What a month!

Things have been so crazy that I just haven't had a lot of time to sit down and catch up.  But I feel like that's just how it is in December.  Between work open-houses and APTT events, and friend emergencies, there's been little time to even think about anything else.  Even my running has taken a back seat the past couple of weeks.  Not that I haven't been doing it, I just haven't been doing it as fast.  Pretty sure I left off on the Sunday of the Merrython.  That week I ran at least 30 miles total, mostly because I couldn't really get to boxing at all, so running was the only option.  APTT really ate up a good chunk of workout time.  Then there was a cookie judging contest at Punchbowl and suddenly the week was over.  Last week I did so little running it was like I wasn't even training.  To be fair, last week was crazy.  A very good friend lost a family member and that took over the entire week.  There's no way I wasn't going to offer my support in case they needed it.  On top of that I had a 24 hour flu-ish cold.  It wasn't really the flu, but it included chills and aches.  Luckily it passed quickly.  AND we had our December open house at school.  So, as you can see, there was a lot going on. Today I'm back on track.  I ran 16 miles, 10 with Murdock and 6 alone.  Doing the last 6 alone wasn't so bad actually.  Unfortunately my Garmin died at mile 13, so I don't have accurate times or any of my last splits.  I do know that I had to use the bathroom so bad by mile 13 that I passed through the last 2 miles without noticing, because I was so busy looking for a place to jump into the woods.  (Don't worry, I never did find a place, so I just held it and dealt with it.) Let me just tell you, there is perhaps nothing harder than trying to run with a full bladder.  As a runner, I fully believe that porta-potties should exist on every road.  Sure that's unreasonable, but man, I would have paid someone to use a bathroom at that point! I was a little disappointed because the run took about 2:30 total, which is really not that great.  My whole goal is to run a faster marathon, perhaps even a 3:59 if possible, and running 16 at 2:30 is not going to get me there.  Of course there are a million factors that will come into play on the day of the marathon but I only live in the here and now.  That's just how I roll.  I plan on running my 20 miler a bit faster next week.  Now all I have to do is find a place to run it!

Oh yea. The Greyhound Friends came to visit the third graders at school last week.  It was awesome to be able to see all the dogs and hear the stories.  The students really enjoyed meeting the dogs and learning about re-training former racing dogs.

Selfie from a 6 mile Lake Q double loop run.  Because why not.