Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon (RACE DAY!!)

Time: 3:40.06 (my 2nd fastest marathon!)

10 of 37 Age Group

22 of 226 women

108 of 693 Overall

1st finisher from Chicago hahaha, no seriously.

My last 10k of the day was my fastest. Crazy.

Short Story:

I had an absolute blast running this race. Everything came together and I enjoyed (almost) EVERY. SINGLE. STEP.

The morning ritual:

Woke up at 3am to eat oatmeal and drink some coffee before heading an hour out to Knoxville. One of my favorite parts of race morning is sitting in the dark while eating my breakfast in solitude, reflecting on the race I am about to run. It calms my nerves and gives me clarity and confidence by visualizing how I want this race to go. A large part of distance racing (or just performing) is your mindset. Bad thoughts can quickly sabotage the most prepared runner.

Pre Race:

We hung out in the Hilton until about 15 minutes before the race started. It was a *perfect* 37 degrees with light wind for the 7:30am start. The days preceding the race were in the high 60's!   I quickly said my good byes to my mom and L and slipped into the corral alongside the 3:35 pacer. After a beautiful live singing of the National Anthem, we were off!

Pre race thoughts:

I was pretty psyched to run this race. I had been thinking about it for a few years, but finally pulled the trigger on it this year. I knew there would be hills, and that very little of the course would be just plain flat. This was a little concerning given how flat Chicago is, but I contacted Britt for a training plan and we incorporated loads of hills into my treadmill workouts. I felt fairly confident about the hills and my fitness, but still had the memories of September's Fox Valley marathon fresh in my mind- where my body basically shut down with over 10 miles to go. I had to remind myself over and over again how I fixed that issue, and generally do not usually experience any significant issues or surprises during distance races.

My plan:

The only significant goal I had for this race was to have a ton of fun. My pacing strategy was to start with the 3:35 pacer and stick with her until the half, then take off and slightly negative split the race because the 2nd half was "less hilly" than the 1st half. And yes, I was still concerned about those hillz. There ended up not being more than a quarter mile stretch at a time that was actually flat.

OH NOO!

The gun went off and I was following the herd up the first of many hills when all of a sudden SH*T! My sunglasses fell off my hat and onto the ground. I quickly stopped to pick them up and almost got trampled. I totally forgot they were on my hat. DERP! Luckily that was the biggest snafu of the day.

Almost 1200' of gain and 1200' of elevation loss. This course is no joke!

26.2 miles of *almost* pure bliss

So I crossed the start of my 11th marathon and really had no idea how this day was going to go. And I really liked that. I felt fantastic in the early miles and kept with the 3:35 pacer through uphill and downhill. She was so amazing telling us what to expect next on the course to prepare us for our next hill to climb. I played leapfrog with her multiple times in the first 10 miles. She would motor up the gigantic hills while my flat lander self would stay at an even effort and slow down considerably. I'd usually catch back up within a mile or 2 and be all "I can do this. I can BQ." 

As we approached the truly gigantic mountain to climb around mil 7, I heard the pacer say "It's really steep and then levels off" that's all I heard before we started our ascent of Noelton hill. When I saw this hill I said HOLY SH*T. I almost considered walking up this beast because running wasn't really getting me too far too fast, but I just slowed a ton, shortened my stride and kept my head down and kept on keeping on. When I reached the level part I was all "that wasn't too bad..." until I looked up only to realize we were HALF WAY THERE. Holy HILL this thing was a monster. I might have muttered more expletives while climbing the 2nd half of this hill. At least it was the worst one of the day.

Running up a hill and trying to stay positive...

It took me a few miles to rejoin the pace group, but when I did the pacer asked how I was doing. Pro tip: If you are a pacer, take a lesson from this gal. It was amazing and encouraging to hear her ask me how I was (each time I rejoined the group) and consequently kept me in a positive freaking mood during these most difficult parts. By mile 10 and another significant incline, I lost the pacer. My positive thoughts were fading fast, and running was starting to feel labored. 

