Marathon Training and Wedding Updates AND...another job added to the mix

Sigh....again I come to my blog with a thousand things to write about which means....I have no idea what all to say.  I'll try to slam down some categories and then go from there.

1) Training and New Shoes -
I really felt like training was going pretty well up through the Birkie Half marathon.  I felt great at paces faster than what is on our training schedule.  Then....we both spent nearly 2 weeks being sick.  The first week took us nearly completely out of the game.  Got in a few really easy runs but my sinuses were on fire and it just made me feel dizzy.   A couple runs I think I ended in a near panic attack because I was so %^@! frustrated at feeling like this cold was making me take steps backwards in my training.  Damn it.....
Plus I made the decision to buy different shoes than I've been in the past few years.  Mostly because I was fit for them and they are at least $40 cheaper.  So far I think they are ok.  Knees were heating up a little bit and damn near failed on me during our 18 miler last weekend but they seem to be recovering.   I just hope that the shoes I'm going to be running in (which are my old brand/model again) are going to be ok.  

Wedding Shoes, my usual brand



New Shoes for Training, new brand

We had our first long run LAST weekend.  (Strangely enough we are starting to call anything up to 13 a "run" and if it's over 13 it then becomes a "long run")  It was a 16 miler so we plotted out a fairly flat course around the lakes and down the parkway.  We had a good breakfast before we left and I brought 3 gels to take about every 4 miles.  Everything was going pretty good until mile 13ish.  SMACK!  (Who the hell put that wall there???)   Our bodies were going downhill fast.   My problem was more that my knees and ankles were starting to get weak and very sore and Mark was out of fuel.   The last 3 miles were awful and we had to walk a bit. 
Some definite adjustments when we did our 18 this past weekend and luckily it was much cooler weather.  I had caffeinated gels with me and a pack of Sharkies as a solid food.  I probably took 4 miles to slowly suck on those and actually finish the pack and I think that made a big difference in keeping my energy up better than just gels.  

Please send happy, healthy, unpainful thoughts for my knees at this weekend's 20 miler...

 

New Work - ZapEvent Marketing -
Work has been going great and we are looking at some definite growth over the next year.   The scary/exciting part for me is that I've decided to transition myself out of the customer service roll and into strictly Marketing (note....I have little Marketing background!)   It's going to take me some time to get my feet under me and figure out what exactly I need to do to be successful in 2011 but I think I have great support from Jeff to make it happen.  Some days I get really nervous about being able to be successful at it but I'm going to give it my best....

More New Work - Examiner.com -

My Profile Pic - I'm up in a tree and NO
I'mnot being impailed through the
shoulder.  The short branch in front of
me just lines up nicely with the one
that's behind me :)

As if I didn't have enough going on already, I submitted an application to be the writer for Examiner.com specifically about Minneapolis Geocaching.   And I got accepted!  It's not something you do for the $$ but it's a lot of fun researching ideas for articles and getting to do profiles on my local geocaching friends.  Some days I get stressed about the fact that I basically added a 3rd job and get sick of not being able to just sit and watch TV some nights.  I am going, going, going until 11pm just about every night lately.

Some days between ZapEvent work, USAT work and wanting to post an Examiner article AND having personal items to do (clean the house, laundry, lawn/garden work, misc projects, wanting to actually cook dinner, keeping up on blogs, paying bills....see my problem?) I just feel like my head is spinning and at any given moment I'm not fully focused on any one thing.   

Diet -

Been pretty good with eating healthy on round 2 of the 3 month "diet".   I do really hate calling it a diet since I'm hoping it's more of a reduced calorie learning experience so that when I reach the end of my weight loss I can maintain my weight with continuing to eat better.

I've been stuck at 143.5 for like 3 weeks now and it's driving me nutz.  While looking at healthy recipes in my Runners World Magazine, I got all obsessed with wanting to buy healthier food but since our money is really tight we don't buy fresh groceries as often as I would like.  I told Mark a few days ago that I wanted to get a subscription to Clean Eating.

He earned SERIOUS brownie points when I came home yesterday to the latest Clean Eating Magazine and all the ingredients for a watermelon salad recipe I pointed out that I wished we could try.  I was so excited to actually get to make a new healthy recipe for us :D

Wedding -
Not much real planning to do any more without the reception so we're basically just down to making sure we have all of our outfits in line.   Mark picked up his wedding shoes this past week so we are going to use them for short, clean runs to get them broken in between now and the wedding.  I picked up my tulle and some other shiny, sheer fabric.  I've got some fun ideas for my veil but now just have to figure out how in the heck to actually put it together.

The Course Map and Elevation Chart are also available now if you are interested in seeing the RnR route.  The second half is a LOT of twisting and turning but luckily the final 6 miles are nearly all at a nice downhill grade.

You can also sign up for runner tracking HERE if you are interested in keeping an eye on how we are doing on the marathon.  We will be running all of the marathon together so you will only need to really get updates on one of us :)

I'll finish with this cute picture of my Maverick tearing apart his favorite toy.....my roll of paper towels.

He's too cute to be mad at :)