- Running Laur recently wrote an article about caring for your technical clothes. One of the things that she mentioned was not wearing your tech clothes more than once. The reason she cites is the sweat crystals damage the tech fibers. Hmm. I am guilty of re-wearing my clothes, especially shorts. I hang them to dry after I run and if it was a short run, I’ll likely wear them on my next short run. I do this only because I’m not a fan of doing laundry. Another tip she had was to wash a load of just tech clothes in special detergent. Since I have plenty of clothes (thank you to Pacers for all the technical shirts from races!), I am going to give this a try for a bit. We’ll see if I can make up a full load of running clothes. Of course, TMB is cringing because I can guarantee I’ll be clashing by the end of the week. That’s what happens when you rely on clearance shorts and race t shirts for your wardrobe.
- Speaking of TMB at Racing with Babes, she recently talked about base mileage and what kind of mileage you need to be doing each week to complete or compete at certain distances. Seems like my mileage has been a little light for marathon training. I’m ok with that, as I did even less mileage last time and completed the marathon. However, I have some goals at the mid-distance lengths once the marathon is over, so I’ll likely be trying to keep my mileage up so I can run strong at the 10 mile to half marathon distance. Based on my 5k pace, I should be able to break 1:30 for 10 miles and I should be a minute or two faster for the half. We won’t even discuss where I should be for the marathon, as I will be nowhere near that on race day.
- Which leads me to the discussion Beer Geek and I had about the upcoming marathon. To say I’m worried about it being hot is putting it a bit mildly. I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself to attempt a 4:30 marathon. Based on my 20 mile runs, I could theoretically pull it off. But, the chances of being miserable while trying that and crashing before the end of 26.2 are too high. I’ve decided to run conservatively and run to finish strong. If that time is better than last time, great. If not, so what? I’ve trained hard. I’ve given my all. I’m going to be proud of my accomplishments no matter what happens on race day.
- Totally unrelated, I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from IRL friends about when I’m going back to work full-time. My answer to that is “possibly never”. One of my friends went so far as to say that she thought that within three months of Shoo starting Kindergarten, I’d be desperately searching for a job. Why is it that people assume that if I’m not planning to work a 40 hour week during specific hours controlled by someone else that I must be planning to sit on my butt and eat bonbons? I run, I write, I volunteer, not to mention all the things I do that fall under the heading “wife and mom”. Sure, none of these currently bring in any money, but I have hope of creating some sort of fulfilling “work” out of my endeavors. Will I ever be rich? No. Will I contribute to our family’s financial bottom line? Maybe. Will I be a sane mom, a happy wife, and someone who loves their life? Absolutely. And that, my friends, is priceless.
- We are two weeks from my second marathon and my two year blog anniversary. To celebrate those events and to thank all of you who’ve been along for the ride, I’ll be holding the “Beer is Good” giveaway shortly after the marathon. Thirteen prizes, thirteen winners. I’m still working out the details, but one thing is definite. If you are a follower by 9:30 on Monday night (May 3rd), you get an extra entry into the giveaway. I will not be asking people to advertise this giveaway or become fans of products or anything like that. Anyone can enter, but this giveaway is all about thanking those of you who’ve supported me on this journey. More details and a preview of items in upcoming weeks.
- It is super hot here right now. I ran 4.5 miles yesterday (back to adding parts of miles so I hit 100 for May) and it was supposed to be an easy run. The pace was slow (9:56 average), but it was hot and I ran in the shade, which in my neighborhood means lots of hills. Easy is not a word I’d use to describe it. Today it’s already 82, going up to 91 and I can’t run until this afternoon. I think “short and slow” is going to be the plan.