Another Busy Weekend!

I have yet, another, race this weekend.  Don't get me wrong, I love racing.  But these early Sunday morning wake-up calls are starting to weight on me.  Plus, I haven't been to Mass in over a month.  Why do they have marathon's on Sunday's?  I have never understood this?  I mean, you push yourself to the limits one day, and then have to go to work the next?  Why don't they do them on Saturday's and give people an extra day of recuperating?  I just don't get it.  Either way, I have the Dean Karnazes Silicon Valley Marathon & Half Marathon this Sunday.  The start time is 7 a.m., which I really appreciate, and the good thing is it starts just downtown and is only about a 15 minute drive for us.  I won't be having to wake at 3 a.m. for this one!
It is an out and back for the marathoners and a one way shot to Los Gatos for us halfer's.  I am a bit unhappy about the one way ticket for me, as I think we have to go back to the start, via bus they provide, to gather all of our race goodies.  My hubbs is going to ride his bike along side of me and my dad is going to meet us at the end to load up everything and head back to downtown.  I want my hubbs next to me for this one so that I can really work on pace and form and kick.  Plus, I can have my water when I want it - a big plus when you have your own running sherpa!  It seems like a pretty flat course, with just a few "hills," so that will be good news for my quads, which still after one rest day are quite tight.

Besides the race on Saturday, I am actually going to get my hair cut finally.  I am dying here with it so long and I really need some pampering.  After the hair cut, I am going to run over to the Expo, get my bib and shirt then meet my mamma to get manicures and pedicures.  I haven't had much time to spend with the fam lately.  We have all been very busy so this will be a really nice time to spend with her.  She is one of my biggest fans, one of my BFF's, and I always cherish the time we spend together. 

After the haircut, Expo and nails, the hubbs and I are going to have an early dinner and go and see a movie!  This is monumental people!  We never go see movies!  We always make an excuse and stay home and watch something On Demand instead.  You know that cute pup in the pic from my previous post? Well she is the reason we always stay home.  How can you leave that cute face just to go see some overpriced movie?  It's funny; this is the reason we don't have kids yet.  We don't want to be tied down and not be able to do the things we want to do.  But we usually prefer to stay home and cuddle with our baby girl.  Yes cheesy, I didn't say it wasn't.  But there is an awesome Halloween movie out right now, Paranormal Activity, that I am dying to see!  It is being reviewed as wicked scary, and normally I am not into scary, but this sounds sooo good!  One friend of mine who went to see it said grown men were walking out of the theater saying, "I can't do this anymore!"  I am thrilled.   So far that is the plan, dinner, movie, but I am not holding my breath, that cute little Lilly face may just keep us in and we will again wait for this one to hit On Demand, too!

I didn't do a rest day on Wednesday, I was itching to try out my new shoes.  So instead I decided to give it a shot and run in the new kicks instead.  And they did not disappoint!  They are springy and yet very stable and light.  I really like them.  The shoes were good, but my quads were disappointed in me.  I made it 9 miles.  I had 7 on the books, and tried to make up for the lost miles from Tuesday.  They were a hard 9 miles but I was glad I got out there and enjoyed my new shoes.
9 miles 1:10:50  7:52/mi pace.

Yesterday I actually took my running rest day and worked out that core!  I did an ab video from the On Demand section and it kicked my butt!  I planked, crunched, twisted and did push-ups.  I missed this part of exercising and have decided to make sure that I do 20 mins. of core everyday before I head out for my run.  It may be hard to find that extra time, but I know that it will pay off ten-fold come race day in December.

To all you peeps running and racing this weekend, enjoy it and good luck!  I am soooo glad it's Friday, even if my weekend is just a busy as my week!
Happy Running!

BTW, thank you to all my readers who informed me of the very early start for the walkers in last week's Nike Women's Marathon.  I was not really angry or upset, just more curious and couldn't understand how they could have possibly got that far ahead of me.  Thanks for clearing it up!