to save Lana's life and rushed her to a hospital without her knowledge
2. Saved his dad from being buried alive under a house following the passing of aforementioned tornado
3. Saved Lex Luthor (who Clark is actually friends with initially) from being shot by Jonathan Kent after Lex's new bride compelled him to kill Lex so she could inherit Lex's fortune. 
4. Discovered Red Kryptonite turns him into a bad boy/rebel. (Kryptonite is known in these early seasons as 'meteor rock' because Clark is too young to know about Krypton, Jor-El, the Fortress of Solitude, or the extent of the powers he is discovering throughout his younger years. He only knows he's some kind of alien that his adoptive parents found near his spaceship in a Smallville, KS cornfield in the middle of a meteor shower that destroyed the town and that the green meteor rock makes him incredibly sick. Oh the drama of it all!)
5. Discovered his ability to start fires (heat vision power) and set multiple objects/buildings on fire before learning to control it with the help of his dad
6. For the very first time, Clark was forced to tell his BFF Pete about his "secret" (i.e. the superpowers he knows he has at this point in the story) after Pete found Clark's spaceship in a cornfield which disappeared from the Kent's storm cellar at the end of Season 1. That's a story for another day....

And all this human did was run 17 miles....  well done human, well done.

I forgot one final first!  My highest weekly mileage EVER last week - 37.2 miles! :-)

Bring it and BRING IT!!!

First and foremost - a huge THANK YOU to the Daily Mile community for voting me onto the 2011 Daily Mile team! There are 5 different areas of responsibilities within this 30-person team. During the application process, we were asked to rank our preferences. We will be notified of our team goals and which group we are in next week. For now, I'm just thrilled and humbled by the outpouring of encouragement and support. But then again, this is exactly why I love being a member and now an Ambassador! So bring it on DMers! What is on your wish list for the DM Community in 2011?

This is a link to all of the videos from our new team members. Congratulations to everyone who applied!!
http://www.dailymile.com/blog/team/introducing-your-2011-dailymile-team

And now of course on to the topic of week that everyone is talking about - BQ rule changes!!
http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon/blog/2011/02/baa_announces_new_procedures_f.html

I don't know about the rest of you, but even as I sit here today, not even close to running at a pace that would get me to Boston for 2012, I am feeling even more excited and challenged to be accepted for registration in the years to come. I agree it was time to re-think the registration process after an 8-hour sellout registration period this year. It's not a U2 concert!!! ;-)

My goal has to been to BQ by 2013. Prior to yesterday's announcement from the BAA, my BQ time would have been 3:50 as I turn 40 in 2013. According to the new rules, I will now have to finish in 3:45, and even with that time, my chances of getting in on Day 1 are slim as only the fastest applicants (qualifying time is at least 20 minutes faster than the minimum BQ time) will be allowed to register first. Two days later, those who qualified with times 10 minutes faster than the minimum will be allowed to register, and so forth. The specifics are below.

In the meantime, I am READY for this challenge. It means I get to run more, set new goals - I will get there, there's no doubt about it. The new rules just make acceptance even sweeter!

Are YOU ready for this change? How will the new rules affect your training and/or goals - or do they?

2012 rolling registration dates

- Day 1 (Sept. 12) - Qualifiers who have met their age and gender qualifying standard (3 hours, 10 minutes for men aged 18-34 and 3 hours, 40 minutes for women 18-34) by a margin of 20 minutes or faster may apply for the marathon.

- Day 3 (Sept. 14) - Qualifiers who have met the standard set for their age/gender by a margin of 10 minutes or faster may apply.

- Day 5 (Sept. 16) - Qualifiers who have met their age/gender qualifying time by a margin of 5 minutes or faster may apply.

- Day 8 (Sept. 19) - Open to all qualifiers to register.

- Day 12 (Sept. 23) - Registration closes for qualified applicants. Registered qualifiers will be notified of their acceptance by Sept. 28.

