Three Things Thursday

1. I'm pretty sure my shoes are on their last legs. I came back from my last run (15km total distance w/11km of fartleks) with runners that squeaked and the cushioning under the ball of my foot felt very thin. Granted that I was running downhill for a good portion of the run, but I can only expect them to bounce back so far as they have 480km on them.

This sucks for many reasons:

• Obviously, I need shoes to run and ones that feel good are preferred.
• I have a 32km long run on Sunday. I will have to hope that they work out well and don't start to bug my knees.
• I didn't get a new pair prior to my longest run before taper so when I do get new ones I won't have them broken in for as much as I would like prior to the marathon.
• I can't really afford new shoes. I probably should have bought 2 pairs to begin with.

2. Colin has his ART appointment tonight. Hopefully it will help with his sore knee. The knee sleeve has helped him substantially (he's already planning for a +20km run this weekend), but it's a temporary solution to a bigger problem.

3. I have a contest starting on Monday. Stop by again to find out what it is!

Contests Everywhere!

Except here.

I don't have anything to give away at the moment (please come back next week), but there are A LOT of contests going on right now...

Endurance Isn't Only Physical - CEP Compression Socks - Ends 17 September

Endurance Isn't Only Physical - GU - Ends 17 September

Racing With Babes - Race Day Memories - Ends 17 September

Secrets Of A Running Mom - Chica Bands - Ends 17 September

Forward Foot Strides - GU - Ends 18 September

Racing With Babes - Brooks Gift Certificate - Ends 21 September

Run To The Finish - Brooks Shoes and Shorts - Ends 22 September

The Making Of A Runner - 50th Follower Giveaway - Ends 22 September

Run, Courtney, Run - Ultimate Raffle (TNT Fundraiser) - Ends 24 September

Mom!...Honey!...Coach!...SisterRunner! - Injinji Socks - Ends 10 October

Because all the cool kids are doing it... - *10-10* Virtual Race - Ends 10 October

Good News!

After 3 weeks of not being able to run more than 5km at a time, Colin went for a 10km run tonight! Yay! If only we'd known the Nike open patella knee sleeve would help so much we could have bought it earlier... maybe he would have taken water with him tonight if he had known too. It's not a total solution, but I'm very happy that it works and proud of him for keeping at it. He's got an ART (Active Response Therapy) appointment on Thursday that will hopefully help some more.

Countdown is in full-swing now: only 27 more days til race day. That's 3 long runs, people!

Turnaround Tuesday: Results Edition

Tonight, I think that I had a near-perfect run. See my last post for an explanation of my 2 week slump. That all seemed to go away.

Here are the stats:

Distance: 6.19km (3.85 miles)

Time: 37:11

Average Pace: 6min/km (9:39/mile)

Weather: Sun and wind

Feeling: a little slow, but was actually sub-6 for the majority of the time. To me that equates to awesomeness. Walked up half of killer (10% grade) hill, but totally okay with it.

Best part of the run, though, was when I got upstairs and Colin told me to open the blinds. It was POURING!  Good thing I was speedy...

Turnaround Tuesday

The last couple of weeks have been an almost, but not quite, write-off for me in terms of running. I've hit a slump in my training. Since 22 August I have run a total of 4 days. That's right. 4 days. I can't say that I'm thrilled with myself for this lack of motivation.

It all started on 22 August when I ended my 29km long run with a couple of awesome blisters. I made them a bit worse by doing hill repeats on 24 August (yay ripped skin) so I was under self-imposed rest until that weekend in order to get my 32km run in.

On the 29th I had a great 32km run - see how far I've come to be able to say that - and then... nothing. I backed out of my tempo that Tuesday due to a torrential downpour, skipped 10 x hills on the Wednesday since I would have had to do them myself, and didn't run Thursday either. My last "run" was on Sunday. I was scheduled for 23km, but couldn't get my butt out of bed decided to run with Colin (who's been having IT issues of late) instead. Unfortunately that meant that we ran for about 5km before he was done and then walked 5km home.

So my training/distance for the last two weeks has been crap.

Today is the day I start fresh. No looking back and feeling guilty (well, not too much). Just moving forward and getting back on track. I'm starting with a lovely, hilly 6km tempo tonight. I had plans for speedwork tomorrow, but Colin's able to make a few extra bucks working for a friend so I'll try to get it in later this week.

And when I opened my mail today I found this lovely surprise inside:

Nothing like having the local money pit running store send you a dividends certificate! That'll pay for my GU for this weekend's long run.

How do you relieve stress?

Some people exercise to relieve stress. Others bake. This is what happens when a runner comes to the conclusion that IT issues might sideline them 6 weeks before their first marathon. The runner isn't me, but my husband... you didn't think I could bake like this did you?*

Peanut Butter Cookies, Snails, Banana Bread, Blackberry Pie

* My only contribution was the little pile of Snails (pie dough/cinnamon sugar swirls).

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Contest Winner!

M's car had to be in the shot too!

And the winner is...

MEGGAN from On My Way to 26.2

Please email me your address at running42km.blog [at] gmail.com and I'll get your GU out to you asap!

Thanks to everyone who entered! Stay tuned for another contest in a few weeks...