Marathon Redemption - Week 2

I said you wanna be startin' somethin',
you got to be startin' somethin'.
You wanna be startin' somethin'
you got to be startin' somethin'.

It's too high to get over,
too low to get under.
You're stuck in the middle,
and the pain is thunder.

- Michael Jackson, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"

Well, first of all - let me say that if you left a comment on my last blog and I haven't responded to you yet, I apologize. I'm not trying to ignore anyone, my life this past week has just been full of the crazy and I've hardly had any time to be online. Much less make it to the gym or put as much effort into running as I'd like. Frankly, I'm happy I managed to run at all last week. So before I even get to the running, here's how the non-running part of my week went:

Monday: went to Oklahoma with the husband right after work, got home at 1:30am

Tuesday: worked from 8:30am to 11:00pm non-stop with maybe a 20 minute lunch break and dinner break; got home at 11:45pm

Wednesday: worked until 5, ran 5 miles, was hit on by a homeless guy in the park while running said 5 miles, went to ballet class for an hour, came home and made dinner, cleaned up after dinner, went to bed around 11:30

Thursday: drove to Dodge City after work for a funeral, got there around 10:30pm, managed 25 minutes on the elliptical before I gave up

Friday: drove home from Dodge City, managed to force myself to go to the gym for speed work

Saturday: left for Oklahoma again with the husband at 8:45 am, got home around 5:30pm, went to the gym for 45 minutes of weights, got takeout and did my best to be lazy the rest of the night

Sunday: 12 mile long run (8 with the Fair Weather Runner), grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning out the fridge, walking the dog, and last but not least, blogging

So there it is. A week full of crazy, topped off with a long run with a person who is my favorite brand of crazy. Running with the Fair Weather Runner is never boring, and today was no exception - for example, there was the street covered with what must have been 100 multi-colored rubber bands (random), lots of TMI (gross), and our strange conversation about what people would think if the two of ran together in the park with FWR hooked up to one of those kid harness/leash/monkey backpack type things (just plain weird). Good times.

And the running:

Run 1: 5 miles easy
Run 2: 1 mile warm; 2x1600 repeats with 800m recovery at 8:50 (I was supposed to do these in 8:55, so I was happy with 8:50); 1 mile cool
Run 3: 12 miles on the biggest hills we could find

What didn't happen this past week? Yoga. Meh. I have been much better stretching after runs and using the foam roller than usual, but my right calf would probably disagree with that. The USPS is actually considering giving the knot in my right calf its own zip code. If anyone has an extra Stick laying around, feel free to send it my direction.

Next week - 4 mile easy run, 5 mile tempo run, 14 mile long run. Keep the nice weather coming!