I hit a mental wall here. BOOM. While I had abandoned the BQ by this point, I was still upset that I wasn't going as fast as I thought I could be...I mean, I freaking wanted to BQ so bad and it was slowly slipping out of reach with every hill (Delusional since I had no idea how the hills would affect me). Around mile 12 I saw my mom and L and I shed the Owl Head Hat and my gloves.. Seeing them encouraged me a bit but I was still fighting some hilly demons. I thought about what Coach Britt reminded me "you're choosing to do this and you can choose your attitude towards the situation."

Shedding my gloves and Owl head hat around mile 12.
As soon as I split from the halfers, things got lonely and windy. I suddenly cursed myself for ditching the gloves and hat because the wind was so cold. It was crazy how I felt like there was a headwind even when I would turn 90 degrees down another block. My hands were swollen and painful. I was starting to question why I was doing this... yada yada yada.  Then all of a sudden, without warning, my mood turned around because a song came on my ipod that I needed to hear.
I was on my own after the half... Almost..

"THIS IS FU&KING AWESOME." 

As the Macklemore song "Thrift Shop" started playing, I started singing and dancing along with it. The few other runners, spectators, police officers must have thought I went crazy at this point but I picked up the pace and began passing runners I hadn't seen since long before mile 10. As I passed these runners from the full and the relay, we exchanged encouraging words. I was on top of the world. I thought multiple times of Erin during this time. Her Oakland Marathon Recap was nothing short of amazing. Something that resonated with me that she wrote was "If you expect PR's, you will be sorely disappointed 99% of the time." She also chose to celebrate her marathon even when she realized her goal was out of reach. I attempted to do the same.  I train for these events because I genuinely love running. Of course PRs are nice, but I simply love this sport. Around mile 15 I started smiling and dancing and truly enjoying myself on this course. 

Enjoying every single step around mile 18.
Mile 18 while singing and dancing my way through the suburbs of Knoxville, I saw my mom and L again.  I was so happy to see them and was feeling great. I thought about a message Michelle had sent me before the race- where she said that when we side 5'd in Fox Valley it turned her mood around considerably, and how if I wasn't feeling good, that I should do the same. While singing and dancing, I started hi-5ing everyone I saw on the course. The spectators, the volunteers, the police officers directing traffic all got high 5's and thank you's. I was flying on the course by this point. With 8 miles to go I was having a blast.

All smilez with a few milez to go

Running over the huge bridge around mile 21 was amazing! The views were spectacular and motivated me to keep pushing along. More hillz  sucked the life out of me but I continued to have a big goofy grin on my face. With 2 miles to go I was getting tired and my enthusiasm was waning. I continued to high 5 anyone and everyone in sight and got the people sitting at the cafes to cheer as I ran by. One last significant uphill kicked my butt, but a little while later was a crazy steep down hill.I chose to fly down that sucka knowing full well that with my fatigued muscles I could trip easily and roll down it. But I was willing to risk it. I passed more marathoners and relayers and even some halfers at this point as I was enveloped by the shadows of Neyland stadium. I was minutes away from crossing the finish of #11.

I started to cry at this point. I was so freaking happy to be feeling so ridiculously fantastic as I entered Neyland. I was so proud of myself for 10 weeks of training, for feeling great and for conquering all those darn hills. As I started running on the grass my smile was ear to ear and I was happier than I ever though possible after 26.2 miles. Everything clicked. I felt great almost the entire 26.2. It was bliss. 

This was a long overdue celebration especially after the major bonkfest I had at the Fox Valley Marathon of 2013.
I hadn't had a decent marathon since 2012, when I ran Fox Valley the first time. That was the last time everything "came together" where I truly felt confident and good.
Celebrating post race with L and my Mom.
Even with all the hills, and missing my arbitrary goal time by 7 minutes here in Knoxville, this race was exactly what I needed to nourish my runner soul and give me the confidence and motivation to keep on keeping on in this distance.

