Note: Week 9 was May 21-28.
This week kicked off with my birthday! I have approximately zero feelings about turning 31. 30 was exciting; 31 was just another Monday.
My birthday falls near the end of a string of birthdays in my family—my brother, Aaron, Evie, my mom and Aaron’s stepmom (plus Mother’s Day is in there, too)—so by the time we get to me, everyone is exhausted and sick of cake.
Plus, after planning and hosting Evie’s birthday party at the end of April, I had no desire to plan anything for myself aside from the usual casual dinners with family. I celebrated my birthday for 30 years and now I’m done. I just want to sleep in and not go to work.
Which is exactly what I did! I took the day off, went for a run, went out for beer and pizza and burgers with Aaron (yes, all in one lunch) and got a massage. It was the perfect birthday, if you ask me. Plus, Hallie and I saw Taylor Swift the following day! I missed one shorter run this week, but I think I made up for it with all the walking and dancing we did at the concert. Oh man, it was exhausting. I’m not 21 anymore!
MONDAY: 9-mile easy run at 8:52 average pace.
A nice run to kick off 31.
TUESDAY: Rest.
Hallie and I shook it off at the Taylor Swift concert! It was amazing, duh.
WEDNESDAY: 4-mile easy run at 9:03 average pace.
I had one too many beers the night before. I did my best.
THURSDAY: 45-minute tempo run (5.6 miles total) at 8:04 average pace.
Despite drinking quite a bit Tuesday night and eating pretty much straight garbage, I felt super strong during this run. I did a 10-minute warmup, 30 minutes at tempo pace (4-ish miles: 7:53, 7:43, 7:39, 7:39) and a 5-minute cooldown. Confidence = boosted.
FRIDAY: Rest.
SATURDAY: 8.2-mile easy run at 8:44 average pace.
I ran with Hallie and it was a bit faster that I’d normally go for an easy run, but I did lots of recovery (legs up the wall, stretching, foam rolling) to get my legs feeling good for Sunday’s long run.
SUNDAY: 17-mile long run at 9:08 average pace.
We got the whole marathon crew together—Kelli, Hallie and me—and ran 8.5 miles up the marathon course, then 8.5 miles back down. Again, this was faster than I usually do my long runs, and I tried to slow it down at times, but when you’re chatting with friends for two and a half hours, it’s easy to get caught up in the convo and lose track of pace. Kelli and Hallie both ran Jack & Jill last year, so they gave me lots of insight into their experiences and pointed out the exact spots where the race started to get really hard! At this point, I can only imagine what multiple hours of downhill at 8:00 pace feels like…
Total weekly mileage: 43.8
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