Week 13: Marathon week!

Okay so last I left off we were splitting the trip from Wamego to Jackson over two days.  We are now here and enjoying our time with my parents and my in law.  Here are lots of pics and some words LOL!

Monday:  Since I didn't get a long run in last week, we moved my work outs to M, W, F and then race day.  Monday was 5 miles with some strides thrown in.  There were predicted storms all around us and even though they didn't hit till later, I played it safe and ran at mom's favorite gym, the Lift.  My watch couldn't pick up signal, so I trusted my map my run, which said I was running at 12:30 pace.  Um, I don't think so mapmyrun.  It took about an hour and we got er done. 

And bonus, I got to high five my mom every time I passed her, as she was walking on the same track.  We also got to have lunch at a local coffee shop that had the BEST chicken salad sandwiches and gave cupcakes with each meal deal.  Yes and thank you!

We also did some shopping for Andrew some school clothes at Kmart (ours closed in Manhattan), and got to see the new shoe store in town.  I got to meet the owner and got a West Tennessee Performance running shirt. 

Tuesday:  Rest day and day with Andrew's other grandma in Martin TN.  We hit up the discovery center and had dinner at a bar that served the BEST hamburgers ever! 

Wednesday:  3 miles with strides thrown in.  Mom and I hit the multi purpose trail in martin, but I totally forgot it is only 1 mile long, so had to do a down and back and back out.  The humidity was pretty high and it took me almost 2 miles to warm up, but got my strides in and my over all pace was pretty decent. I don't want to commit to a time goal, but the 4:30 time goal is looking more and more in reach now.

I had lots of company on my run:) This area has had TONS of rain and there were snails everywhere!  Mom and I finished and got some coffee at their local coffee shop.  I really miss my favorite KS coffee shop!  No one here can make Oles like they can!

Thursday:  Rest day.  Should call this visiting day.  I got to see two sets of people that I haven't seen in a while.  One was my almost in laws.  I was engaged when I was younger to a really nice guy, and I dearly loved his family.  We were planning a wedding when he called everything off out of the blue. Long story short,  it was super tough for me, but equally as tough for them, as I was already a part of their family.  They still love me and I still love them and we keep in touch.  It was SO good to see them.  We didn't get any pictures and I wish we had.  Then I got to see another favorite person after I picked up my packet. 

We have been friends since before I can remember.  SO many memories together that I could write a whole blog post about her.  I so wished we lived closer and could be in each other's lives more.  We spent a big part of the afternoon with her just talking like we never had been apart.

Friday:  25 minute run.  Whelp that didn't happen.  I was suppose to do a shake out run, but I had done some aggressive foam rolling and stick rolling and I was a little sore.  I decided to play it safe and just stay off of my feet as much as I could for the day, which meant play places and playgrounds. 

We had coffee first.

Then hit up Chick Fil A play place.

And Muse Park play ground.

And we made new friends and ran and ran and ran. 

We also took a power nap on the way to the pasta feed.

And then we fed on pasta!  I will do a full recap of all the events from the Andrew Jackson Marathon on a separate blog post so look out for that!

Saturday:  Race day!!!  Recap here. 

Sunday:  Rest and drive day! I am going to go ahead and post this before the day is out, so the plan is to get up, do some visiting, and head back to Kansas and make it part way.  As I type this, I am pretty darn sore, so hoping driving happens!


What an awesome week!  Not ready to head back to real life!

34 miles this week.  Whew.  Time to recover and get ready for my next ultra!