For 2013, there are new qualifying times

Age Group	Men	Women
18-34	3:05:00	3:35:00
35-39	3:10:00	3:40:00
40-44	3:15:00	3:45:00
45-49	3:25:00	3:55:00
50-54	3:30:00	4:00:00
55-59	3:40:00	4:10:00
60-64	3:55:00	4:25:00
65-69	4:10:00	4:40:00
70-74	4:25:00	4:55:00
75-79	4:40:00	5:10:00
80+	4:55:00	5:25:00

Birthday Weekend Round Up

I hit a major milestone this past weekend - my first ever double-digit back to back runs on Saturday and Sunday!! We ran 11 miles with our Galloway group on Saturday. Sunday was my 38th birthday so I decided this was a great opportunity to to try this out. Eleven miles seemed like a good choice for this birthday since 3+8 = 11. I was joined by one of our Galloway group members for the first 5 miles and then took off on a little adventure of my own through Simi Valley on a most-beautiful Sunday morning. I had a general idea of where I was going to go but I veered a little off course to run through some quieter neighborhoods (and add a few hills). I was thrilled to wake up Monday morning with absolutely no muscle soreness or no IT pain. Admittedly, I was feeling pretty exhausted in general though. Hubby and I had already planned a day off for Valentine's Day and we were sure glad we did. Let's just say there was a lot of eating and sleeping on the schedule, although we did manage to go for a 1 mile walk in the evening. Just have to zap that zero somehow!

I returned back from our Galloway group run to find THIS waiting for me: A surprise birthday celebration!!  A little Accelerade out of martini glasses? Why yes, I think I will have one. Oh what the hell - make it a triple! A bagel birthday tower too! Thanks for celebrating with me everyone!!!

Double-fisted with Accelerade. This is the breakfast of champions!

We spent a couple of hours at a Valentine's Day Wine Tour and Tasting social at the Rosenthal Estate in Malibu Hills on my birthday as well. As members of the wine club, we are invited to several socials a year. Just in case you were curious - unless you want to pass out for 3 hours afterwards, I recommend eating a full meal after an 11-mile run before heading to a wine tasting event. LOL!  It wasn't my fault I was over-served delicious wine! ;-)

John gave me this necklace crafted by Linda Fontaine, sister of Steve Prefontaine. She offers a wide variety of products but I've had my eye on this necklace in particular for a little while. A perfect Valentine's Day gift from the hubby!

I love this quote on her website: My brother's life can be best described in one word—INSPIRATIONAL.
I created these “Pieces of Pre” to continue what I believe is Steve's legacy—motivating individuals to be the best they can be!

Click here to visit the website!

Hubby and I worked on my video for the 2011 Daily Mile team application process over the weekend of the Surf City Half. I was so honored to be selected to apply to be an ambassador for this online community! Special thanks to hubby for all the hard work he put in editing this and to my Galloway Group and Mo at Foot Pursuit for their contributions. The new team will be announced tomorrow. Fingers crossed!! I want to help this outstanding athlete's social networking site expand! There is no question that I have become a better runner since joining the site. If you're not a member yet, please do join. The support and encouragement is amazing - and you'll definitely learn a thing or two from other runners, triathletes, etc. Not to mention a place to log all of your workouts and track your shoes/gear usage too!

Vote for Vera! :-)

With the Surf City Half and a week of recovery runs behind me, I am ramping my weekly mileage up to get back on track with the marathon training again.

On the schedule this week:

Monday 2/14 - 1 mile recovery walk after the back-to-back 11 milers this past weekend
Tuesday 2/15 - Double workout Tuesday! 30 minutes in the morning; 30 minutes in the evening with our Galloway group
Wednesday 2/16 - 50 minutes @ 9:30 pace
Thursday 2/17 - 30 minutes @ 9:00 pace
Friday 2/18 - REST DAY!
Saturday- Galloway Group's first 5K race together!!
Sunday - 17 miles on trails and streets; LSD pace (11:30 pace) with hill work

This should get me up to 35 miles this week. I'm pretty excited to get to the first couple of weeks in March when I'll be running 40 miles each week! Whoa!!

The 17.1 Mile 2011 Surf City Half Marathon

I've had my eye on Surf City for a couple of years now. I train often at the beach and the thought of racing along the Pacific Coast Highway in a different city (Huntington Beach) was highly appealing. As there was no packet pickup on race day, we made the 1+ hour drive down the dreaded 405 freeway to hit the Expo.  Hotels in the area were mandating 2 or 3 night minimum stays over the weekend so we opted for driving in both to the Expo and the race the next morning.