The Race:

The course started in the shadow of the Sun Sphere and went through many beautiful suburbs of Knoxville. The tree lined streets, the beautiful large houses and friendly volunteers made this race so enjoyable. I absolutely loved how "chill" this race was.  The expo was adequate for this size of race (7,000 participants between all the distances) and had over 65 vendors selling apparel, nutrition, shoes, other race entries and anything else running related. 

The Sun Sphere. Remnant of the World Fair 1982.
This race is hilly. Like, really hilly. It is by no means a PR course, unless of course you train on terrain like this most of the time. It was a good challenge to run these hills, and I felt my training was adequate to prepare me to feel as comfortable as possible on this course. (100% treadmill hillz!) The first half has more crowd support, and once I cut away from the half to continue on, I found I was running by myself for long stretches of the course. At times I wondered if I was on the course- but then would see an officer or volunteer directing traffic and the runners the correct way.

The aid station volunteers were very enthusiastic. One aid station was "Duck Dynasty" themed- complete with everyone in camo and the kids and adults using the duck calls to quack at us. I thought I had seen just about every possible race sign ever, but Knoxville surprised me. In the first half somewhere there was a sign that said "Naked Cheerleaders, half mile up the road." A quarter mile later, "Naked cheerleaders, quarter mile ahead." A quarter mile later there was a sign "Naked cheerleaders, ON BREAK" complete with pom poms on the ground...

Photo from the Knoxville Marathon Facebook Page

 There were ample aid stations (filled with smiling volunteers), live bands almost every mile or 2, nothing was left to chance by the race and was extremely well organized.
.

Photo from the Knoxville Marathon Facebook Page

This race has all the amenities of a big city race, but with a more intimate small town feel, filled with southern hospitality and charm.
And of course, I was celebrating with a beer post race in the newest addition to my race pint mug collection...


-xaar

Knoxville Marathon Week 10, RACE WEEK!

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: 2x 400's, 1 mile @ GMP, 2x 400's. This workout kicked my ass. The gym was hot and the effort seemed way too much for this last speed workout.

Wednesday: rest day


Thursday: easy 4 miles through my mom's 'hood. I did numerous laps around the streets which didn't have the truly LARGE hills and was still out of breath from this run. Didn't help it was almost 70 degrees and I was over dressed. Derp.


Friday: easy 4 + 5x 20 second sprints at the gym. This one also felt less than easy for the pace. I was overheated in this really nice gym. Side note: L and I easily brought down the average age in the gym by 33+ years that morning.

Saturday: Rest Day!
Went down to Knoxville to pickup my bib at the expo. Rested a lot and tried to come up with a good strategy for the enormously hilly course that was waiting for me on Sunday.

Sunday: KNOXVILLE MARATHON!
I finished my 11th marathon with a huge smile on my face, and it also happened to be my 2nd fastest time ever. A recap is in the works. Until then, I'll just say it went pretty much as expected, and the hills were no joke!


- xaar

Knoxville Marathon Week 8, OMG 2 weeks to go!

Monday: REST

Tuesday: Easy 5

Wednesday: 2x3 Miles HARD & FAST, 8 Miles total. (3 sets strength stuffs/ 2 sets core)
1st set @ 7:08 avg pace, 2nd set @ 7:03 avg pace. YEEHAW! 2 weeks ago I did the 3x2's and had doubts because the pace was around 10 seconds slower than my 5K PR (from October). Well, I nailed this one. Doubts were cast aside and I ran hard and enjoyed this ass kicking workout.

Thursday: Easy 2.5
Was supposed to be 5, but the pup detoured my plans. He was freaking out from all the ice falling that I made the decision to board him for the night, so he wouldnt hurt himself anymore by scratching at doors and destroying things.

Friday: 20 FREAKING MILES before work with 10 @ GMP. 2:41.37 +2 sets strength stuffs
Gym was at 75 degrees, FML. The thermostat is too high tech (read:not intuitive) and I couldnt lower the temp. There's a special place in hell for people who like the gym to be hot. It's not a freaking Bikram Studio, Idiots. Sweated my balls off during this one, but pushed through with the 10GMP (8:00-7:50 pace)  for miles 9-18. Overall felt pretty good. Experimented with nutrition more- Took a TJ's "Fruit Crusher" at mile 4.5, gu around mile 10, and ate bites of banana from 9 to the finish.

