I'm Back!

Ten days ago, I posted about feeling blah after running my first marathon. Well, I think the clouds have opened up and I have, once again, seen the light- at least when it comes to running!

This week was a tough week. I worked some crazy late hours and did not manage to log many miles. I did, though, make it to two spinning classes- I forgot how fun- and HARD- those are! Nonetheless, I wasn't really mentally focused on running until I set out for a twelve miler today.

Hubby and I are training together for the San Jose Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon which is two weeks before Nike. Last week, hubby did a great job and powered through six miles. This week, nine miles were on tap for him- twelve for me. We decided that we'd run the nine and then I'd do a quick three on my own while he went home to check on our separation-anxiety-ridden dog. Ugh.

Our nine miles started with a pretty steep hill leading up to the Golden Gate Bridge. If you remember, I "destroyed" this hill during the SF Marathon. It was just as difficult to run today as it was on marathon day! Nonetheless, up we went. Then we approached the bridge. I was so excited for hubby to run the GG Bridge as he never has and it is, literally, my favorite place to run in the city. Today was a perfect day on the bridge too because it wasn't foggy and there was a nice breeze. Awesome!

After crossing the bridge, we headed down in Sausalito. In order to get there, you travel down some pretty steep hills. Not a big deal until you have to turn around and go back UP the hills unless you plan to swim back to San Francisco. Ugh- once we turned around to come back, these hills were BRUTAL. They were steep and long and seemed to never end. Clearly, though, they eventually did. Thank God!

After crossing the bridge back into San Francisco, hubby only had one more mile left before he completed his longest run ever! I, on the other hand, still had four to crank out. No worries. We finished the nine miles and I dropped hubby off at our car after giving him a high five. I kept going down the road until I finished my twelve miles.

Overall, I felt SO GOOD on this run. It reminded me that I am am really strong and powerful! I love to run. Also, the twelve mile distance reminded me that I love half-marathons. I am very excited for the San Jose half..mostly because it's flat!

Hopefully this fabulous run sets the tone for the upcoming week. I need a little positivity in my life these days! Oh and check out hubby's first ice bath. I especially like the outfit!

Recover-eh

It's been almost two whole weeks since I completed the SF Marathon and I have officially entered the marathon blues! I really just want to jump back hard core into training but I'm tired and have some dings here and there. I'm not sad, so to speak, just anxious to get moving again!!

Over the weekend, hubby and I embarked on a slow and easy seven miler. I looked at my training routes from the SFM training program and, strangely, found one that I had not run. Huh. It began near my house, and was (apparently) supposed to take us along a nice, flat route down Haight street and then back into Golden Gate Park. We started down Haight and it was early enough that there weren't any crowds of tourists or hitchhikers. After some time, we hit Market street and turned around to head back. So- I don't know if the elevation chart I had looked at was incorrect or if I just can't read but a significant portion of this route was directly UPHILL. Poor hubby- his first long run and I put him through this!

After battling the hills, we made it back into Golden Gate Park and I thought I was going to lose hubby. He was concerned about his ability to complete a half marathon (we are running SJ RnR in October). I reminded him that this was his FIRST long run- EVER and he was doing great!

As we were about to complete our run, we came to an intersection where we had to stop and wait for a red light. A man decided to just mozy his way into the street, stopping traffic. Then, he stopped in the road, pulled out an issue of Playboy, and held up the centerfold for all to see. Man, only in San Francisco.

We finished our run and headed home. I was so happy to be out running a longer distance, although I was pretty tired at the end.

Last week, I also discovered, through the help of some great salespeople at a local running store, that I have been running in exactly the opposite shoes that I should be running in, taking into account my "issues" (like Morty!). I dropped a significant amount of money on some new kicks and orthotics. I've been walking my dog in them and took them out for a 2 mile trot the other day. We'll see if they can help banish Morty for good!