The Golden Hour

Yay for stroller runs

Lately we've been watching Billy Yang's video about Western States for James' before bed calm down time...mostly because 20-30 min of Tumble Leaf is more than Dan and I can bare most nights. This has seemed a good compromise since James likes the music. It doesn't matter how many times we watch that same video, but I always tear up watching Gunhild Swanson finish. And not just because of the amazing feat of this 70 year old woman, which is amazing and yes, if a 70 year old woman can run 100 miles you probably don't have any excuse for not being able to run, but what I think is absolutely incredible is watching how everyone on the track just starts cheering like crazy. There are no teams, it doesn't matter that she is finishing last, everyone is cheering for this one woman. I seriously love this crazy sport and the amazing sense of community it brings with it. And I really hope my boys appreciate this sense of community, of working together, of cheering and celebrating everyone, and of how hard especially these last finishers have worked to get across that line. 

This week marked the 5th week in a row of pretty regular training. Every day I feel more and more like I can get back to the consistency I was running before Robert. I still have my doubts about whether or not I can actually get in the training I need for a 100, but one step at a time. The goal right now is consistency and I'm getting there. I've been keeping up my speed work as well and starting to not only feel good doing it, but also like I've been slacking a lot lately. The more I've pushed the pace the more I've realized I can maintain a faster pace than I think I can in my head. I just need to stop slacking on my moderate runs so my body remembers I can actually move at something faster than a tortoise pace. 

With two weeks left until Surf City I think I'm as prepared as I can be for a winter marathon with 5 weeks notice. I was hoping to get in more of a 22 miler, but 19 followed by 2 days of stroller runs will have to do. Which by the way the warm days that I could get James out for stroller runs this past weekend were pretty much life savers for all of us! It also made Dan and I contemplate moving to California or Florida. I felt surprisingly good too which is always a bonus! 

Both boys in the cart for the first time on our Costco pilgrimage