Slow Solo Long Run - Week 2 Antelope Canyon 50 Miler Training Cycle

This week flew by.... literally.  It was another week of flying to Hong Kong for me with a PA Day tacked onto Friday which means that the kids are off of school which equals NO LONG run on Friday.

The way my friends and I had worked out our training plan was that we would do our back to back long runs on Fridays and Saturdays. This is largely because I tend to be out of the country Tuesdays through Thursdays.  Ultra marathon training is different from regular marathon training cycles in that there are two high mileage runs back to back on consecutive days.

With the PA Day scheduled for the Friday, my friends and I realized that we would have to do one of our long runs on another day.  I had no choice but to do mine in Hong Kong while I was on my layover.

Monday - Speed Workout. I had to squeeze this workout in early as I had promised to take my father to a doctors appointment. He was recently diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and has since had a number or appointments.  I pulled up and speed workout that I had done a few years back while training for my marathon.

Work out is Warm up for 15 minutes, then 4x400 with decreasing rest times repeated 4 times followed by at 15 minute cool down.

I hadn't done a speed workout in ages and I've realized how much I dislike them. I love that they are somewhat short and sweet but I always feel like my heart is going to explode and that I will vomit at the end of the sprints. However, when it is all over I feel amazing.

Tuesday morning was back to work for mommy. Quick lunch prep in the morning and off to the airport I go. I used to wake up at 4:30 to squeeze in a quick treadmill run before making lunches and heading to work, but I found that rest is way more beneficial. The flight to Hong Kong is 15 hours on a good day and I need every moment of shut eye to look my best :) , I mean be nice to the passengers.

Wednesday afternoon I arrived in Hong Kong. I was lucky to be working with a good friend and when that happens, I usually abandon the workout for that day and we catchup. My girlfriend loves Thai food and we found a trendy well recommended spot online and headed out straight after working our 15 hour flight.  If you're ever looking for an authentic Thai spot Chachawan is a great spot to check out. Their food is from the Issan Region in northeast Thailand. My girlfriend chose this spot because there was Larp on their menu. I had never tried Larp before. It is essentially a lettuce wrap with delicious ground meats and Thai spices.

I had decided that I would attempt to complete my first of the two long runs in Hong Kong. Thursday was the only day I had left to run the 17 miles required. I would have loved to have done it in the trails, but that would have required the whole day. I only had a few hours as my flight back to Toronto was later that day.

Views from the Promenade

I headed out to Shatin bright and early.  Shatin is a city along the Shing Mun River with an extensive promenade for runners/walkers and bicycles.  There is no road traffic, so there are no traffic lights or cars to battle. The battle with me with these long runs are that I have gotten spoiled by my running buddies. They keep me company and motivate me to keep on moving. I didn't pack my music as I haven't listened to any music for the past few years.  I know that a lot of the struggle for me is in my head. I kept reminding myself that was only 17 miles and it was 18 degrees. I was running in shorts and a t shirt while my friends had to run in snow and negative temperatures.  I eventually got it done with some pretty bad chaffing to prove it.

I made it back in time to the hotel for a quick shower and back onto the bus to take us to the airport for the 15 hour flight back home.

Friday was PA Day. When I am home, it's fully mom mode for me.  Kids and I had hoped to sleep in, but that did not happen. We had scheduled parent teacher interviews for the kids for this day bright and early at 8 am. I dragged myself and the kids out of bed and we headed out to meet their teachers. I'm relieved to say that they went well, but I had also scheduled a bunch of other appointments for the kiddies.  It was also BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!

New Shoes

The kids and I thought about heading out to a mall, but decided against it when we drove by a few and saw the parking lots.  We settled for Chapters/Indigo and got some goodies for all.  My son hates shopping so to make life better for my daughter and I, we dropped him off at grandmas and headed back out. We were lucky to have some time to have a quick visit with friends visiting from out of town for liquid nitrogen infused cheese curls at Cool N2.  Kids had more activities before rushing out and having a lovely sushi filled girls night out.

Saturday - Long run part 2.  9 miles through the trails with my buddy.  We met up early, but it was a bit too dark to head into the trails so we decided to run some hills at the trail head before heading into the darkness of the woods. It had snowed earlier in the week, but the trail had been used. Some parts were quite slippery, but we were able to get in our 9 miles before we both had to head home to our mom duties. Because I tend to work weekdays, we try to jam all of our kids activities on weekends. We ended up being uber drivers on weekends to all their different activities. Luckily, we had dinner plans with friends at the end of the day, which was incentive for us to power through.

