Birthday Wishes

This is a running blog, I know that, but I couldn't pass up wishing my best running sherpa, partner in life and BFF a Happy Birthday here!  Today is Ari's birthday and I want him to know just how lucky I am to have him!  Happy Birthday honey bunny!

I know that every wife thinks this, but I know I am the luckiest girl on the planet. 

Happy Birthday Ari!

I had another busy weekend even though I am still fighting off this wretched cold.  I feel like garbage especially in the mornings and the evenings.  I am trying not to focus on how it is keeping me from running but it is getting hard.  I have only 6 weeks to Boston, and a busy racing schedule coming up.  I know I am not loosing fitness but I am not getting the miles in like I want.  I am trying to be patient, let it run its course and in the mean time only pushing myself to what is comfortable.

Friday I came home from work and my legs were dying to run.  I was feeling meh, so I thought I would head out for a quick run.  I hadn't run since Monday and I wasn't sure how I would do.  I just headed out the front door and started running with no real plan.  Surprisingly my legs were fresh and wanted to move!  I didn't look at my Garmin much, only to see what my miles were.  I did one of my shorter routes and ended up with a pretty speedy 5.5 mile run.  It felt so good to be out there and my cold didn't seem any worse than it was before.
5.5 miles  43:37  7:56/mi pace
They were good miles, and I was surprised at my overall pace.  I think more than anything it was due to really fresh legs.  I went to bed early that night since I had a fun bloggy group meet-up in the morning!

The wonderful Aron had organized a local bloggy meet-up and run for Saturday and I was more than excited to join them.  I am so done with my running routes right now that it was not only nice to run with other people but to scope out some other running trails.  The meet-up was about 40 mins away for me which wasn't too bad at all!  And in fact, I would totally drive there on the weekends to get my long runs in just to mix it up!  I got to meet some really awesome chics including Tara, Maritza, Page, Kerry and Holly!  All the girls were just as nice in person as they are on their blogs!  I took off with Page and Tara as they were going to be doing the longer runs of the day at 20 and 10 respectively.  I was going to keep it low, around 6, and just turn around at 3.  But in my daze of leaving the house in the morning with my cold I had forgotten my Garmin!  Ugh!  Tara, Page and I were just running and chatting and I finally asked Page how many miles we had gone and she said 3.5!  LOL!  So, Tara was going to turn around at 5 and I just decided to stick it out with her.  I was not disappointed.  The conversation was great, the pace really comfortable and I made a new friend!  Thanks Tara for letting me run with you!

Tara didn't have her Garmin either but knew the trail like the back of her hand.  We turned around at 5 and headed back to finish out the 10.  My legs felt great and again I think it was from the fact that I had run just 12.5 miles for the week.  I think we finished the run in about 1:40 or 1:45 which was awesome.  We met the girls back for coffee and had a blast catching up with everyone.  Thanks again Aron for a great meet-up, I hope we can do it again!

When I got home I took a super long nap!  My cold has been asking me to just rest, rest and rest some more.  We got to bed pretty early as I had a long run I wanted to do on Sunday before we headed to Sacramento to see my Bro!

I got up Sunday feeling like garbage again.  Mornings are the worst when you have a cold!  I didn't want to run, and if I was sticking to my "schedule" I had 20 on the books with 22 in parenthesis if I was feeling it.  I was not.  I told myself to shoot for 16 and see what I could pull out.  I still have a few weeks for a couple of longer runs so I was trying not to freak.  We headed out and the weather was awesome!  I started out in shorts and a tech t-shirt and by mile 8 I was down to my sports bra!  My legs weren't tired at all, but my body was holding me back.  I knew 20 was out of the question so I tried to push for 18.  Sadly, I had to listen to myself and I turned around and finished the run with 17. 
17 miles 2:28:11  8:43/mi pace.  
I am so disappointed in this run but I know I need to keep a level head about it.  I had some faster miles in there in the 7:50 range but the last few miles I was dragging and had just ran out of gas.  I got the miles done and finished the week with 39.5 with just four days of running.  I'll take it. 

After the run we headed up to Sacramento where I finally got to see my big Bro and wrap my arms around him!  I was so overwhelmed with seeing him that we were all crying!  We all realized how short and precious life is this past week.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are lucky people.  The weather in Sac was just as beautiful and we all just hung out and enjoyed celebrating Ari. 

I am still feeling like garbage and I have a crazy work week ahead of me.  I'm going to just put my head down and plow through the mounds of work I have.  I will also be trying to get back on schedule for the week with running and cross training.  I have the Shamrock Half Marathon to look forward to on Sunday, too! 

I also wanted to let you know that I am running in the Relay in May and we are raising money for Organs 'R' Us.  Any amount you could give would be awesome.  Our team is super excited to run and race and to raise money for a really great cause. 

Congrats to all the racers this weekend, especially Tonia who had a huge PR!  Whoo hoo!
Happy Running and Happy Monday peeps!