Saturday: REST
Was going to do my easy 5, but needed all the sleeps. An early massage at 9am also didn't help with running, but the massage was needed. My quad seems to have a knot in it, but the therapist said no- it was just tight. More Dead Sea salt baths are in my future, along with the usual foam rolling, myo ball, etc.

Sunday: Easy 6 with "All da Hillz" + 2 sets strength stuffs, 2 sets core.
12x 20 second hill sprints. I felt tired and heavy and lethargic and hot. Residual from the 20 most likely. Was happy to be done with this one.

 Monday the CBear and I took a walk because it was a "warm" 50 degrees out. It was probably the 3rd walk he has been on this year. We both enjoyed ourselves immensely even though the sunset was lack luster.

Much of the snow was melting and causing flooding.

By Wednesday the F*CKING snow came back. Around 4" of heavy wet snow was left behind after the storm. The wet snow quickly turned to ice and was so fun to walk through. With warmer temps on Thursday, the ice started breaking off buildings creating a need to wear a hard hat while outside down town. 

 As a result of the ice breaking off, CB got so freaked out that by Thursday he had opened a shut door in our place and tried to open several other doors. I made the executive decision to board him for the night because I didn't want to worry about him at work on Friday- nor did I want him to hurt himself further. (His paws were torn up from scratching...)

The 20 miler was good because CB wasn't home and I wasn't worrying about him.He was off having fun at doggy play time all day Friday. Lucky dog.

The fountains celebrating St Paddy's day

Thoughts this week:

Well, taper officially begins Wednesday at sundown. Post tempo run I can become the cliche of "Taper Madness." ok, not really. I've got a lot going on this week to keep me busy.And I don't waste my energy on stuff like that. 

I'm feeling really good about the past 8 weeks worth of training. Every single mile has been quality. And while I would have preferred to be running outside, the conditions were pretty much shit for one reason or another. The melting snow causing puddles mid week were turning into ice by the weekend. I ain't got time for falling and injuring myself this late in the game.   Oh, and running in 20-30 degrees would certainly impact my ability to run a race in potential 50-70 degrees race day. The gym has been my savior for acclimatization. It's the "silver lining" I keep telling myself. I'll be prepared for warmer temps because my gym is a sweat box. 

 He was so chill when I brought him home Friday afternoon. 

So with 2 weeks, 2 WEEKS until Knoxville, I'm starting to make a list of all my running accouterments that I'll need to take with me. I've already placed an order to restock my supply of the drink I use, and pretty much have my outfit picked out. That sounds so silly, but the "outfit" is important. Need to avoid chaffing, need to be comfortable, and of course, lets not forget "if you look good, you feel good." I've also got a small list of other things I'll need to purchase this week from Fleet Feet- some more GU, Body Glide, stuff like that. This will be my 11th Marathon, but the one of the things I've learned is leave nothing to chance. Routine and consistency are key to a solid race performance. And I pretty much have a routine that works very well for me. No need to change it up now. 

So finally, going into these last 2 weeks, I'll continue to visualize the race and how I want it to go. Mental prep is SO IMPORTANT. I'll also keep thinking only the most positive of thoughts, because why the hell not? There's no room in my head for negative shit. (that's just a waste of energy)  

2 weeks to go! YAY. 

Knoxville Marathon Week 7

Monday: REST
Work stressin me the eff out.

Tuesday: REST
Work stressin me the eff out again.

Wednesday: 5 mile Tempo @ 7:18. (7 miles total)
Felt overheated and rusty like a tin man that's been left out in the rain. Strength + Core stuffs too.

Thursday: Recovery 5 miles.
Flushing the gunk out.

Friday: 18 miles, 2:27
Another pre-work long run in the books. Didn't experiment with real foodz because I didn't plan ahead. DERP. Felt a little hot, but otherwise an uneventful slightly progressive run with the final 5 miles around GMP.