Full Moon to Start the Run

My friend from Rochester was visiting this weekend and was able to bring all our running shoes that my run buddies and I had ordered a few weeks ago. I am so thankful to have my buddy living in the USA so that I can ship many of my purchases to her. I go through so many pairs of running shoes that it gets quite expensive. I was thrill to try out my new pair of Saucony KOA trail shoes that I had ordered on my Saturday trail run. I will write another post on my thoughts on these shoes in another post. 

Sunday - Rest day. Wonderful sermon at church to reboot my soul.  Hubs and I decided to treat the kids to one of their favourite places to eat.... Jolibee. Jolibee opened up its first location in Toronto here earlier this year, but we had not gone due to the ridiculous line ups.  People were lining up for hours when it first opened up. We were lucky to have had it in August when we were in Winnipeg.  I think I ate all my calories back and more over this weekend.

Sushi Feast

How was your week? Anyone race?

Wet Start to Ultra Training Cycle

I was surprised that training was starting this week. I thought that I had a few more weeks to slack off and take it easy, but here we are.  My friends and I have been running  trails leading up to this week. After training and racing two ultras with me, they are helping me through another training cycle.  They are doing what they can to help me succeed at the Antelope Canyon 50 Miler.  I am lucky to have my friends to train with me an race this with me in the Spring os 2019.

My job takes me away to foreign destinations where I have to adjust my training.  My friends try to accommodate my schedule if possible so that we can do our long runs together.  

This week I was flying to Hong Kong which meant that I would be away for 3 days out of the week.

Monday, I was able to run with 10 km with my friends L and K. K had just returned from racing the Chicago Marathon a few weeks ago so it was nice to catch up with her.  Did I mention that she's in her 60's and an Ironman Finisher. 

Tuesday morning I head out bright and early to the airport after helping hubs get the kids ready for school. This week, I was off to  Hong Kong, which means I usually get no running/activity completed for the day as the flight is 15 hours and with the time change, I am landing in Hong Kong Wednesday afternoon the next day.

Wednesday late afternoon I get into my hotel room after the 15 hour flight and pass out. I had set my alarm to wake up and head to the track for some speed work or the gym, but neither happened.  When I finally got up, the guilt set in from in activity. I have some workout videos saved on my iPad and I did a quick 30 minute Insanity session in my room and then was out for the count.

Thursday morning I wake up and head out to Lion Rock Country Park for a trail run. Hong Kong has an extensive trail system that I discovered last year as I was training for the 100km race. I was thrilled to find out about all the trails. I have been flying to Hong Kong for over 15 years and had never gone into the trails. Hong Kong is very lush and surrounded by mountain. With the help of the Internet, I was able to discover many routes.

The Lion Rock hike is the closest to my hotel and is easy to get to. It takes me about 30 minutes on public transportation to get there.  The trail section I do is about 8 km and 469 m in elevation.  When I first did this route, it took me over 2 hours to complete. Every time I go there now, I try to beat my previous time.  This trail has A LOT of stairs.  The first time on the trail, I was with a fellow crew member and we saw wild boars. This time, I had to wait for 2 monkeys to get off the path and let me  pass. Weather was nice but still got my sweat on. Then head back to the hotel, shower and get back on the plane home to Toronto.

We landed in Toronto Thursday night to Toronto's first big snow storm for this season.  The captain had said "a little dusting of snow", but he was wrong.  By Friday morning, the Toronto area had accumulated 11 cm of snow.

Snow on the Plane Parked Beside Us.

Friday morning, I picked up my friend K to the mechanic to drop off my car to have the winter tires installed. We dropped the car off and went for a run. I had to run 25 km and she was going to keep me company for 15 km of it.  The weather was terrible. It was still snowing from the night before. The snow was wet and heavy, perfect for making snowmen, but not ideal for running.  Not all the roads or sidewalks had been plowed.   We ran on both the sidewalks and the road hoping to avoid all the wet, slushy snow.  Some of the sidewalks were light plowed and some parts were snow covered. It was like running in quick sand. When we went onto the roads, it was wet. The snow had either melted or was driven over so much that it was all slush and with every passing car or bus we were getting soaked.  Within the first 10km, both of our feet and shoes were soaked. I ran K home at 15 km and finished a l0 km loop to the mechanic to pick up my car finishing at 25 km. It worked out quick well.