A few words on the Expo - small, hot and WAY too many people. Vendors were jammed on top of each other and it was frustrating to try to move around. Our race packets consisted of this plus our race bib with a D-chip:

Re-useable bag and long-sleeved "Green Layer" tech shirt

I don't know if I was disappointed it wasn't full of ads, coupons and trial-size samples of various goodies, breath freshener and pain remedies, or if I thought it was environmentally responsible of them not to since we tend to throw most of this stuff in the trash anyway (well, at least I do).

My brother-in-law was running the Full marathon so we met him and my sis at the Expo. I think only 25% of the 20,000 runners were running the Full so their packet pickup area was wide open. It was the only place inside the tent where we found some breathing room. Oh, and this:

Shirt is from Punk Rock Racing

Relatively unimpressed with the Expo (and the long line of people trying to get in), we left pretty quickly and headed up to Santa Monica as my B.I.L. wanted to check out the new Nike store on the 3rd Street Promenade. What can I say? It's big and over-priced. With a Nike Outlet store only 30 min from my house, I don't think I would buy anything from the retail store.  They did have some cool displays and quotes on the walls. This pic of an old pair of Pre's shoes was pretty awesome. Imagine running the 3-mile in these!! GO PRE!

For those who don't know, Pre's coach at Oregon, Bill Bowerman,
made his own shoes for his team. A brand we all recognize now as Nike.

After a decent night's sleep, we were up at 4am Sunday morning. BIL's wave started at 6:45am (I think) so he and sis left our place by 4:30. Since the hubby and I were running the Half, our wave start time wasn't until 7:45am. Our plan was to leave by 5:00 or 5:30am presumably permitting adequate time to drive down and find parking. We were advised via email and the website to note where the various parking lots were when we picked up our bibs at the Expo. They all seemed relatively close to the Start so I didn't think too much about it.

This is the map we were given:

Note the blurb "Map not to scale"

Um, ya.... "Map not to scale". I underestimated how NOT-to-scale it was tremendously. Parking was horrendous when we arrived (Yes, we were warned by the race organizers. I chose to not fully investigate the situation personally beforehand). Cars were pouring into the various lots you see in the map above, but rather than cut off the entrance to a full lot, attendants and security were letting cars pull in to whatever lot they wanted but then had to sit in a line of cars weaving in and out of other full parking lots for at least 20-25 minutes until we got to an open lot. It was extremely stressful. With less than 25 minutes until our wave start, we finally found a spot in the lot that was the furthest away from the Start (see small green 'P' near Brookhurst at the bottom of the map). We thought we were maybe a mile from the Start at that point. Shuttles were running folks from the lots to the starting area, but the lines were long and hubs and I were slightly in panic mode by this point. Never-the-less, we tried to make the best of it by choosing to shuffle-jog to the Start as a warm up as SO many others were doing.

As we're approaching the corrals, I can hear the announcer getting ready to call up the Half Marathon waves. I'm picking up my pace because I don't want to miss my wave! I leave hubs in his corral and weave through thousands of other runners to get up to my wave which is being called up RIGHT NOW! I slipped into the corral and "Bang", we're off. I barely had a chance to take a breath before we crossed the mat. The course itself was nice. The first 3 miles are on PCH, then a right turn into some neighborhoods (thank you HB residents!!!) for the next 2.5 miles. You come out of the neighborhoods at the same spot you entered, hang a right to continue up PCH to the turnaround point at about 8.3 miles (or something like that). The final miles are a straight shot back down PCH to the Finish (very close to where we started).  The weather was overcast and cool - but a bit muggy. Nearly perfect racing conditions.

