THINGS EFFING MY S UP

Our 16 mile adventure on Fanno.

Been awhile since I posted. Trying to avoid the summer doldrums! Last Saturday was a "down week" so I ran sixteen miles with my friend Alejandro from running group. We ended up running the entire length of the Fanno Creek trail from its southern start to its northern terminus. That last mile or so to the north was all new territory to me as I never took the time to cross Allen and wander the two blocks to where it started again.

Overall the run went really well. Having someone to run with made the time go faster but it also pushed me to run faster. He's been doing his long runs much faster than I have, so we ended up running the sixteen miles at a 8:52/mile average pace. The last time I ran sixteen I averaged 9:19 and the time before that 9:35. So I guess that is a good thing that I can run the same distance but faster? The last two miles did suck, AGAIN, but I was able to power through it. It was a challenge though. That being said, if I only feel crappy during the last two miles of my marathon I'll be thrilled.

I felt a little "used" the next day but really no worse for the wear. A potential right foot injury seems to be fading now that I am using my new pair of shoes. That was pretty stupid of me to go 500+ miles on the last pair. I can tell the difference while running so I'll have to make sure to not delay the switch that long again.

Recently I've been battling my schedule and trying to get the runs in. Normally I'd run tonight at running group, but my sister is having her birthday dinner tonight so I'll be doing that instead. I'll have to see what time I get home from that and if I feel like running, but chances are my run will be pushed to tomorrow. I then feel like I need to run on Friday so I get my ~18 weekday miles before my long run. So if I run Friday, then with the long run on Saturday that is three straight days of running, which I am not used to.

I was supposed to run 20+ miles on my long run this weekend but that is NOT going to happen. I am going to be volunteering at the Tualatin Crawfish Crawl 5k in the morning (7:15am, ugh) and then have a meeting with my Hood to Coast team at 1pm. My Sunday is busy too, so there is really no way I can fit in 20 miles. So I am going to squeeze in a 12 miler at some point (likely Saturday evening) and push my long run back a week. Alejandro has a 21 mile route he wants to try and agreed to do it the 17th of August, so I'll shoot for that. The weekend after is Hood to Coast, and then the next weekend I might try to do another 20 miles depending on how I feel after Hood to Coast.

Anyways, it was conflicts like these that lead to some major slacking last summer. This August, however, I am training for a marathon, so that will NOT happen again. I'm determined to still get my miles in even if I have to move a few things around. I really think they need to create another weekend day. Then things would be a lot easier. They should get on that.