Niner

We made it. Both of us, together. So taking a week off from training did not hinder Nate's ability to run 9 miles. Following Mr. Higdon's program to a tee works for me and I'm not gutsy enough to flirt with disaster, and take a week off myself. Although it does sound nice....I'm too much of a crazy perfectionist like that. I think the only difference between my run and Nate's run is that he is extremely sore right now and I'm really not so bad. Perhaps it DOES pay to follow the schedule, eh?

The run itself was rather uneventful except for the fact that I tried to down one of those power gel packs and almost vomited. I swear those things taste like minerals and chalk, even though the flavor was supposed to be 'Raspberry.' How about 'Barf Berry?' Nate swears by them and tells me I HAVE to find a flavor I like or I'll die on Marathon Day. I think I might take that challenge:)

The skort worked like a gem--no chafing and I felt fabulous, or as fabulous as can be for running 1.5 hours straight. I even saw another skorted lady run towards us and nearly flashed her a gang sign. We are like sisters bonded by the skort and that made me happy.

Another thing: it was pretty freaking hot on Saturday. We ran down by the lake front again [my fave!] where it's always about 10 degrees cooler from the grand ol' Lake Michigan. But still, quite balmy. And buggy. Nate had about 20 gnats stuck to his sweaty brow after our run, I kid you not. Those little buggers stayed the heck away from my skank forehead because they knew I'd freak out if I became a bug trap.

And speaking of the heat [for Wisconsin standards at least, I mean seriously....it was still only in the low 80s] ---we finally threw in the towel and installed two window air conditioning units the other night. I could not stand stepping out of the shower in the morning and immediately wiping beads of sweat from my upper lip. I get a little cranky in the mornings when I'm hot [or maybe even if I'm not, so what?] so the cool air is divine. And we only ran it one night so far and now we are back to windows only but at least we have AC as an option for future heat waves.

I'm sure you Missourians have a hard time fathoming life without AC until this point in the summer but I will give it to Wisconsin: this time of year is glorious. Absolute perfection with the lows at night in the 50s and highs in the low 80s. I will not complain for at least three more months about the bitter cold north:)

Back to the run: we finished all 9 miles in 1:27 which is slightly faster than our 10 minute mile average. In fact we were running about a 9 minute mile the whole time until the end, when Mother Nature decided to blow blustering wind into our faces for about three miles. It was like running in place while listening to my eardrums burst from the howling. And guess what? The actual marathon will probably be the same since we end right down on the lake front! Yippee!

So yes, another long run is behind us. As Nate said, "We are practically running half marathons at this point," which of course is stretching it a bit. It's only going to get longer from here so I guess we need to saddle up!