kid free friday

Last night and this morning I experienced what life is like without children. I packed the kids up after work and took them to Grandma and Grandpa's to spend the night (yay), and then met some girlfriends I never get to see for dinner. It was so fun catching up! Then I headed home, since I had boot camp at 6 the next morning.

I got up today, went to boot camp (which, by the way, has increased in difficulty quite a bit. We did so many squats and lunges today that I may not be able to sit down tomorrow), and came home to get ready for my day. Okay, people without kids, you have such a relaxing life! For the first time in I don't know how long, I was able to drink an entire cup of coffee at one sitting. Amazing. Also, I was the only person in the bathroom while I was getting ready this morning. I didn't have to chase my son around the house to retrieve my eyeliner, or stop a blowdryer gun fight between my boys. I just got ready. Fabulous.

Although I miss the little guys, it has been a nice little break.  Tomorrow morning I meet a buddy for a sprint workout, then I am headed to east bank yoga studio for a private class for me and a few of my friends. I am really excited about having a professional check my form and breathing since my last bout with yoga. I do love yoga; I just want to make sure I am doing it correctly.

Namaste!

big, fat, awesome party

I am so glad that I finished my marathon, I have decided to throw myself a party!  I can think of nothing better than schmoozing it up with my girlfriends over some drinks, and this is a fabulous excuse to get everyone together.  Plus...I have slimmed down so much while training, my skinny jeans are looking pretty good on me these days, if I do say so myself!

Here is the invitation that I made up for the big event.  I didn't have access to my usual fabulous adobe suite (boo hoo), so I had to make this up in MS Publisher.  Still, it got the job done.  I mostly sent them out as evites.  I just love the convenience and affordability (meaning zero cost) of evites. Now I can save my $$ for fun stuff like food and drinks at the party!  Do you prefer to send evites, or do you like paper invitations?

I am really having a tough time resting this week. Training was so time and energy consuming, and now that I don't have that, it feels as if I am missing something, that whole "I lost my purse" feeling.  My body is used to having endorphins rushing through it, as well, so I am really missing those, too.  I did try to run a little this a.m, but my knees still feel really boggy, so I just made it around the block and stopped.  I am hoping that on Saturday I will be able to log a few miles, but if I don't feel ready, I won't.  I have to stay healthy for Nike in October!

Would you, or have you, ever thrown yourself a party?

pre-run fun

Saturdays are the longest running days of my week.  That means that Friday is a complete carb-loading, calorie consuming day for me.  Since my family is not running the marathon with me, they don't want to have to eat like they are, so this can cause problems for us at dinner.  This past week, my running buddies decided it would be fun to get together and have dinner together on Friday night, so we all make sure we are getting what we need to have a great run the next day. 

Jayme had us all over for grilled Alaskan salmon.  Yummy.  I made a pasta dish that had grape tomatoes, red onion, basil, EVOO, lemon juice, sea salt, and pepper. Karen brought a spinach and almond salad.  It was so yummy!  It is sad, but usually the only time we see each other is during our runs, and then it is different.  Friday, we all had our kiddos with us, and, even though the husbands got the night off (they have to watch the kids during our long runs, so we figured it was only fair), it felt really great to get together socially.  I even took a bottle of wine (which is kind of a no-no, but we had only a little bit and lots of water), and it was a nice switch to guzzling down water in the middle of nowhere!

We ate, had a great time, and went home early to rest up for our big run, which was fun.  The wind was not a huge factor, which is amazing in South Dakota, and it was sunny and warm.  One thing that we had been struggling with during our Saturday runs was hydration, so we all decided to get a hydration belt for Saturdays.  I chose the Nathan Speed 2 hydration belt, and am glad I did, because it was a great belt.  I was worried that the water would feel heavy and bouncy, but this belt fit very snugly, and so it hardly bounced and did not rub whatsoever.  Plus, I drank more water than I normally had been drinking, which helped me recover during the particulary rough patches. 

I have to say that there is a real art to drinking and running, and I am afraid I am not very good at it yet.  How do you get enough water on a really long run?

One thing that I noticed this week was that I got a rub spot on the bottom of one of my feet. This is the first time it has happened, and I can see from this weekend how it would have been a real issue by mile 26.  I am going to try to find some sort of possible remedies for this.  I read a post on fitbottomedgirls.com that said Aquaphor is great for this, so I might try it this week to see how it feels.  I am not sure about running with greasy feet, but running with the rub spot was no picnic.

This week is a taper week, but then we are running the big 20. It will be the longest run before the race, and my longest run to date. I am both excited and scared, but know that with my buddies, I can make it through.