St. Paddy's Day Weekend...

Talk about a busy little weekend. Last night I met up with some of my friends for a little happy hour that ended up having me out a little later than I initially intended, but it was a good time and some great conversations.

When my alarm went off though, I knew I had no choice but to wake up and get going. I had a Bruins game later in the afternoon, a brunch to make beforehand, and then my preparations for St. Paddy's day.

Definitely an early morning...

The run itself actually felt really good.. and because I was in a time crunch to make sure I got it in, I didn't take any pictures throughout the run.  Although there would have been plenty of great opportunities to.  I chose to run along the Charles River today out to Cambridge, and the marathon was becoming even more real to me. 

Running along the Charles is always a relaxing yet inspiring run for me, and a lot of emotions constantly go through my mind along this route. I use to bike this path every day to go to and from work when I first moved to Boston, and it's always so crazy to think just how far I have come in so many different aspects of my life, and it just seems every time I find myself along the Charles, a million and one memories come back to life. 

SOOOO many people were out along the river, all in full training running gear, and so many different groups of people.  I knew from passing and getting passed by others that there were a lot of people out, but it really was put BAM in my face at one of the only intersections I went through today. As I waited for the crosswalk to change, more and more people started lining up waiting for the walk sign.  It's an added motivation to see so many others in the city up early for a long run. 

I do have to thank the stranger who ended up being my pace setter for a couple miles without even realizing.  They ended up being some of my faster miles... it's encouraging that I still have moments of improvement and not plateau. 

I really can't believe I'm up to 18 miles... next weekend is the LAST long run before I start tapering... I can not believe I'm almost to that point in the training... when I first started my training program I was so scared for these long runs, and here I am doing them... and almost being done them... It leaves me speechless. 

Now I can continue this crazy weekend of Southie fun... knowing I got 18 miles done. :)

I really didn't want to...

I did NOT want to get out of bed this morning... I really didn't. I was comfortable, it was chilly outside, and I've just gotten to the point where I am over the cold and snow. But I did it. I got up and set out along the Harborwalk towards Harborpoint.

It wasn't the best run, or the most motivating run for me... but let's have the pictures speak for themselves... because this view is exactly what makes the early mornings worth it.

The sun is on its way...

Absolutely gorgeous..

Up... BRIGHT and early..

When waking up this morning... I knew it would be a decent run... it didn't matter if my legs were going to feel good or not, the sun was shining bright, and the temperature reading on my phone didn't match what I was feeling in the sunshine.

Today's mileage was 17 miles... and I didn't quite know where I wanted to go, so I ventured out towards the Garden and past MGH. I was out on the road much earlier than normal, but I was hoping to get a text during my run from my friend Matt letting me know that one of his tickets opened up for the Bruins v. Flyers game... but I didn't have such luck... but anyways. One of the things I love about early Saturday morning runs is that I know every other runner I see out there, is most likely training for some sort of long distance race of their own.. if not the Boston Marathon just like me... The views coming over the bridge back into the city from making my way out to Somerville and back were just so refreshing... 

I can't wait for the snow to be OFF the sidewalks and melted into the rivers/oceans

Overall the run felt pretty good.. as with all my distance runs so far I have moments of feeling really good and other moments where I question if my body is going to make it... but... I'm getting there... the miles just keep on adding up, and somehow I am able to finish each one I set out to do.

As I'm adding on more miles, I'm working on what I do throughout the week to figure out what will feel best on my knees for the long run on the weekend, but without over/under doing it.

Deck of Cards Workout

So there's this little workout group in the area called "The November Project" which is a group of people who meet throughout the week early in the morning to do a variety of workouts (all for free). They range from runs, to doing the stairs at Harvard Stadium, to the Deck of Cards workout. I haven't joined the group [yet]; or been to any of the group workout sessions [yet]. But I did want to take a crack at one of the workouts I knew I'd be able to do in my apartment.

I ended up staying at work a little later than I had planned, and with my knee/muscle finally starting to feel better/normal. I decided icing and one last day of resting it would be a good thing. BUT I wanted to get a workout in of some sort... even if it was just a TON of push-ups and sit-ups.