Saturday morning , the crew came out for 15 km run. The roads were finally dry after snowy day the day before. It was nice to run with dry feet and the gang to keep the conversations going.

I was treated to a girls night out Saturday evening.  We went to the theatre to watch Ain't to Proud, a musical about the life of The Tempations and the music of Motown. It was a great show and the performance were spectacular.

Sunday - Rest day

Total mileage -  61.7 km

How was your week?  Do you have any races you're training for?

DNF’s and Moving Forward

I finally decided to re visit my blog. It has been a long time since I have written anything. I look back to when I first started writing and realize that I started blogging November 2012, 6 years ago after the birth of my son. I was very passionate about running and wanted to share my experiences and love of running to whomever would listen. I used to follow many other bloggers who would motivate me and made me want to be a better runner. I had hoped to do the same, but feel like I have failed. As the years progressed, I wrote less and less.  But I would like to give it a try again.

Life has gotten busy, but lets be real who's isn't? So where do I start ? It seems like I have tried to re start blogging many times. Blogging was therapeutic for me, like running is.  My last post was about my first ultra marathon, the Monument Valley 50 miler. It was a wonderful experience and I decided to sign up for a 100K race the following year. 

I have since run a few more marathons, finished a sprint triathlon and DNF'ed (Did Not Finish) my attempt at a 100K this past May. I had gone into the 100K race with so much hope and had hoped to at least finish so the DNF was a huge blow to me and my pride. I had always heard about people not finishing races because of different circumstances, but I never thought it would be me.

I was able to go to Boston this past April to cheer my friends at one of the coldest and wettest Boston Marathons in history.  I was inspired by so many and have not given up hope to maybe .... one day I will run it myself.

I decided to take the summer off to recharge. I have enjoyed the past few months running for pleasure and when I wanted to without following any training plans. I enjoyed training for my first triathalon. I spent more time on my bike and swam a little. The triathalon was something that I had always wanted to do and it was a good distraction for me. It allowed me to continue training but at a lower intensity.

O

It was the first time in a long time where I was not obsessing about following a training plan and making sure I was out everyday pounding the pavement. I spent the summer riding and running trails with friends.

We took a family trip with friends to Lisbon in August and a few weeks later I did a mother daughter trip to Madrid with my daughter and a friend. Both these trips sidelined any running that I had planned to do. But I had an amazing time exploring new places with family. Seeing their faces light up from all the new things they were seeing and experiencing.

After, my DNF in May my friends decided that we should to another ultra next year. I really wanted to do it but the fear of letting them down was always at the back of my mind. I was having a bit of a pity party but in the end, we signed up for the Antelope Canyon 50 Miler in March 2019.   I am lucky to have friends who believe in me and are willing to drag me through the desert again. Come and follow me on my journey. 

I am going to try to post once a week, if not once a month to keep the readers updated on this next training cycle.  Honestly, I am not looking forward to the many miles that I will be logging the next few weeks leading up to the 50 miler, but I know I will be so thankful and overwhelmed when I am running in the desert in March.   I enjoy the friendships that I have made over the past few years through running, riding, and all the activities we do.

Monument Valley 50 Miler Race Recap

Alarms were set and I was ready to go! It was my first ultra marathon.  I had spent the last 4 months of the Canadian winter training and couldn't wait to get it done. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I felt comfortable knowing that I was in good hands. My two run buddies are both experienced ultra train runners and would be sticking with me to the finish. My buddy Laura had all things mapped out for our race from what goes into our drop bags, to our nutrition and well as a map of the routing, times and cut offs of our race.

It was a half hour drive in the dark into the start line in Monument Valley Park. We drove in the dark with anticipation for the sun to rise and to get going. There was a bit of a back log getting into the park as we could see a line up of tail lights from quite a distance. We parked the car with 5 minutes to the 7 am start. We quickly rushed to the port of potties and met back at the start line to realize that the 50 miler group had just started, my buddies and I looked at each other and took off to catch up with our fellow racers. The first section was 4 km to the East Mitten Aid Station. It was a great way to start surrounded by many runners like a beginning of any race, all trying to find our groves. The sun was just starting to come up.  I was lucky to have a photo taken of my buddy and I with some other runners at this section.

Photo Credit: Jack Jewell Photography

We ran into the first aid station, showed them our bib numbers and headed straight out to the next check point, the Three Sisters Aid Station about 7 kms away.  Most of what we had run was on a  single track hard dirt road. This section followed washes until we got onto the main road, Valley Drive which we stayed on, until we got to Three Sisters Aid Station.

