Not enough NAP time...

Wallace & Grommette illustrate just how tired I feel this morning!

My apologies for nearly two weeks without a post but I have been busy, I promise.

Our Fall 2007 Cancer to 5K Training Program has begun! We are already starting week 3 and team workouts are going well! The group is small and that clearly benefits the participants. Now they are getting even more personal time with the Coach. We have had some amazing volunteers come out to help and so far everything is going well! Now that the program has started, my work load is a little less frantic for a few weeks.

The LiveSTRONG Challenge is coming up this weekend. I'll have some news on the my IRON-GAL LiveSTRONG Challenge later this week. Jim and I are looking forward to the event.

This weekend was a whirlwind - Saturday was a Cancer to 5K team workout that I followed up with a short 27 mike BIKE. Sunday was "long run day" in prep for the upcoming Marine Corps Marathon in just a little over 9 weeks.

My trip to London put a little kink into my training (in other words, I did very little training....) and so the last 4 weeks I have been working hard to ramp my running mile back up to a volume that will make the marathon a fun experience. I'm sad to say that there will be no Personal Records (aka PRs) at the Marathon distance this year but that doesn't matter because I get the thrill of being on the course with my sister Heather, who will be running her first Marathon and I am honored to be able to share that experience with her.

Okay back to Sunday.... I was up at O'Dark Hundred and out the door for my 14 mile run at 6AM! 3 hours and 30 minutes later after a 4 packets of GU, a few "nature" stops and one stop for water at Starbucks (the water fountain I planned for my water stop was out of service), my long run was done. Surprisingly, other than being tired and having some tightness in my hips, it was a good workout. I am currently averaging about 20-24 mile of running a week, a little on the low side for 9 weeks out from a Marathon but I refuse to go "kamikaze" and boost my mileage too quickly. There is no need to end up injured and unable to run at all. I have 16, 18, & a 20 mile long run planned over the next 6 weeks and then a mild taper, those runs should get to me the start and the finish on race day.

After the 14 mile run, I transformed into "Hostess" for the day and had 7 girlfriends over for our monthly Book Club. I served Gazpacho (cold Spanish soup) and we had a wonderful assortment of bread, cheese, fruit, wine and Italian sodas that my friends brought. We spent 3 hours eating lunch, enjoying each others company and talking about books. This is a group that I look forward to seeing every 6-8 weeks.

Jim was a GEM! While I was out on my long run, he cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the house. I am one very lucky and loved lady!

Post Book Club, I sat on the couch and watched the movie "The Right Stuff" for about three hours. Joined on occassion by Wallace and Grommette. I think they were just checking to make sure I was still awake, which amazingly enough, was the case through the whole movie.

Now it is Monday, and it all starts over again! Hope you all have a great week!

Life is Good! LiveSTRONG!