So here's what it is:

"The “Deck Of Cards” workout will be done as a group by flipping over one card at a time from a shuffled 52. Each card has a value. All black cards are pushups and all red cards are situps. Simple. 2, 3, 4, to 10 are pretty easy to figure out. Jack 11, Queen 12, King 13, Ace 14. Super simple. Pretty hard work as the deck goes on. Intense for core, arms, and general toughness."

It doesn't sound like it would be that bad... until you flip over four black cards in a row and they are all above the number 7.

This is my 'my body is jello right now' face and I just did 14 push-ups and just flipped over my fourth high number in a row... can I pick a 2 or 3 for once?!

So many high cards in a row...

But I got it done... and am already feeling it [it's been a little while since I've done push-ups and sit-ups in that amount... in a row.]

And of course I still finish with a smile... obviously... my last card was a red 2.... 2 sit-ups.. noooo problem

Tomorrow's Distance: 5 miles and a Bruins Game :)

Friday's Distance: Rest

Saturday's Distance: 17 miles.

Extra Rest Day

Due to the continuing pain in my knee and muscle... I'm taking an extra day to ice, ice, and repeat.

First Feel of Sunshine...

After an extremely fun day/evening of a Bruins win, reconnecting with old friends, meeting new friends, and great times... I woke up with the mindset that I needed to get my distance run in. It's really come down to a state of mind for me. I can't say I ever pictured myself waking up on a weekend and thinking to myself... okay I need 3 hours to get my run in... not once would I have ever thought that. [not to mention this training has become much more of a time commitment than I ever thought it would be, but I know it will be worth it].  But I come to look forward to my long runs.  People always comment about my long runs stating they think they would get bored or simply couldn't do it.  I think they'd actually surprise themselves. I find I'm able to go into the depths of my mind... analyze everything that is going on in my life... and return to the scenery around me without much more than a few blinks of my eyes.

Heading out for my run, I wasn't sure how my body was going to handle it... but I knew it HAD to be done... there wasn't really much of a question, just more so a curiousness to how it would go, but the sun was shining and it felt nice to not be super bundled up.

I tried to tell myself to slow my pace down to be able to withstand the running parts longer... but of course I ended up running some of my faster splits for longer runs... my first three miles were all under 10 minutes... my third mile even being 9:14.... alright SLOW down Stephanie.. you have 13 more miles to go.

I headed down my normal route towards Summer Street and down to Atlantic Avenue... from there I decided that today I would run along the Charles until I hit my half way point and then I would turn around.

I did love seeing the sailboats out along the river...

Even though it doesn't look it the sun was shining..

After the first few miles I could definitely feel my knee start to bug me a little, but I did as everyone keeps telling me and let my mind take over my body... I'm telling you... it's ALL a state of mind [remind me that on Marathon day please spectators] This is when I escape into my mind and think about everything BUT my knees hurting.  This works most of the time, but there are times I had to stop and stretch out my legs in hopes to try and alleviate the pain.

Throughout the run, I didn't think it was going as well as my prior weekends 16 miler... and I was even more parched than I thought I would be... I felt like survivor trying to ration out my two little water bottles throughout the whole run. 

[hello Boston Parks & Recreation... we're all out here running, can we turn on the water fountains along the river now please?]

When I finally was counting down my last couple miles, I was happy to see that I had actually cut my time down by 2 minutes... but boy... did my knees hurt by the time I got out of the shower and sat down on the couch. Definitely going to take a rest day tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Distance: Rest Day

Tuesday's Distance: [in question due to knee pain, and the feeling of some muscle in my left knee feeling on the verge of being strained or pulled]

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words...

Beautiful Sunrise at 6:45am Saturday Morning

Due to needing to get into work early to get some additional work done... and then an all day Boston Bruins Game Experience.... but mostly because my knee is still extremely sore, I took today off and plan to run my 16 miles tomorrow morning. As I said I'm working to stay away from any serious injury.