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March 2, 2008
It's the Little Things in Life . . .
. . . that make me smile. Some highlights from the week:
1. I have a thing for keeping my car filled with window washer fluid. I am an overly-cautious driver and the grime from winter wandering does unhealthy things to my levels of anxiety while driving. The problem is that B. and I traded in the Lemon (read: used VW Golf) for a brand new Mazda 3. The Mazda 3 HATES the snow and ice (hence, the shovel in my trunk . . . it has to look funny to watch a young woman beat the hell out of the ice just so that she can get her car down the alley!).
Anyway, since the car is relatively new, I have never had the pleasure of lifting the hood and pouring window washer fluid into it. That all changed on Saturday. I pulled off to the side of the road, cranked the hood, and fed the car! It's the little victories in life, right?
2. B. is skiing in Crested Butte, Colorado. In almost 6 years, we have never spent an entire week apart. We both enjoy our solitude and our "alone time," but we have missed each other :) I was pleasantly surprised to open the mailbox and see two cards with my name on them . . . B. exercised his writing muscles and sent me the most adorable cards (they were technically Christmas cards . . . which made the effort all the more special and B-like).
3. I logged my first 20 miler of 2008 today!
I had to find some magical moments in what ended up being a tough week last week - work buried me and I do not handle stress well. I quit sleeping, I quit thinking logically, I quit running hard . . . I become a shadow of my real self and I absolutely hate it. So I was grateful for all of the shining moments that fueled me to keep on truckin' when all I wanted to do was crawl under a rock and hibernate . . . and then wake up in May when final grades are in and the semester is officially over.
Work woes aside, I laced up the Glycerins this morning and joined my old running store, Universal Store, and hit the roads and lakefront for a nice, relaxed, balmy 20 miler. After weeks of sub zero temps and unforgiving snowfalls, the running goddesses smiled on us and greeted us with lights winds and mid 40 temperatures - heavenly! I actually ran in short sleeves - this taste of Spring (even though it was just a cruel tease) made me hungry for the racing season.
I ran the 20 in 2:24. The pace felt totally fine, but I started to wimp out around mile 16 - I've run two "long" runs (a 15 and a 17) since October 7. I knew I was going to feel the aches creep into my hips, glutes, and calves shortly after the 2 hour mark. The aches certainly did . . . and you know what? I forgot how much I thrive off of that feeling of pain and hurt - of pushing my body to the brink, but not pushing it so much that it goes overboard. I truly love feeling tired for the rest of the day :)
I'm also excited. I felt stronger on this 20 than I had on any of the 20s before Chicago. Granted, it definitely has something to do with the reduced mileage and the increased rest, but I will bank it as a nice confidence boosting run as we head into another marathon season.
I won't be doing more 20s for a while - today was run for tradition alone. I rarely miss the Boston Bound 20 mile run - in shape or out. However, I am definitely going to aim for at least a 15 mile long run going forward.
I hit 60 miles for the week - that's high for me. But H. says it's time to to aim for a few 80 mile weeks as we will build toward June. That scares the sh*t out of me, but I trust H.
Posted by bridget at March 2, 2008 8:44 PM
Comments
Man, you fly on your base runs...
I have a feeling you'll hit 80 w/out too much drama, especially if you're modifying your workouts.
Posted by: joseph wood at March 5, 2008 1:37 PM
Rockin! Nice run. Look out Chicago! Bridget is back!!
I too am a freak about windshield washer fluid - especially this time of year.
B sounds sweet. Aw. You gush well. :)
Posted by: mindi at March 13, 2008 8:38 PM