It was a quick stop for us to take a quick pee and move onto the biggest climb of the course, up Mitchell Mesa. There had been a change to the course and we were going to be climbing the Mesa at the beginning section of the course which I was happy to get out of the way. Our legs were still fresh and spirits high.  

Navajo Guide on horseback guiding us up the Mesa

It was a 15.5 km climb to the top of the Mesa. The sun was starting to come out and as we were making our way up there were already people making their way down. We are also coming up on people running the 50km race as they were doing this loop in the reverse. It was a single track heading up so had to stop along the way to let the speedsters coming down pass. It was a nice and steady climb up with shear drops so I was cautious with my footing.  The views from the top of the Mesa were incredible. We stopped to take some photos, grab a quick drink and turned around to make our way back down to the Three Sisters Aid station.

   

Top of the Mesa    

It was unreal. I was trying to take it all in, but it seemed like it was going by so quickly in slow motion. I was feeling good as we were about 3 hours into the race. It was nice to go down the Mesa and see the amazing views of Monument Valley.

 

Running down the Mesa

We headed straight back to the 3 Sisters Aid Station to refuel.  In my head, I had thought that we would be resting at the aid stations, but that wasn't what my buddies had in mind. I came into this race with no expectations and was just following along with what I was told to do. We pretty much ran into the stations and the tasks were divided among the three of us. One was to refill bottles, the other was to grab our drop bag and take out our nutrition and whoever needed to use the potty or change went as quickly as they could. The aid station was fully loaded with volunteers cooking up all sorts of great food. There was bacon, eggs, pancakes, cooked potatoes, ham, veggies, and so much more. It was an amazing spread of food, but there was no time. I grabbed a few slices of bacon, chugged down some Tailwind and maybe some eggs. We changed our socks and used the poop/pee tents. Time was ticking and there were cut offs that we had to meet, so off we went onto our next loop.    

Perfect view of us coming into 3 Sisters Aid Station

Walking towards The Arches

Next was the Arches Loop which was about 9.5 miles.  This was another picturesque loop with a LOT of sand and view of the Totem Pole and other arches. There were other runners on course with us still, especially when we reached the Big Hogan.  We all seemed to stop here to take photos and empty our shoes. We could not escape the sand. It was like fine talc. The sand that was in between every crevasse of your feet.  We finished the loop and ended back at the Three Sisters Aid Station for the last time. We were about half way done at this point and I was still feeling alright. I think I had already taken 6 Advil's by this time along with a few caffeine pills and salt capsules. I had been carrying Hammer Perpetuem in my bottles and drinking them along the way, making sure they were empty by the time I reached every aid station. My friends were also carrying electrolytes and nutrition. We always made sure we were drinking and eating along the way checking up on each other.

Runners emptying Sand out of their Shoes    

Stopping to Strike a Pose under the Big Hogan    

The next section was 7 miles from the Three Sisters Aid station to East Mitten Aid station.  This section had the least amount of sand, as in the dry talc sand that would seep into every inch of your shoe. We were running down Valley Drive which is a main road which cars drive down so the sand is hard and packed down towards the visitor centre. We make a sharp turn right before we even make it close to the visitor centre. This will take us towards the North Window overlook and then follows what's known as the "Marlboro Trail" around City Butte towards Artist Point then drops and follows a drainage that parallels Valley Drive to  the East Mitten Aid Station.  I was happy that my feet had a break from all the sand in my feet and my calves were happy that I was able to actually run on a firm surface. We changed socks again grabbed some warm food, refilled our bottles and off we went.  

Horse Trails

This second last section was 7 miles to Brigham's Tomb. We were all in good spirits as this section was fairly flat, but we could see some very dark threatening clouds overhead.  This section is down a dirt road and then follows horse trails to a junction we here there is a slight climb up to the aid station. At this point in the race, there were very few runners left on the course with us. There were monuments all around us as it was flat all around for parts of this section. I was in awe of how beautiful the land was around me and trying to take it all in while trying to keep moving.  I knew that it was unlikely that I would be back to this area again, so I was mentally taking photos and locking them away in my memory.  We kept joking to each other that we had to pick up the pace because the dark clouds were getting closer and the winds were picking up. We pulled up our buffs when the winds blew to help us from eating sand for dinner. I was sure that we were going to get caught in a horrible rain storm, but we lucked out and stayed dry.  With Brigham's Tomb in sight we made the climb up to the aid station. It was super windy as this aid station was exposed to all the elements. I remember trying to sit down on a chair to change my socks and the chair was blown over by the wind gusts. This was our last aid station.  We changed socks, put on an extra shirt and grabbed our head lamps.  I grabbed some turkey and make a sandwiched, wolfed down some pickles, took some more Advil and rolled out of the aid station to the final section of the course.  We only had 9.5 miles to go.  