Saturday: Easy 5
Felt like shit. Ate a ton of food for brunch and struggled through this one 4 hours later.

Sunday: Easy 7 + 2 sets strength stuffs
Mildly progressive + filled with rage because of our elderly neighbor and her barking "Rats" which never STFU. One or all 3 (barking rats, not elderly neighbor) shit in the hallway and she didn't clean up until after they went for a walk.

Wore my new Lulu skirt to test out and it was AH-MAZING. It didnt take a chunk out of my thighs, so I believe it will be part of my race day outfit. And... IT HAS 4 POCKETS!!! No need for a janky spi-belt or fanny pack now. YAY! My NEWtons also are feeling great after the 18 miler and the 7 miler. finally broken in after 50 miles and my feet are very happy. :)
With Knoxville fast approaching 3 weeks from today, I've been feeling every type of emotion towards this race. One moment i'll feel super confident in my abilities, and the next wonder why the eff am I doing another marathon. I'm doing another because I have unfinished business. I won't settle until I reach my goal, ok that's a lie. I'll never settle. The awful memories of Fox Valley 2013 creep into my head more than I would like, and I wonder if the same bonk-fest will happen at Knox. Answer: Probably not since I know what caused it and have figured out a solution to avoid the great bonk in the future.
Some of the thingz I've realized this time around...

• I cannot take 2 days off in a row and expect to run a hard tempo with "ease." 
• Looking back at past training cycles helps build confidence. Especially since i'm much stronger now than back in September 2013 as evidenced by my training logs.
• Figuring out why I bonked at FVM was important, and the changes I've made to my nutrition since have made a huge difference in my runs.
• Acknowledging I have some sort of pre-run anxiety happening before speed work and long runs. Once I get running, all those feelings fade.
• I want to run more than 5 days a week but won't change this until post marathon. 

Stuff to remember going into my final high mileage week:

• I have all the confidence in Coach and her plan to get me to the start line ready to smash my goal for this race.
• I've been putting in all the work and need to trust in my training and myself.
• The bonk-fest of FVM won't happen in a future race due to tweaking my nutrition & knowing the cause of the issue.
• I love running and chasing better times for as long as my body allows. 
• In the words of Macklemore "This is F*CKING AWESOME."

3 weeks. Time is flying by and I'm getting more and more excited for this race. It will be so nice to run outside in a new area and even tackle some hills.AND HAVE FUN!

- xaar

Knoxville Marathon Week 6

Time flies when you're having fun!  I'm now more than halfway through my 10 weeks of training for this race :)


Monday: REST

Tuesday: Easy 5 + Core stuffs

Wednesday: 3x2 miles, HARD. + Strength Stuffs
Averaged 7:10, 7:08, and 7:05 respectively for the 2 mile sets. I felt really good during this workout and was *almost* sad there was no 4th set... When I saw this workout in the email from Coach, I thought there was no way i'd hit the paces since they are so close to my 5K PR pace from October... Coach knows me better than I know myself.

Thursday: Easy 5
Some easy recovery miles. My legs were a bit sore from the 3x2 + strength and it was amazing how some easy miles flushes the crap out of your legs and makes them feel almost good as new.

Friday: REST

Saturday: 16 miles with 8 @ GMP of 8:00-7:53, 2:09.
Felt pretty good overall minus feeling a little overheated. Tried eating "real food" on this run by eating a bite of a banana every few miles after mile 5. No explosive stomach issues happened, so I'll continue to experiment with "real foodz*" during these runs.

*real foodz= things people usually hand out on a marathon course. Bananas, oranges, etc. I did have one gu at 4.5, but am looking to get away from stuff like that in the future.

Sunday: All the Hillz. 6 miles with 10x 20 second sprints. Incline 4.5, Pace 6:30 + 2 sets Squats/ Core Stuffs.
Felt surprisingly springy and good considering the long run yesterday. The incline sprints were "fun." The first few are always tough and then I find myself looking forward to the next one.


