red hot dogs and a long run

week 4 of marathon training (for MDI marathon) has officially come to an end (as of sunday, were now into week 5. timely blog posts are not my strong point any more). so far so good... i havent missed one run (which is a huge surprise to me!). this past week i was .5 miles short of my long run but i figure since i was a few miles over for the other weeks it all evens out (towards the plus side!) i am happy with how i am beginning to feel on my runs and am hoping to continue feeling that way. last week i was in the mindset that i could care less about running the marathon and really about running in general, but thats kinda passed now. im sure its not the last time ill have doubts... oh the joys of marathon training.

week 1
mon- rest (love when marathon training plans start with a rest day!)
tues- 3 miles
wed- 4 miles
thurs- 3 miles
fri- rest
sat- 6 miles
sun- cross training (eating and changing diapers)
  scheduled: 15 miles
  actual: 16 miles (+ 1 mile)

week 2
mon- rest
tues- 3 miles
wed- 5.1 miles
thurs- 3 miles
fri- rest
sat- 7.5 miles
sun- cross training (ran 2 miles. really doing well on this whole cross training thing, huh?)
   scheduled: 16 miles
   actual: 20.6 whoa! (+ 4.6 miles)

week 3
mon- rest
tues- 3 miles
wed- 6 miles
thurs- 6.2 miles
fri- rest
sat- cross training? nope.
sun- 5 miles
   scheduled: 15 miles
   actual: 20.2 miles! (+5.2 miles)

week 4
mon- rest
tues- 3 miles
wed- 4.1 miles
thurs- rest
fri- 3 miles
sat- cross training... i just have to laugh now
sun- 8.4 miles
   scheduled: 19 miles
   actual: 18.5. lame (-0.5 miles)

marathon training in the summer is awesome. not.

so, clearly i need help with the whole cross training thing. as much as i am happy that i didnt drop the $$$ last fall on the bike i really wanted, i do wish i had it now (and def cant justify spending the money right now. who has one for me to steal borrow for the next two months?! preferably a pink one...) sure i could head to the gym but i love hanging out with my husband and little man on my days off, and its just too nice to be inside biking! i might try to get back into the pool at least once a week, and my neighbors have been desperately trying to drag me to boot camp so im hoping to get there sometime as well. i have p90x collecting dust sitting on my tv stand (and make excuses every day as to why i cant do it...), i have weights in the basement, i downloaded a few ab workout apps on my phone... someone come be my personal trainer please!

now this is what i call cross training!

on sunday sarah and i headed out early in the am to try to get 9 miles in before spectating the old port half marathon and 5k. a bunch of our friends were braving the heat (for once sarah and i made superb life decisions by NOT running the race!) so we wanted to cheer them on. we got a bit of a later start than expected but it was still fairly cool and not too humid when we headed out. we parked at east end beach which was right near mile 7 and mile 12 of the half, and mile 2 of the 5k. we ran down towards the start/finish line and gawked at the port-a-potty lines (seriously so long!) we ran along commercial street and at about mile 2 i needed to pee (already?!). we stopped at the gas station and a construction worker was buying a red hot dog. dude, its 7:15 in the morning!! (and its from the GAS STATION!) dont get me wrong i like red hot dogs, but come on...

the sun was out in full force and it was staarting to get hot when we reached the 3.5 mile mark and stopped to cheer on the start of the half marathon. we waved and cheered, saw most of the people we were there to see (3000 people corralled into one lane on the road made for tough spectating so early) and then we continued on back towards the start. we ran right into the crowd waiting for the 5k to start but quickly got ahead of them before the race started. just a little ways ahead of the start was a volunteer and an arrow pointing into a wooded path up a hill. we couldnt imagine this was part of the race, was it?

yup, it was up. and stairs (this pic is looking back down along the path)

clearly i made sarah run up it with me

who puts stairs in a 5k? what is this, ironman nyc?! it wasnt too far but i had a feeling it was going to be very congested as it wasnt far from the start and the path wasnt that big. it then got onto a narrow path which lead to a huge hill straight up. solid life decision not to run this 5k (or it was filled up when i got around to registering, thankfully!) sarah and i ran down towards the half marathon course and got in a couple of more miles before calling it quits at 6 miles and headed up to the half way point to cheer, complete with cowbells. at the top of the hill there was a criss cross of 5k runners and half marathon runners which i am not sure the race director planned very well for, and it showed to be pretty confusing until the 5k runners and walkers were completely through (including a woman walking the course with her cane. way to go!)

after we saw everyone we went back down to the path where the runners would be coming back after running out onto back cove. there was another cluster fuck of half marathon runners trying to come off the downhill through a water stop onto the path going in the opposite direction as the 5k runners coming through on the path towards the finish and also having a water stop. they had delayed the 5k start after the half and i think that if they could somehow start the 5k at the same time or earlier, it would have fixed those problems. but that was the least of the race directors worries that day i think (5 runners went to the hospital with heat stroke, many more needed medical attention, water stops ran out of water/cups, and the finish line apparently had water issues as well... everything is always a learning opportunity, but water on a hot day isnt something to be low on)...

while waiting for runners to come back towards us i took off to get in another two miles since i wanted to get 9 miles in for the day. i could feel that it was getting so hot but i had water and gatorade so i felt pretty good. i watched the lead male and female come in for the finish and cheered the runners on as i ran back to where sarah was cheering. we saw jens husband and brother in law pacing their friend in (complete with a blue sparkle skirt!)

we jumped in and ran a little with another sarah who i know from college, and then again with my cousin kim. we cheered my friend betsy in (while she grumbled something about hating life and wanting to quit all things running), and cheered for gia who was here all the way from nyc! all in all im thinking i got in an extra 0.4 miles, to get to 8.4. fine with me, i was done. just before we left to go home we saw sara and eric coming in through the water stop and we jumped in front of them and cheered REAL loud. who wants to run a hot humid half when you can cheer for all the runners!! so much more fun.