Getting GOOFY

Got up this morning to frosty windows and a bright sun shining through them. Boiled some water for tea and toasted an english muffin for my pre-run breakfast, English muffing with peanut butter, banana, and honey. It's YUMMY!!! Two cups of tea and some bad Sunday morning TV and I was ready to run. Got dressed, filled up my fuel belt, threw some gels in the pocket of the fuel belt, set my Garmin for a new run and I was off.

What a gorgeous morning! Only in the high 30s or maybe low 40s, but I warmed up within the first mile. A little annoyed because for some reason the bottles in the back of my fuel belt kept falling out. So, maybe it was the screaming obscenities and doubling back to pick up the bottles that helped me warm up. Either way, I got comfortable after about 3 miles and took my first gel at around mile 4. Cruised past a house making pancakes and bacon around mile 6, yup I could smell it from the street and it smelled GOOD!!!

Made it to the halfway point and then the hills began. 4 major hills and one tiny one back to my house. Great training for the Newton hills. I haven't run Newton yet, but based on the elevation profile of the Boston course in comparison to my long run routes that always finish with these 4 hills, my hills are worse. But I LOVE them. Call me crazy, but there's just something about a long never-ending hill that motivates me to dig deeper and push a little harder and run a little stronger. That's just how I roll. I picked up the pace and ran the last 3 miles progressively quicker and sprinted up the tiny hill at the end of my run. 14.3 miles done!

Drove to Rite Aid, got my 30lbs. of ice and prepared my ice bath. This week I decided to re-read parts of one of my favorite running books while I sat suffering in the tub or torture I've grown to love and even look forward to on long runs, "I run therefore I am...NUTS". It's really a great book. So, true. Ice baths in the winter, a little more painful than in the summer. This week for the first time ever, all the ice didn't melt after 20 minutes in the tub. I think I may be able to use less ice in the winter. I'll have to try only 20lbs. or 25lbs. of ice next week.

So, this was the second weekend of my goofy training since Marine Corps Marathon, back to back long runs and so far I'm feeling pretty good. Next week is a recovery week and then I ramp up before tapering to race day. Only 45 days to go until the Goofy Challenge. I hope the weather stays as nice as it has been. That would be great. Then when we get to Disney, I hope it's cold and cloudy (I know, crazy, again). Not ideal Florida vacation weather, but ideal running weather. I'm praying for it. Here's hoping Mother Nature helps me out this year.