Link to all Garmin data

To my surprise, there were some relatively challenging hills with a long uphill slope to the finish. Especially entering the neighborhoods. Again, this was totally my oversight - I run near PCH at least a couple of times a month at home and it is flat, flat, flat.  Did I mention it's flat? My goal was to come in at 1:55 which would shave almost 3 minutes off my PR time of 1:57:46. The plan was to hold an 8:45 pace until mile 8, step it up to an 8:35 min/mile through mile 11, and then try to take it up to 8:30 or 8:25 to the Finish Line. Yes, it is ambitious and would have me finishing in less than 1:55, but I love having a stretch goal, just in case! ;-)

I was able to calm myself down enough to get a good rhythm going for the first 6 or 7 miles. The hills threw me for a loop and it took a little extra mental strength to push through some of the "well you're not going to PR now Vera -  nice planning!". I wanted to just let myself go on the downhill segments but I was careful not to get too out of control because I was barely halfway through the course. At mile 7, my legs are starting to feel tired - ALREADY! I'm not really sure what's going on at this point but I'm trying to relax with reminders that my overall goal right now is working towards a 4:30 finish at Grandma's Marathon this coming June. My training schedule is heavier than ever - I'd run 4 miles with our Galloway group on Saturday (I'd never run within 2 days of a race before much less the day before!!). A lot of things were different for me coming into this race. So just keep pushing Vera. You can do it! Even maintaining a PR pace would be a major accomplishment at this point. We (as in my body and mind) press on.

My pacing strategy did not go as planned. Of course I went out too fast for the first mile. With all the hurrying up to get to the corrals on time, my adrenaline was pumping! I backed off a little and was able to maintain an 8:50 pace through the neighborhoods where our first hills appeared. Miles 5 and 6 were pretty much all downhill but after my experience with the hills during the Santa Barbara Marathon, I knew it was important to control my pace and not let my legs run rampant and waste fuel I'd need for the home stretch.

By the time I hit the turnaround point, I am seriously getting worried about how tired I am. Quit it Vera - this is a waste of energy. Focus on what you CAN do. Push, push, push. Damn I'm tired. Why do I feel like I'm going uphill on PCH?  Because you are. I barely remember miles 8-11 other than the fact that I was working so much harder than I have felt during a half marathon before - and I have run some hilly courses! I remember thinking at mile 11 that I needed to put my Marathon Hat on (you know the mental one you put on at mile 23 when you feel like you want to cut your feet off?)  because it was the only way I was going to keep myself in the mindset that I was going to get through this. I distinctly remember hitting 11.8 miles - come on Vera, you're almost there. Get out of this "I'm tired" whining and finish strong!! My official time was 1:54:59!! OMG! I did it.

Here's how it played out:

It wasn't until after the race was over when hubs and I were walking back to the car, wet and freezing, that we realized just how freaking far away we had parked. A quick check on the Android showed us as being TWO MILES from the start. (Reminder: Map Not To Scale) Holy cow. No wonder I was feeling so tired so quickly; fighting Marathon demons during a Half Marathon race. I realize we, as runners, have great responsibility in scoping out details for a race, but come on - how about "this parking lot is 2 miles from the start" instead of or in addition to "Map not to scale". I don't know. I PR'd despite a 2 mile 'warm up' - but I am a little jaded by the lack of details.

It's interesting though... had you told me I would exceed my PR goal after running 2 miles to get to the start with no rest before the gun (with or without knowing about the hills), I would have told you and myself that it was just plain crazy. Out of the question. I'm in no shape to do that - and I didn't taper as much as I wanted to. Mind over matter. The only person blocking me from a attaining personal best is me. Who knows what my time could have been had it not been for that 2 mile warm up?  Or maybe I PR'd because I was feeling so unexpectedly tired early on in the race so I pushed harder than ever to overcome those feelings?

I'm not sure if I will run this race again. Maybe the Full if I'm looking for one to run early in the season. We are so spoiled here in So Cal with an abundance of beach running/cycling paths that I think may have contributed to feeling slightly bored by the course. But when I think of all my fellow runners braving sub-freezing temps this time of year, I dedicate this race to you!

On a fun note, I have a new Race Day shirt (for races I run without my Galloway group). Now the world will be reminded my heart belongs to John. And of course www.loveliverun.com is shamelessly promoted on the back. ;-)

Race #1 for 2011 complete. I hope it will be the only 17.1 mile 'Half Marathon' event (2mi to the Start + 13.1mi racing +2 mi walk back to the car) I participate in without advance notice.  It may not have been ideal conditions from several aspects, including  super-intense  post-race GI pain, but a Half Marathon PR is great start. I cannot figure out what is going on with me. I don't get sick during or after long training runs....time to start trying out different fuel sources again I guess. Should I be fueling differently during races because I'm working so much harder? I'll take any advice I can get to avoid be doubled over with severe cramps for several hours.

