Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 9/29 Regular Run 6 9:41 Tuesday, 9/30 Regular Run 9 9:55 Wednesday, 10/1 Rest 0 -- Thursday, 10/2 Regular Run 7 9:44 Friday, 10/3 Rest 0 -- Saturday, 10/4 Long Run 21 9:57 Sunday, 10/5 Yoga 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 43 Last week was the week I was waiting for. It was the peak of my training schedule, and my success or failure in getting through it would, I believed, determine whether I'd be able to go into MCM feeling capable. And I was successful! So much, in fact, that I ran one extra mile than I'd planned for my long run (but mostly because I misjudged the distance). I didn't run the full distances on my training plan during the week, as I've still been hesitant about my foot, but I didn't feel my long run was negatively impacted because of it. For the first time in a while, I ran with two other friends who are also running the marathon. I'd gotten so accustomed to running by myself that I forgot ho...

I'd been wanting to do a long run run out in Clearwater for some time now, partly because of its three bridges, and I finally did it last weekend. I say "wanting" with the caveat that I knew it would be good training for me; I did not think it would be particularly fun. And aside from the fact that I had good company and decent weather, I was right. Because Clearwater is a foreign land to me (and a mere 25-minute drive from home), I contacted my friend Beth , who runs in the area frequently. She gave me very detailed directions for where to run--so detailed that I was afraid I wouldn't remember and printed them out on a piece of paper I carried with me on the run. Her route would have incorporated the three main bridges: Sand Key, Bellair, and Clearwater; but because that particular loop would have put us back at our parking spot with only 12 miles, which meant we could have been tempted to not run the four more miles we needed, we decided to just run an out-and-bac...

This past training week was a rather solid one. I got to run with a variety of different people and was finally pushed beyond the effort I've been putting out on my own. Week 3: 1/7/13 - 1/13/13 M:  5.66 mi (P)  +  yin yoga (XT) T:  4 mi (E  + P) W:  CrossBoot (XT) R:  3.1 mi (E) F:   hot yoga (XT) Sa:  10 mi (LSD) Su:  yoga in the park (XT) Weekly mileage: 22.76 Key: (E) = Easy; (P) = Pace; (LSD) = Long Slow Distance; (XT) = Cross Training On Monday, I went back to my running group "roots" at Flatwoods/ Hunters Green (we run Flatwoods Park during Daylight Savings and then move to the surrounding Hunters Green 'burbs after Daylight Savings, as Flatwoods is closed by the time we meet to run). These are the people whom I consider my main running family. Even when I've taken breaks from the Monday night runs, these folks have all still had a presence--sometimes at other events, sometimes just on Facebook--and have been suppo...