Still Smiling

Dark Clouds Moving In

 

Trying to Outrun the Storm    

9.5 miles, which is about 15 kilometres was all that was left for my buddies and I to reach the finish line. We could normally run15 kms in our sleep, but we had already run 40.5 miles. I just wanted to be done at this point and this last section seemed to never end.  The course runs along horse trails and skirts around the stagecoach formation.  I felt like we were going in circles, my stomach was starting to feel funny. Thank goodness for the Pepto Bismol that my friend shoved into my mouth. The worse part was that we were back to running in sand..... lots of sand, including a 200 foot climb up a sand dune about half way to the finish line.  I was so done with sand. I never wanted to see sand again. We stopped a few times to empty sand from our shoes. I could see that the sun was starting to set and my buddy yelled for me to pick up the pace and that we were going to finish before dark.  As dusk was settling in, I was finally able to make out the main road and eventually saw the finish area.  We picked up the pace and forged ahead towards the finish line. We make it off the sandy trail and onto a gravel road past the back of The View campground where finishers were camped out cheering us in.  My buddies grabbed each of my hands as I could hear the cheers and our names being announced and we ran across the finish line.  

Finishers!! 

I had done it ! My first ultra. I was finally done. I just wanted to sit down. We got our finisher reward which was SAND....ahhhh. I grabbed a Navajo Taco and tried to eat it before jumping into the car to head back to the hotel.  No one had told me how awful you would feel after an ultra. My gut hated me. I had taken more Advil's and caffeine pills in that race than I had taken in a year. I had survived on gels, chews, and fluids for the past 13 hours and all I wanted to do was to throw up.  I don't think any of us got much sleep that night, but we were done. Until the next one :)

Some of the Sand I emptied from My shoes At the Hotel

 

Our Awards (I filled mine up with the Extra Sand From my Shoes)

Thank you for reading. Have you done any Ultra Marathons? Which one would you recommend we do next?

Current state

I thougt i was done with blogging. I had started blogging when I decided to train for my first marathon. I was super keen on sharing my thoughts and feelings about my love of running as i had been inspired by many fellow bloggers.  But over, I got lazy and also because I felt like I was wasting my time since no one was reading.  So where am I now,  I currently have my Monument Valley 50 miler race recap sitting on the side waiting for me to finish. It may take a while. I have run quite a few races that I have not witten recaps for and feel like i have so catch up on, but will get to them eventually..... maybe never, but I am ok with that.   If any of you have been following my blog, thank you.  I would also suggest you check out my Instagram page where I am quite active and post quite often.  I wanted fo write this post to say that i haven't thrown the towel in yet, and hope to get writing soon. I have lots to say, but just lazy and not quite sure on how to put it all down on paper.  To be honest, I am currently quite tired of road running. I had a blast running my first ultra, Monument Valley was incredible. But, the training was hard. I was very fortunafe ro have some amazing friends who trained with me through the harsh Canadian winter. A month after I raced in a local marathon.  A friend of mine was hoping to qualify for Boston, but missed her time.  On our drive home, I suggested she run a fall marathon to try ro qualify again and that I would train with her. I think I was probably still delerious and dehydrated from finishing the race. 

So here I am, 4 weeks out from another marathon and already dreading the long run waiting for me at the end of the week. I will be away for work this week, which means I will be missing a few of my runs due to the time change and jet lag. 

To say that I am unmotivated could be one thing but I think I'm just tired. Tired of running, tiried of training,

I am hoping this is just phase and will pass. Until then, I will finish this training cycle. I promised a friend that I would train with her and run the marathon with her. Countdown is on...

Monument Valley Race Weekend Part 1

It has taken me some time to get off the high of completing my first ultra race.  It had been months of training through the awful Canadian winter. Long runs back to back in snow storms and ridiculously cold temperatures.

I was fortunate enough to have two awesome ladies train with me and guide me through the entire process. They are both experienced ultra runners who kept me going, even on days that I just didn't want to make another step.

