Some updates and thoughts bullet style!

Warning this is totally random...

• Here I am with my two little ladies after my 20 miler last week. We were at our favorite art museum that includes a cool sculpture park.
• Two weeks ago was tough. After being inhaler free for several months, my asthma came back with a vengeance. I took off three days from running, did eventually start feeling better, and wound up being able to run a 20 miler that Sunday at 8:02 pace. The week ended with 47 miles, which isn't so bad. 
• Last week was much better. I ended up with 60 miles. This week will be my last build week and my last loooong run. Next week I start tapering! Woo hoo!
• I hate the Kinvara 3s. I found a pair of Kinvara 2s online, and have had no issues with them. Stupid shoes. Why do they always feel the need to change a good thing?
• Kaylee loves school so much she cried last weekend when she couldn't go on Saturday and Sunday. She is definitely an intense child. I have no idea where she gets that from...  ;)
• This has been my best marathon training cycle. I have no idea what that will mean on race day, but it should be interesting at the very least.
• I've been experimenting with a few new workouts. Well, new to me anyway. Every couple weeks I try to do some variation of 6 x 1 mile repeats at 10K pace. Last week I did 6 x 7 minutes at slightly faster than 10K pace with 2 minute jogs in between intervals. (7 minutes is more than a mile for me.) I did it, but it really was hard. And why is this workout worth my time? I don't know. A few years ago I read something about Dean Karnazes (I think) saying that was an awesome marathon training workout. So I'm trying to figure out just how awesome it is for me.
• I've also been experimenting with another workout. It's mile repeats at marathon pace. Boring I know, but a fast friend suggested 8-10 1 mile repeats at marathon pace. I completely ignored the suggestion at first, but I've found that it's a very interesting workout to run the day after a super long run. Interesting in that it's really really hard, but doable (most of the time). I take 2 minute rest jogs at (or slightly faster than 8:00 min pace) in between intervals. Mentally it's easier than a regular marathon pace run, but in the end it's really not much slower than a MP run.
• During this training cycle I've lost a little weight. I wasn't trying, but increasing from 40 miles to 70 miles must have led to a calorie deficit. Don't worry. I'm still not skinny. I just went from a 22.5 BMI to a 21.5. Just something to note. With society being so weight crazy, I hate to even mention it, but I suppose it could make a difference on race day.
• I haven't been posting much. There are a ton of things floating around my brain, but at night when I would have time to post something, I wind up spending my time with Nick. And that's a good thing. It just means I'm left with little posting time.
• I got into Boston. I hope everyone else did too!

Registered for Boston

I am in a total blogging funk. I go back and forth. Keep the blog alive or just ditch it? I love that blogging has given me the opportunity to meet other lady runners that may also have kids and are near me in age, but...I don't know...I'd rather have all you ladies live nearby and run with me (or guys, that would be fine too). Then we could train together and chat in the real world. Obviously, that's not happening anytime soon, so I'm stuck with a blog. C'est la vie, right?

Miss Kaylee had a successful first week of Kindergarten. She successfully got everyone in the family sick. In less than a week. She's also quite happy with school and has adjusted just fine. I just wish she wasn't so ambitious with her germ spreading. You can probably tell from her first day of school photo (over on the left) that she was ready to go. She did admit to being a tiny bit nervous, but I told her that would probably happen at the beginning of every year, and as far as I know, is pretty typical. She seemed okay with that explanation.

Let's see, from a training perspective things have been okay. I had some schedule issues last week, missed one day of running and as a result wound up with a 60 mile week (with a good amount of MP running). That's the problem with trying to maintain 60-75 miles a week. One missed day (without a super long run planned) and you can barely make it to 60 (or at least I can barely make it to 60). And, because I am being beat down by this illness I've already missed one day this week. Ugh. Also, I have a three hour and ten minute long run planned for this Sunday, which may or may not happen depending on how the week unfolds. I already had to refill all my asthma medications after being free of them for almost eight months. Kids. And their germs. It's a good thing they're so cute and lovable.

In other news, I registered for Boston today. I don't have an official you got in letter yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll get in. I almost convinced myself not to register. Almost. I had declared to Nick over the weekend that I wouldn't be registering. He just sort of raised his eyebrows. You know, like a "really, who do you think you're fooling look?" Then I went running with my co-worker today, and it was, of course, the first question she asked me. "Did you register?" Then I had to explain that I wasn't going to run it. I was tired of training, and running lots of miles, and being sick, and blah blah blah. But after running with her I decided that I might regret not registering later (this will be my first Boston), and so I spoke with Nick (who gave me an "I knew it!"), and then I registered for Boston. So there you have it. I've registered for my next marathon before I've run the marathon that I'm currently training for. And that my friends, sounds crazy. But in a good way, right?