Thoughts:

I'm feeling really good this week compared to last week. My new Newton shoes were giving my arch some grief in the first 3 easy runs I used them for, but Sunday's hill run went without incident. Depending on how the easy runs go this week, I might take the Newtons out for their first log run- an 18 miler.

Now that my shoes are almost "chosen" for race day, I need to start thinking about what to wear. My new lulu skirt has 3 pockets which should be enough to carry all my gu/salt/etx instead of a janky fanny pack. I flippin hate my spibelt, so anything to avoid wearing that mess will make me happy.
I started comparing my mileage from this year to last and was very happy to see I'm way ahead of last year! It feels so good to not have to start out the year injured as in years past.

I'm sick of the snow and extreme cold we continue to be dealt this winter. I keep visualizing Knoxville to be in the mid 40's-50's and be partly cloudy. My god that sounds so beautiful right now.I hope it warms up, but stays "perfect" for race day.
CB is not amused with the weather at all.
More thought stuff

• This week I'll continue to experiment with food intake during long runs, and force myself to eat breakfast before my long run this time around too. I like to roll out of bed and just run on an empty stomach usually.

• Need to remember to use body glide on my "arm/back fat" and "under arm skin roll" areas because I'm sick of getting mild chaffage/hot spots in there. I keep thinking it was a "one off" but it's been happening during each of my long runs regardless of which tank or sports bra I use. But that's the definition of "insanity"- doing the same effing thing and expecting different results. I've FINALLY stopped wearing the stupid shorts that ALWAYS cause chaffing. It's the small victories.

• With 4 freaking weeks to go, I need to start thinking about what i'm going to wear. So that means the Lulu skirt might make an appearance at the gym this week for a test run.

• "Milk Free Week" was a big success. And now I'm terrified to have any dairy because this was the first week in a long time I didn't get the painful belly bloat. So maybe I cannot place all the blame on avocados? I'll experiment with that later this week. I just thank god it wasnt gluten causing my issues. I've known all along cow milk upset my stomach a little so I switched to rice milk in my cereal, but I continued to put half n half in my coffee and eat cheese. Time for a change. Sigh.

I'm so excited to get the hell out of Chicago for a weekend to see my Mom. Knoxville can't come soon enough!

4 weeks to go. COWABUNGA!


-xaar

Knoxville Marathon Week 5

Monday: REST
Went to the doctor for a routine physical. Got a TDAP vaccine which knocked me out. Good thing this was a cutback week. Silver lining: after what seemed like them taking all my blood for tests, I received a clean bill of health.  

Tuesday: REST
My arm hurt ridiculously bad from the vaccination. I'm talking like searing pain when trying to put on my jacket.Decided the best thing was to take my other rest day.

Wednesday: Easy Hard 3
Intended 5, cut to 3 because I felt like crap. For the usual "easy" pace, the effort was off the charts. I took this as a cue to just hop off the tread and go home. Felt feverish and overheated too.

Thursday: 5 Tempo miles at 7:24, Total 7 Miles.
Still felt off. The effort seemed too much for the pace, but pushed through to finish this one. Never realized the TDAP would knock me out like this. I dont remember this happening before.

Friday: Easy 4
Felt much better, but still mildly feverish. 

Saturday: Easy 5 with the pup.
Actually ran outside for this one. It was in the mid 20's and not much wind so I took CBdog out for an easy 5. Felt pretty good just enjoying the lakefront with the pup. There were loads of ice patches which we had to stop and walk through- didn't want to slip. We side 5'd Jenny which instantly uplifted the "meh" feeling i've been in the whole week.

Sunday: Long run 12 miles, 1:37
Got up early and hit the tread. Had a lot of anxiety for this run given how the rest of the week went. The miles ticked off quickly and it felt great to just relax and enjoy the dark 58 degree gym. I couldnt get the TV to work so I didn't watch the gold medal hockey game, but instead was left to deal with my own thoughts which was exactly what I needed. Progressively splitted the run all with a 1% incline. Felt great.

