Weekending.

How is it half way through August? This is depressing that summer is almost over. And can we take a moment to discuss how I am now waking up to darkness? I miss the days when the sun was already rising when I woke at 5 something. Now I am back to walking out the door for my run and darkness. Wah.

I am sitting here Monday morning, with so much happiness after another lovely weekend and also with my second large coffee of the day. The struggle was real during my 6 miles this morning.

Although that might be more to do with the fact that I drank my weight in wine yesterday and was sweating out rose ;)

But anyways it was too great of a weekend not to recap!

Started off with a long run and almost dying. #dramatic #notjoking

I do all my runs fasted and without fueling. I woke to my stomach a little rumbly (looking at you Friday night wine) and took off – and about ½ a mile in I was hungry. I knew it was going to be tough. I ran a newish route and while it was gorgeous, holy hot one. 

No filter needed for that blue sky.

I was saved a couple times.

First by this mirage that appeared at 6 miles when things were about to get bad (seriously wine the night before a long run is always a toss up, and stupid - I like testing the boundaries of a sensitive stomach + Crohn's).

A beautiful sight. Seriously. 

And then the marina being opened at mile 8.

I have never drank a bottle of powerade zero so fast. Not to mention I hate the stuff usually. But coincidence that my splits dropped after some fluids? I think not.

But 11 successful miles in the books. 

I showered, grabbed some foods and all the drinks and headed out to Long Beach for the day. 

Recovery done right. #amIright ?!

Then dinner (errr dessert?) was this. Seriously – s'mores pizza. So wrong, yet so right.

Sunday was up bright and early and in the city for a day of Vineyard touring!

We stopped at Osprey’s Dominion, Duck Walk and Jason’s.

I shall let the photos speak for themselves. It was an AMAZING day. Okay, any day with wine and sunshine makes me happy but seriously; it was a well run tour and went pretty smoothly. I definitely recommend the Hampton Luxury Liner tour (the one that keeps popping up on Groupon/Living Social etc.) I would do it again!

Can I live here?

Because wine on the bus when you have 5 minutes between Vineyards.

And then, the weekend was over and Monday morning reality slapped me in the face.

Let’s just hope this week flies by because this weekend coming up is one I have been looking forward to for a year, Lindsay is getting married. And in honor of that I am sharing one of my all time favorite photos.

Happy Monday, hope you had a fantastic weekend! 

Weekend Recap: 6 Days Out from the Marathon!

Can we insert a holy s*it moment. I kind of want to throw up and do a victory dance at the same time.

Officially less than one week until the NJ Marathon. I cannot believe it is here. At this point (well technically about 2 weeks ago) there is nothing left to do, you've trained and prepped and now all that remains is continuing to taper down and get ready to run the crap out of 26.2 miles.

I actually had (for me) quite the active and eventful weekend. I did this before the Miami Marathon as well...got to be the couple weeks before and I came out of my hibernation. It helps distract from all the down time that I have since I am not doing a bazillion workouts each week anymore.

Let's see this is how I kept myself occupied.

This finally happened and I am in love. This is my third and I love love love it!

Left wrist :)

The weather was gorgeous and boy do I have the tan lines to prove it! I was supposed to run a 5K Sunday and long run Saturday...my Saturday got a little jumbled so I bailed on the 5K and did a short run Saturday and long on Sunday.

Apparently getting "less fat" as I like to call it (and no I do not think I am fat, but I am actually actively putting my plan in place of 'not acting like a vacuum' anymore and eating ALL the things) makes you speedier.

This happened:

Splits of 8:45, 8:35, 7:57, 7:44 - HUH? what? I wasn't "trying" until the end. Just trying to keep a natural pace.

Pace was actually 8:17 I just didn't reset

Then Saturday got busy with work stuff and my favorite part - the lazy ass persons answer to foam rolling aka: massage FTW! It. Was. Glorious. And my masseuse thought I was tensing my muscles when she worked my calves that is how tight they were. Yeah, I know. I don't stretch. Or foam roll. Or anything.

Can I have this every day? No?

Topped off by filling myself full of homemade carb goodness:

Sunday I took my sweet ass time getting out of bed before knocking out a little over 8 miles. LAST LONG RUN! and it went amazing. I challenge myself to set my Garmin screen to the time and just run a route I knew. Came back with these splits: 9:31, 9:12, 9:09, 9:06, 9:06, 9:06, 8:50, 9:06, 8:39 apparently I can run a mean 9:06. I will take that for a last run.

AVG pace actually 9:07

 

Gloriously sweaty

And finally it was time for my BFF's Birthday brunch. And this is all you need to know about why I was in bed at ohhhh like 7pm. One photo will sum it all up.

So there you have it! A pretty fantastic weekend if I do say so myself.

I feel ready for this race. Or at least that is what I am telling myself. I will get into goals and plans and pacing later on in the week. Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Anyone else going to be in NJ this weekend? Also, am I the only one who's Garmin really makes me neurotic? I need to get back to learning to run by effort versus the data that thing is spitting out at me.