Week 4+: Please do not read if hungry

I started to write a bloop on Sunday, got 2/3rds of the way finished, and then somehow managed to shut down the laptop.  I was tired anyway and just decided it was meant to be.  So not only do I have to catch up with last week's running & other adventures, but I have part of this week's as well.

I have been busy, busy, busy and not just with running and working!

But first, as always, the running.

Last Tuesday: Plan was 6 easy @ 9:18, Actual was 8:25, 8:20, 8:17, 8:07, 8:24, 8:14

Wednesday: Plan was 5 easy @ 9:18, Actual was a 5 mile, 50 minute program treadmill run with walking to warm up and cool down.  The running portion was between 6.0mph (10mm) and 6.7mph (8:57mm)
Thursday: Plan was 5 easy @ 9:18, Actual was 8:16, 7:37, 7:51, 7:46, 7:46
Saturday: Plan was 6 easy @ 9:18, Actual was 8:25, 8:14, 8:06, 8:20, 7:55, 7:53
Monday: Plan was 3 easy @ 9:18, Actual was 3 @ 8:34 (TM run)

Today: Plan was 16 easy @ 9:18, Actual was 16 @ 8:12, splits: 8:17, 8:01, 8:13, 8:13, 8:13, 8:19, 8:09, 8:11, 8:22, 8:17, 8:10, 8:24, 8:16, 8:18, 7:56, 7:49

I have to confess that last Thursday's run was because I got a little competitive on the Greenway.  I had just finished the first mile and started to creep up on another runner.  As we got to a small incline on a bridge, I overtook him by going a little faster than I had been so that I could distance myself once I went past.  We hit the decline and I picked up the pace to (hopefully) give us a little space.  I went about 2/10ths of a mile before I was about to pass some walkers.  As I looked over my left shoulder to avoid cyclists or faster runners, the runner I had passed was right there. I blurted out, "sorry", and tried not to crowd his space as we went around the walkers.  Now that I was aware that he was right on my tail, I continued to pick up the pace.  After another 1/10th of a mile, he came shoulder to shoulder and started running right next to me. We huffed next to one another for a minute or two before I ripped out one of my ear buds and said, "hi, I'm Carissa!". He huffed out, "hi Carissa, I'm Jeff". We ran until we hit the 2.5 mile mark where he told me that I kept a great pace, have a great run, and turned around.  I was doing a 5 miler too, but Garmin had me at like 2.45 miles and I was supposed to be running easy, so I ran a bit more before I turned around.  I guess I was so amped up that I just kept running at tempo pace...oops.

Today's run was all together different.  I don't know what it is about 16 miles, but I hate it, hate it, hate it.  18 is fine, 20 is peachy, but I don't think I have ever had a good 16 miler in my history of running.  And because I have these negative thoughts about it, I am likely putting the curse on myself.  I had problems from the get go with my ear buds only piping in Pandora at half-sound.  So, like, I was getting a lot of the treble and no bass.  Super annoying.  I tried all my tricks and for the first half mile, I kept stopping trying to get my music going.  The music was an ongoing annoyance because I kept trying it and finally resorted to just listening to it sans ear buds for the last 8 miles--my apologies to the few other patrons on the Greenway today that might have gotten an earful of Pitbull or LMFAO.

But the big problem of today was that my legs felt like bricks.  I had no pep in my step.  My fuel belt felt heavy, I felt tired, my body hurt--it was like a culmination of all the bad running stuff suddenly rained down on my run.  I started questioning my own abilities.  I would try to slow down, but that didn't feel any easier or better and then I would speed up, and that didn't help either.  I was playing rabbit and tortoise the entire run and it was more mentally draining than anything else.

When I was done, I noticed that I was covered in salt.  I'm a salty sweater anyway and this was certainly not anything new, but it tends to happen in the heat of summer.  It was pleasantly in the upper 60s today (why my mojo didn't appreciate this, I don't know).  So while I cannot blame all the ugliness of the run on a lack of proper hydration/sodium levels, I know that the excessive salt is not really a good thing.  Let's just hope that 18 miles plays nicer next week!

Okay, if you've made it this far, you deserve to see that fun stuff that I've been up to when I haven't been running my easy runs too fast and getting my butt handed to me by my long runs.

First, I thought I should include a pretty picture from my run today:


Followed by a much-needed ice bath:



I created a new twist on trying to tough out the ice bath.  I decided that I could only get out of the ice bath when I finished today's crossword.  Please note that this super dork only does crosswords in pen and I own clipboards (yes, 2) specifically for my crosswords.  But don't be too impressed, they are only the USA Today crosswords.

The before:



And the after:




I've working on my all over fitness with the September Fitness Challenge.  Mainly trying to stay on the gun show circuit:




And drinking green smoothies in an effort to combat all the party food I've been ingesting:




Because last weekend, I hosted a Mary Kay spa party at my house with lots of yummy things.  I tried to keep it light and healthy with cucumber water:



Caprese skewers and dried fruit:


But we also had to have a little cheese too:




I baked some pumpkin bread last week and sent a little care package to my 90 year old grandma:




Then I started baking, cooking, and prepping for my sister's engagement party.  I was in charge of all the food and flowers while the other hostesses provided the games, decorations, and venue.

We started with strawberry mimosas made with pureed strawberries and rose champagne:



My sister is gluten-free, so I created a menu with all GF-friendly foods.  We had tarragon chicken salad on apple slices, spicy pimento cheese atop cucumbers, truffled egg salad on GF bread, blue cheese stuffed cherry tomatoes, mixed nuts, olives, and "he popped the question" popcorn:




For dessert, I made GF chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting.  It's supposed to look like a wedding dress, but I was running out of time to perfect it:





The decorations turned out beautiful and I was so glad that the other girls are crafty:






Instead of a traditional guest book, I hustled my brother into buying a giant bottle of wine (a Jeroboam for all you oenophiles) to have all the guests sign with a metallic sharpie.  The sign says "A guest book is fine, but we prefer you sign the wine".  Thought of by one of the hostesses awesome DH!:





And lastly, the requisite picture of at least one of the Boston Terriers: