week 7 training recap

Miles run: 34

42 days to go. WOW. I'm simultaneously excited and in shock and also feeling a bit down today as I write this, so I want to be more excited, but truthfully, I'm feeling in a funk, and I'm not sure why. I'm so happy August is over — it was rough. I wrote a post that never got posted (not everything needs to be shared, right?) about how I hated Mondays in August since 3 of the 4 were related to my dog (learning he had cancer, making the decision to put him down, and getting his ashes back on his gotcha day). I'm happy to report that the final Monday in August was good, and I don't actually hate Mondays. Still, August was a doozy. I had every reason to skip a lot of runs, and somehow, I managed to hit them all. While there were hard days that required a lot of mental strength (and serious internal conversations on why I am running and what I'm running for), to get started, they were also easy to complete because I no longer felt guilty for leaving my dog at home and not spending time with him. I had my highest mileage month ever, 148 miles, which is unbelievable to me, and I'm so proud of what I accomplished despite the curveballs and sadness thrown my way.

What was planned:

Tuesday: 5

Thursday: 30-min run / 8x 20s strides/ 30-min run

Saturday: 16

Sunday: 7

What got done:

Tuesday: I was still so tired from my big weekend of running that when I got home from work, I took a nearly 2-hour nap and decided to move my run to Wednesday.

Wednesday: I ran these 5 from my house to the French Creek trail. It was uneventful —sweaty, but uneventful — and it got done — that's all that matters.

Thursday: I squeezed this run in after a discouraging doctor's appointment and before my PT appointment. I had fun doing it, and it was somewhat cooler in the morning when I was running, making it even more enjoyable. Pro-tip: Run (i.e., beat yourself up) before physical therapy so your therapist can fix you up!

Saturday: I surprisingly had an excellent long run despite waking up at 3 AM to try to get Oasis tickets. I was up at 3, 3:30, 3:45, and 4 AM fighting Ticketmaster to get in the queue. I finally got in to buy tickets at 7 AM, and everything was sold out. (Swifties, I feel your pain). Woof. But, back to running. I went to Valley Forge since I "cheated" last weekend and ran road for my long run. I also wanted to try out the "Trail Run" setting on my new Forerunner, which I got last week. (Side note: it's so cool. It has so much more data and capabilities than my old one. I could see my total elevation and had a map of where I was running!) Fortunately the weather wasn't too hot, it was slightly humid but much of where I was running was in the shade and felt cool. I started to warm up towards the end and stopped at one of the river passings twice to cool off and dunk my hat in, hoping to offer some relief. There's nothing extraordinary to report about this run besides that I'm so proud of doing 16 miles at Valley Forge! I think the most I've done before is 12 or 13, and those extra 3 miles make all the difference. My legs were jello at the end, and I was so tired. My left hip flared up a little toward the end of my run. It's the same pain I had experienced in my right hip when I ran the Philly Marathon last year. I got overly nervous and ran/walked the last mile as I didn't want to make it worse. I nailed my fueling every 30 minutes but I'm still working on hydration. It's not day of hydration, it's more the day before and morning of that I keep messing up, which impacts my long run.

I came home to shower and soak in an Epsom salt bath. As I was soaking, enjoying my post-long run beer, I checked my email and saw an update to my fundraiser. I hit my goal of $5,000. I was overcome with emotion and disbelief as I was starting to get worried that I wasn't going to hit the 5k. If you're reading this and have donated, please know how much it means to me. Thank you for donating and for believing in me and that I'm capable of doing this. (And because we have 42 days to go, I'm going to stretch my goal to $6,000 now!)

Sunday: I fought this run so hard. I was nervous to run because of what I felt in my hip yesterday, even though I didn't feel anything the rest of the day or this morning. I told myself I'd go out and do 4. Once I hit 4, I said okay, hit 5. And once I hit 5 miles, I said you're fine — what's 2 more? My legs didn't feel terrible starting this run, but the final miles, they were so sore and felt like I was moving through quicksand.

I have no big lessons from this week, besides maybe the importance of the quote from one of my favorite runners, Des Linden, "Keep showing up". My close friend reminded me of this last week.

Show up on the hard days — show up on the easy days.

Show up when you don't want to, because you said you would.

Show up when no one is looking, because that's when it matters most.

Just keep showing up.