Since this week was a recovery week, I wouldn't have to worry about high mileage runs and I could get away with packing just one running outfit since I'd have time to wash it between runs. My mother-in-law was already planning to come visit Wednesday through Friday and she said she could come down a day early and watch the girls while Randy was at work. Everything worked out and I was able to hang out with Meme for 5 days.
When we visit Massachusetts, we stay with my mom's parents. I call them Memere and Pepere (pronounced: mem-AIR and pep-AIR). They live in a valley. What surrounds a valley? Hills. We are lacking hills here in the middle of Ohio and to say that the hills in MA kicked my butt would be an understatement. I wasn't sure how I would get 14 miles done on those hills so I devised a plan that seemed to be the lesser of two evils: I would run from Memere's house to the high school and run the track until I couldn't stand it anymore. Then I'd have at least a few flat miles.
I left Memere's house at 7am and headed toward the high school which is about 3 miles away, but I took a detour to add a little more distance. It's all uphill to the high school. On my way, I passed some important landmarks:
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| St. Joseph's Church, where my parents were married. |
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| Leicester Middle School--formerly Leicester High School, where my parents met. (awwww...) |
After I passed the middle school, I had one more hill to climb before I reached the new high school. My dad and aunt were waiting for me at the track when I got there. They were walking and I started running. Last August I went to MA for a cousin's wedding and I ran on the track. It was excruciating. Circles of insanity! I barely made it to 3 miles before wanting to throw myself off a cliff. This year, I'm mentally (and physically) stronger. I ran around the track 18 times. I played a game while I ran: I started on the outermost lane, when I got back to my starting point, I moved to the next lane. There are 6 lanes so I "only" ran 3 cycles. Much better than counting every lap. By the time I was finished my circles of insanity, I had just over 8 miles. Whew! More than halfway done!
I left the track for some residential streets. I was running on an incline but nothing major until I turned a corner and stopped dead in my tracks. There before me was a mother of a hill. My first impulse was to turn around and go back the way I came, but I reached way down, pulled out my inner badass and headed for the hill.
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| This was taken about halfway up. |
This run was tough but I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was! I didn't realize how much I needed a few hours of fun. The week hanging out with Meme was great. We had some nice chats, made each other laugh--she's still got some spunk! But all week, it was hanging over my head that I would have to say goodbye to her on Sunday. This will be the last time I see her. I really needed to let go of that anxiety for a few minutes and focus on something else. Fourteen miles and some big-ass hills did the trick.
I love running.
How was your training this week?
Week 15:
Monday- 3.4mi
Tuesday- cross train: abs/arms
Wednesday- 5
Thursday- rest
Friday- walk 3mi
Saturday- 14mi
Sunday- rest
Total miles for week 15: 25.4 miles
April Burpee Challenge:
With all the travel hustle and bustle, I fell off the wagon at the end of this week, but never fear, I got right back on when I got home. :)
Monday- 16 burpees
Tuesday- 17 burpees
Wednesday- 18 burpees
Thursday- 0
Friday- 0
Saturday- 0
Sunday- 0
Total burpees this week: 51
Total Burpees in April: 157
I'm sorry to hear about your grandma :-( good job on the big run and all the hills!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jan.
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