Last Sunday we celebrated the 2nd birthday of our friend's incredibly cute daughter.

Workout thoughts:

The cutback week couldn't have come at a better time. This week was just full of "MEH."  I only did one strength session- just my legs because my arm was f*cked and because I felt like shit. The meltdown I went through this week didn't really help things either. A call with Coach B really helped me put things in perspective and how cutting back on miles or even bailing on a workout wouldn't hurt me for the marathon. Better to be smart now than prolong the crappy feelings and wear myself out further. I'll also get back on the strength training routine this week.

Before the snow on Monday.

Other Stuff.

I mentioned to the Doctor that after eating my stomach hurts intermittently. This has been going on at least 4-5 years now and I had just assumed it was from eating fast or something dumb like that (because I couldn't find a clear trigger and seriously doubt it's caused by gluten). The doctor showed some concern and suggested I eliminate Gluten for a week, and then dairy for a week to rule out possible Celiac or Gluten intolerance/sensitivity since my symptoms mimicked those issues.  I eat about 90% non-processed food usually (and not much dairy), so I started the GF as soon as I left the doctor thinking this would be "easy". Because I hadn't gone food shopping, I was starting to stress about "hidden" gluten in the foods I was buying for lunch. As the days passed, and my arm continued to hurt, and the fever continued to be present, and I worked to insure I wasn't consuming gluten (wanted to give this GF week a good effort)  I was starting to lose it. 

I finally broke down on Thursday and came to terms with why the hell i just "accepted" for so long that I feel bad after eating sometimes. This also meant acknowledging I have some issue that needs to get sorted out and the enormity of that hit me like a bag of bricks. Good news, I doubt it's gluten. And I already avoid cow milk because I know it makes me feel funky. There's a list of foods the doctor gave me which some people cannot digest properly (FODMAP) which causes symptoms very similar to mine. Many of the foods on the "list to limit" are foods I regularly consume. So i'll be extra vigilant to notice if I feel crappy after eating any of those foods... So far i'm 80% convinced avocados and pistachios are giving me grief. And that makes me a little sad if indeed avocados are causing it because they are my favorite.

I picked up my glasses this week. WOW. For not having major vision problems asides from astigmatism and slightly less than 20/20, my vision with the glasses has gone from analog to HD! So much more crisp.

More thoughts
The weather hasn't really been helping with my mood either. I always looked forward to running outside on the weekends, but since it's been way too cold, I won't jeopardize my health anymore and now must keep my runs inside. I love being outside, but this winter is slowly killing me.

MELT AND GO AWAY!

Shoes & Happier stuff
I just got a new pair of Newton Distance shoes and was all in love at first run on Friday with them. I'm hoping they will be my marathon shoe in 5 weeks. I'll decide soon once I've done a few longer runs in them. They fit more snugly than the older model so that concerns me a little.

Newton Distance aka Pumped up kicks. I'm in love.

Running with CB on Saturday was nice. To see him so happy melted my heart and helped lift me out of the funk I've been experiencing. It was also beautiful out, minus the ice.
CB dog kept getting pissed at me when I made him walk through the ice.I didn't want him to make me fall and faceplant or crack my head open on the ice.. Hey, i'm injury prone and would rather be safe than injured, especially with 5 weeks to go.

Why yes, that's a huge sheet of ice behind CB. FUN.

Final Thoughts

With 5 weeks to go until Knoxville, I'm excited. Like really really excited to get out of Chicago for a few days and see my mom again.

 I know every run and every week cannot all be OMG RAINBOW GLITTER FARTING PONIES, so i'll tuck this week away and start fresh again tomorrow. There's no sense in dwelling on the past for these kinds of things, and I've already analyzed the workouts to the Nth degree to figure out what happened (the TDAP vaccine + possible cold). Learning from days or weeks like this (if possible) helps give me a peace of mind that I will continue to have good runs and good race days if I keep things consistent.

Where the eff has time gone?

5 Weeks to go COWABUNGA!

-xaar