We flew into Las Vegas and picked up our rental car and drove 7 hours to Kayenta. Monument Valley sits between the Utah and Arizona border. During the drive, our clocks kept switching back and forth from the time zones, which I found amusing. The drive the breathtaking and the pictures do not do justice to how magnificent the view were.

Driving Hwy 59, Hurricane Utah

My buddies had done some ultras in this region, so they were able to explain to me what I was seeing and also take photos for me while I was driving. We made a quick stop in Glen Canyon to take some photos as the sun was setting and I also had never seen a real dam this big before.

Glen Canyon

Glen Canyon Dam

We made it into Kayenta in pitch darkness and passed out from our LONG day of travelling.  We got to get a real sense of the area once we woke up and looked out our windows. We were in Navajo Nation and in a very small town. There were only a few hotels, 1 grocery store and a number of restaurants. The views were none that I had seen before.  We were in the dessert surrounded by many random monuments. It was as if I was in a movie.

We were able to get a sense of our race setting as we headed to Monument Valley for bib pickup. 

Bib pickup was inside Monument Valley National Park and was quick and simple. After dropping off our bags and picking up our bibs, we took a look around the visitor centre. We bought some race swag and took in the incredible views and snapped some great shots before heading back to the hotel to rest up.

A tradition Navajo Hogan for the Ceremony

We decided to go back to a local restaurant in town to rest and  grab some food.  I had heard a lot about the Navajo Fry bread and was dying to try some.  We went to Amigo Cafe, a spot that we had gone to for breakfast but had a limited menu at the time, so we went back in search for Navajo fry bread. The photo below shows our pre race feast.  Our waiter, Chandler turned out to be a runner and running the 50K race with us the next day.  He was working hard serving all the runners that had come in for supper and giving us tips of the area.  If you're ever in that neck of the woods, I highly recommend the restaurant and calling up Crawley's Monument Valley Tours. You will not be disappointed

Mmmm, Fry Bread Taco

With our bellies full, we headed back to our hotel for some sleep.....

Ultra Training.. the good, bad and ugly

My running lately seems be feel Groundhog Day. I feel like I've been running everyday and for endless miles. This is most likely because I've been immersed in training for my first ultra in March. My family has had to endure me waking up a ridiculous hours on weekends to get my long runs in. I've spent my layovers sleeping, eating, and running.

I have tried to incorporate more strength training to build strength to help me be a stronger runner/athlete overall.  But there never seems enough time in the day to fit it all in.

If it's one thing I learned so far in my 2 months of training for an ultra is that you really need to organize your time well. I am a working mom with 2 young kids and a job that requires me to travel.  I have had to squeeze in as much of the training in when I can along with keeping up with all the other responsibilities I have.  

The training has taken over all my free time. I am dressed to go for a run as I take my kids to school,  then off to run errands in my running clothes.  I have cooked dinner in my running gear and many times not gotten to the shower until the end of day.  I have gone through many pairs of socks. I can barely recognize my feet and I think I will be losing a few more toenails along the way. I am constantly doing laundry. 

I started training in December with my buddies and I finished the month with 317 km.  We just finished month 2 (January) with 330 km. I am pretty sure that I have never ran this much in all my years of training for my races.  As of today, I have run over 560 km. I am happy to say that I am still able to walk and not hobbling around my house.  The foam roller is my best friend as well as my cabinet full of oils and elixers.

One of the best things that has gotten me through all this training so far are the strong ladies that I am training with. No matter what the weather is, we run OUTSIDE!!! I have run in snow storms, wind storms, my feet and shoes have been soaked through, splashed by buses, and yelled at by drivers.  I relish in any day where the temperature has been about -10. I however have been able to get in a few runs while I am away at work. Although I am jet lagged, I try to get out and squeeze in a run just because I do not have to wear 3 layers, gloves, and wool socks.

So far I have learned to try to stick with the training plan and if things don't work out, relax and let it go. I have had to get used to running back to back long runs. It doesn't always work out for me as my work gets in the way. I used to think having to get one long run a week was tough, trying getting in two. I had my first 100km+ week which has NEVER happened. I haven't gotten any faster by any means, but I think I am getting stronger. I still battle with negative thoughts before many of my runs and contemplate giving up most days. But having to be accountable to my pals has gotten me to pull myself together and forge on.

Thanks for reading... have a great week.

Any tips for getting through those dark moments when you just want to give up?