Happy Tuesday! Here’s how last week’s training went; I have completed week 8!

Monday (rest): It’s a good thing, because I wasn’t feeling that well this day…

Tuesday (4 miles): I had a good 4 mile run in the chilly fall weather. Although, I keep wondering why I choose to do a marathon in the winter….cause running in the snow and freezing weather seems really daunting and unpleasant….we’ll see.

Wednesday (7 miles): Well, I picked up a second job. And I might turned this new job into my only job….anyway, I worked an 11 hour shift and had to push my 7 miles til the next day.

Thursday (4 miles -> 7 miles) actually, I ran 10.. and a hard 10 at that! BUT to top that,  I actually had a running buddy! It’s nice to have a running buddy every once in awhile. Especially someone who is just as good or better than you. My guy friend Shay (there’s also a girl you hear me talk about sometimes) invited me on a trail run out of Golden (just outside of Denver). If I recall correctly, it was called the Chimney Gulch/Lookout Mountain trail. I took my phone with me to map the trial but it died at the top, so I could only record half the run. 5 miles to the top, 5 miles down. My friend said he hadn’t ran the trail in awhile, but he was powering up it. I had to walk a little bit on the super steep parts, other than that, I pretty much ran the entire thing. It’s too bad winter is fast approaching, because I’m really getting into trail running.  However, I’m also glad winter is approaching quickly, because SNOWBOARDING SEASON BEGINS SOON!!!! I finally purchase my season pass with a large chunk of cash (yikes!) but it’s completely worth it in the end…it pays for itself quickly, and I have all my own gear!

Friday (rest day -> 4 miles from Thurs): After running errands and working and before planned dinner with a friend, I only managed to get in 3 miles and I had to run them at the gym. Blah. But I figured I had run extra on Thursday, so it was ok to skimp on the one last mile.

Saturday (I moved my long run to Sunday, so rest): I worked until early afternoon, ordered chinese food, got some beers at the worst bar in the world (thanks to my friends who seem to love the Electric Cowboy….I don’t get it) all to carb load for my long run on Sunday.

Sunday (15 miles): 15 miles complete. Non-stop might I add! Thanks to all that lo mein and beer the  night before, I was able to head 7.5 miles down the road and back. This is the longer/farthest I have ever run, EVER! My previous distance record was only 13.1 for a half marathon. I’ve done that distance 4 times. I ran the Crazy Horse half two weekends ago and missed last week’s 14 miler step up run, so I made quite the jump! But I just trudged through it. I finished it in 2 hours and 27 minutes; and after looking back at my mile times, I kept an average pace around 9:50, which I don’t think is bad at all! It’s a funny feeling as I start to run longer and longer distances, to then actually visualize how far 15 miles really is. Even 7 and a half miles to my turn around point….I passed the street on my way home from work and couldn’t believe I had gone that far! I made it half way to my work (which takes me 20 min to drive in the morning!). Every long run from here on out with be the farthest I have ever run and I’ll probably get just as excited every time!

Needless to say, after my longest run ever, I was a wee bit sore. Mostly in my knees – in fact, my knees were in so much pain that I had trouble sleeping. My shoulders were pretty tight the next day because I ran with my camelpak, and even though I only filled it halfway and it was negligible weight on my back, I think I sub consciously held up my shoulders as I ran, thinking I had to keep it on my back.

The next day though, I had to work, so I Laser-ed my knees and I’m telling you…PAIN FREE! I’m swearing by this magical laser I’ve been talking about!

How was everyone else’s week!? So many of you are marathon training, tell me what week you’re on!  Is anyone having to run long distances in the winter months??