For some reason in my “catching up” post I skipped the last couple days of training week seven: well, Saturday was a rest day, per usual, and Sunday was a 10 mile long run, which I did at “home” (in Ohio, where I grew up) since I was visiting friends and seeing Les Miserables.  It was a beautiful day, mostly – 60ish degrees and sunny, but wicked humid. Fortunately I wore my fuel belt which has a nifty little pocket that fits my mini-vaseline container perfectly: I reapplied twice. Hey, I have big quads – what can I say? 😉

So, last week:

Monday: 50 min. bike (high cadence, low resistance) and lots of stretching/foam rolling for my IT band

Tuesday: easy 4 miles in drizzle

Wednesday: Legs day – started with 6.33 mi bike (21ish min) and then squats, lunges, calf raises, leg press, etc. – the usual suspects

Thursday: As my twitter said, four fabulous (easy) miles on a gorgeous day, followed by leisurely stretching and sitting on my apartment steps enjoying the view

Friday: Plan: 4 easy miles; actual; 1 easy mile; 1 mile run/walk; 1 mile walk of shame back to my apartment. Second worst case of mid-run GI distress I’ve ever experienced. Sorry for the TMI, but it’s a runner’s lot.

Saturday: total rest day

Sunday: Plan: 4 easy miles; Actual; 6 easy miles complete with a near meltdown (I have these from time-to-time, you may gather) and then a long conversation with Nerdy Boyfriend on the topic of “are there too many marathoners?” We say “no.” Respectfully.

Obviously that week was a cutback week, so there isn’t much to say other than what I already wrote there. BUT this week is a big week for running in general. There was the London Marathon on Sunday, and of course Boston on Monday. I don’t have cable and was at work anyway, so I kept up with the coverage via twitter (and eventually watched the NBC highlights off youtube) and was STILL on the edge of my seat. My heart broke for Kim Smith, but in the end, it was almost like she was rabbiting the race for everyone else. And how awesome is Desi Davila? She “kept it honest,” as she said in her post-race interviews, and fought with everything she had. The winner COLLAPSED at the finish line because Davila pushed so hard. What a race. The men’s was thrilling, too, but I may be a little partial.

The thing I like about elite runners, too, or a lot of them anyway is how classy they keep it. Over at Kara Goucher’s blog, she wrote about her fight and how she’s keeping her chin up. And apparently when Desi passed her, she encouraged her, saying “Keep your eyes up,” and then kept going. Classy ladies – love it.

In other running news, far more minor for the world in general but VERY exciting for me, happened yesterday morning. Early on in the work day I was catching up on twitter for a few minutes when I saw a tweet for @PGHmarathon for 50 free entries to Dean Karnazes’ 5K in Pittsburgh as part of his run across America: all I had to do was email this woman and be one of the first 50 to do so. I caught it 10 minutes after the tweet was published.

Within the hour, I had an email: I did it! I had won! I got into the race! I went into a slight panic since the race is on a Wednesday (April 27) at 9 a.m., and quickly emailed my boss with the scoop. Luckily they already know I’m a freak runner, and he CC’d Boss Lady in New York to say it was fine as long as I kept her in the loop on case assignments. I’ll just need to stay at work a little late and/or work extra hours the rest of the days. I have book club that night so I can’t stay HUGELY late, but I’ll work from home to maximize things anyway.

I’m really pumped. I may be running on dead legs since I have an 11 miler on Sunday and speedwork on Tuesday (4×1600) but apparently he’s taking these races pretty slow since, 1. he’s there to meet people and be an ambassador to the sport, and 2. he’s running 40ish miles a day.

Of course I’ll try to take pictures. My only camera is a big honking thing (a DSLR) but I have my phone and MIGHT steal Nerdy Boyfriend’s point and click. But we’ll see. The phone might be easier, and it takes halfway decent pictures, and it’ll be easy enough to load those up on facebook and then post here. It’ll be a fun race report!