Wondering about those funny headphones I'm wearing? Thanks to Sony, no more cords!!!! I'm going to do a Product Review on them, but in the meantime, let's just say they're as close to being the best thing to happen to the portable music industry since the introduction of portable music devices in the early 70's.

Hang 10 Peeps!

January 2011 - It's A Wrap!

Wooooosh - there goes January. Despite a fantastic month of running in which I saw my highest weekly and monthly mileage ever (33.5 miles the week of Jan 23; 121.6 miles for the month!), I let these last few days get me in a funk. Partly from the taper blues, partly from an unexpected slow recovery from our Galloway group run on Saturday and partly from a really painful tooth that knocked me down (physically and mentally) for the rest of the weekend, into Monday night. In fact, I started to write this blog earlier but I just couldn't get it going. It occurred to me I hadn't run since Saturday and I wasn't feeling "worthy" of writing about running because I wasn't doing any!!  I have 2 short runs on my schedule today so I decided to get my feel-good hormones circulating and jumped on the treadmill before signing into work for a quick 2-miles. It's amazing what a difference just 20 minutes can make. The gloomy Eeyore in me made a quick exit and I know I'll be feeling more invigorated and energized after running with our Galloway group members tonight.

I was surprised at the toll our group run took on my body. It was such a beautiful long slow distance run through streets and trails in Simi Valley, CA. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day for our first 9.5-miler together. There were a few pretty steep hills but at the pace we were running, I did not think twice about altering my personal training schedule last week to account for the extra hill work. In true Vera-style, I still kept double-workout Tuesday on the schedule, but because I was starting my taper period, I decided to do a Box-Fit routine on Kinect (Biggest Loser Challenge) in the evening after completing a slightly faster than planned 4-miler earlier that morning. I probably should have stuck with Yoga as planned because I was sore for 2 days afterwards. I was completely exhausted by the time we went to bed.

To continue this state of brilliance I was in, rather than run after work on Wed, I decided to run first thing in the morning. It was the first time I ran spontaneously. I mean, I intended to run that day, but got the itch to do it suddenly and since it was a short 30-minute, I had the time before work to get it done. My rationalization included thoughts of the 4-miler on the schedule for Thursday and the possible benefit of more rest in between workouts. If I ran first thing Wed morning, I'd be training on exhausted legs (possibly helpful for the final couple of miles in the race or a huge mistake). If I waited until after work on Thursday to run again, I'd be giving myself 36 hours of rest.  By Friday, I was tired and freaking HUNGRY!!! I seriously could not shovel enough food in my face. Now of course, here come the body image issues. I scaled back on my mileage and now I'm eating more. Then I decided to torture myself further by getting on the scale. Up 2.5 pounds. Crap.  Hopefully it's primarily extra intramuscular glycogen and water - my quads were definitely swollen last week so I know they were in repair mode.

I ended up running with multiple groups on Saturday so 9.5 miles turned into 14. My stubborn left IT band had had enough of me and wasn't shy in letting me know. In light of this, I took Sunday and Monday off completely. The painful toothache kept me up on Saturday night and was almost unbearable by Sunday night. My jaw and the gums around this painful tooth were swollen. I could barely focus on anything but that pain - but it did keep me from wanting to run get off the couch so maybe it was a blessing in a terrible disguise? This whole situation was not helping my mental state either. What if it's something that will keep me from racing on Sunday. Yikes!! Luckily, I was able to get in to see my dentist on Monday. As it turns out, the teeth surrounding the dental implant I have are moving which is causing some shifting of the crown over the implant. A piece of food got stuck IN my gums and caused an infection. A little irrigation and some antibiotics - it's all good. No pain today. Thank goodness!!!

So here we are 4.5 days away from Surf City - just 3 short runs left before the big day. I'm glad I decided to run this morning. It cleared my head and brought me back to a good spot. Right where I want to be going into this race. Let's do this!