No big deal...

This marathon training is actually becoming hilarious to me at times. Meaning, it is so funny for me to think that this was my mentality Friday night before our long run:

"We only have to run 14 tomorrow, whoo hoo!!!!"

The fact that Sean Sullivan is saying that is funny. This coming from the guy that used to run one mile on the treadmill and say, "yeah that will just about do it for today". So Friday night Bonnie and I knew we were going to a silent auction/raffle to help raise money for some other girls we know that were trying to raise money for their fundraising. The girls are Megan, Debbie and Linda and they are all sweethearts, so for sure Bonnie and I were going to attend to try and help. I will be honest, I all of a sudden had the itch to toss a few back before the event, and seeing as we ONLY HAD TO RUN 14 THE NEXT DAY, it was kinda on.

I definitely whacked back some BL's before we left, and much to my suprise and happiness, they were serving wine at the function. Stellar! My point is not that I acted like a jackass the night before I had to do a long run, but that my confidence level of "tying one on" the night before I had to run 14 miles at 7:30 am the next day was obviously very high. And the run went just according to plan. So I get dressed up a bit, I put on a jacket with jeans or whatever. But I did for sure take 3 BL's to sneak in with me to the event. We get there and it is a small cozy office suite, I am pretty sure it's Linds'a works law firm. So I go right down the hall to find out where I am going to hide my BL's. I see some empties down on the floor by the bathroom. Maybe they are from the other ofices, either way, I have the perfect place to leave full BL's, with empty BL's!!!! I felt 16 putting them dowlike I was 16 doing this, but I loved it! So I got sauced all night, Bon did too. And Bon won the best prize of the night, and the last one too I believe. She won a bunch of good organic frozen food from Aimee's, wholefood store. Delicious basket of food what was delivered a few weeks later on. Bonnie and i went out for sushi that night before we went home, just some random bar in the NW area of the Pearl District. I knew we were stoked just to get food so late. We sat at the bar, ate cheap rolls and appologized fopr chugging water to the bartender. She was cool and didn't seem to care we weren't drinking. I mean we had a long run tom, and we had to be hydrated. She was cool, understood, but I am sure was pissed her last bill was just food and no booze.

Now in regards to our run, we did our normal route of the downtown Portland area and Bonnie and I killed it! Bonnie, myself and our friend Meg all ran together and and just crushed it! The three of us ran together for about 8 miles and then we bid our farwell to our Superwoman Bonnie. I am so psyched for Bon bc she is starting to consistently turn it on right in the middle of her runs. What she can do now (and I have NO IDEA how she does this) is right around the 7 or 8 mile mark, she can just turn it up. She just hits her stride, and she goes from running 10 minute miles, to running between 9-9 1/2 minute miles. And it is not hard for her to do this. It is cool to see it bc you just say to yourself, there she goes. And not for one split second do I even debate on keeping up with her. I am not that stupid.

So needless to say, our run was awesome, and I was able to get after it the night before and still kick butt. Next week we run 18 again, but this time we know it going into our run. Say a prayer for me please, as I will need them all. And I do not plan on scratching that itch next weekend if that itch comes up. I will just use calamine lotion or something. It's game face time for next weekend kids. Kill or be killed. But that's my point I guess, I am so proud of us for being able to take running 14 miles as just no big deal, and then having it not be. Thanks for reading!


Sean

16....I don't think so!

So the plan this last Saturday was for us to run 16 miles. Last week we ran 14, so the 2 mile increase is natural for the training. The run took place in one of the nicest areas of Portland, Lake Oswego. I think everyone was pretty nervous about the weather going into this run. All week on the news we heard Saturday's forecast was hail, snow, rain and really cold temperatures. Just what you want to run long distances in...

So we show up to run at 7:30 am and it is FREEZING! It was in the 30's which is so ridiculously cold for this time of year here. I mean is Boston even that cold right now? Alaska anyone? So off we go and this is going to be an interesting run bc we know going into it it's a hilly course that was mapped out. And we have never run here before. Perfect...So the run starts off ok, but it did start snowing in the first 5 miles. Thank God it did not last too long. Bonnie and I both felt good, in part because we are both running in our new Nike Vomero running shoes, which are awesome and are helping us a ton.

So for the first 12 miles or so, there were a ton of hills, but we were doing great. And we only had 4 more to go, or so we thought...The course that was mapped out became less and less clear, and next thing you know we are off track. Bonnie and I are running with 3 other people, and we meet up with our running coach Karl. He gets us in the right direction, but we now realize there is no way we will be back at the starting point by only running 16. Now the thing is, when your mind and body know you are only supposed to run a certain distance, they act accordingly. We all now realize we will be doing at least 17, very possibly 18 before we are done. Sweet. This is where the mental toughness takes over, bc I now have to convince myself that I can run further than I was supposed to, even though my body is just about done for the day. My body wants nothing to do with that thought, but there is really no choice. I am not walking 2 miles to finish.

We push through and ended up doing 18.2! Bonnie has a mileage tracker she wears. Unbelievable! I realized what "the wall" will feel like when we run our full. I mean my ankles were killing me, Bon's knees were killing her. So not only was it a few miles longer than expected, but it was hilly as hell. This will almost definitely be the hardest run we do, including the marathon. Oh and to boot, I got the pleasure of enjoying what I have only dreamed about experiencing, the bloody nipples. Yes, and let me tell you how fun those are when you are running long distances.

This week was all about accomplishment, and a huge one we did. It was also one of the most emotional runs for me. I think about my dad on every run, but on some days a lot more than others. Today he was on my mind all day. Towards the end, I remember asking Bon how far we had run, and she tells me we have run 17.6. Next thing you know I lose it, and I feel them running down my face. Nothing like running in this emotional state. I pulled it together and thought about all the crap he had to deal with during his chemo. And to finish our run, of course we had to go up this last hill. Now my body beaten, my ankles killing, my damn nipples bleeding, this hill to run, things suddenly seemed so damn easy. And I finished the run like a nut like I always do, full on sprinting. Thanks again for the much needed inspiration dad.
And thanks for reading.