Smart, very smart

This is really just ME letting YOU know that I am now a member of the 21st Century! It's true. I have a smart phone.  However, I am still conflicted about this so maybe don't bring it up if you see me.  Those of you who know me well, pick your jaws up off the ground and read on!  The rest of you-this is a big fricken Deal so you better read this one too!


Marathon Day is now eleven days away so we are officially tapering which is awesome and horrible all at the same time. Also, we are almost in the single digits with our countdown to Marathon Day which is equally a big deal. Please realize, subtraction is an important, often unrecognized, marathon skill to perfect because psychologically it helps you to endure 26.2 miles.  It may seem elementary, but it is harder than you think to do math while running a marathon.  Mird and I are just practicing by counting down to race day so that we will be ready.  During the much awaited taper, I am reflecting on the journey for this Motown Marathon Training...


Here's what I have learned during Marathon Training 4.2!  Training for a marathon is HARD WORK.  Yes parts of it have been fun, but it takes a tremendous amount of dedication, determination, and awesomeness to train for this distance.  Also, a lot of time is required so special thanks to my, husband, in-laws and my folks for helping with the kids. And thanks kids for eating donuts for breakfast, watching cartoons while I ran or getting ready for football, volleyball, cheer or school without me.  I appreciate it and I love you all MOST!

I really hope we all look better than this guy when we finish and that we have fun. Most importantly, I hope we are up for a celebratory beer because I gave up drinking for the last month of training which I thought was NoBigDeal. Turns out, not drinking is AReallyBigDeal.  

The greatest lesson I learned was one I learned on an early morning RASL (Run Around Spring Lake) from one of my fellow Early Bird Runners, Laurie, and which I now share with you because it is true of all of us (picture below)!  I am stronger than I thought I was.

 Oh and I had to do a double take to make sure this wasn't a picture of Mird (JK, Mird is a hottie and he is nottie) however, this was pretty much verbatim what Mird said to me awhile back...It made me laugh then and it still makes me laugh now!

I would also add, when you actually complete a 20-mile run for training purposes, you realize things are getting pretty serious. This ain't no 5k people!

I can admit, I may occasionally be guilty of this, but mostly I've been too busy being awesome and training for a marathon to be a:

...although I do often say, "I can't. I have to get in my long run Saturday morning".  So maybe I am a Runhole in denial...Quick someone plan an intervention! But not this Saturday, I have one final long run to get in... and the following weekend doesn't look good either, I have a little marathon to R.U.N.!

Another big part of marathon training is the nutrition.  I have my nutrition decided for race day. I've tested it out and I've figured out the optimal Gu to salt tab ratio for me!  I feel confident about this.  So even though I have my race nutrition planned, I still spend a lot of time thinking about food.  I spend a lot of time dreaming about what I will eat as a reward when I finish my long run.  But as much as I hate to say it, this food dreaming anomaly may be a girl thing.  On a recent early morning long run with 3 gals and 1 guy, we discovered all us ladies were busy dreaming of our food rewards. Meanwhile, he was not thinking about food whatsoever and thought it was somewhat weird that we were.... we all giggled and kept on running because we were not done and nobody stops until we're D.O.N.E. done.

 I never dream of burgers though.  I always dream of  Onion Rings from Turks and also occasionally pizza like this chic, but only this kind from Papa Murphys. I guess I'm a pizza snob after a long run. 

During this training, I've also learned the shower does not lie.  There have been a couple of these telling moments...

Captain Obvious says these are: NEVER. GOOD. MOMENTS. NEVER.

I am sure a few people feel this way about me and Mird. Who cares?  A marathon is a big deal so I think we should talk about it...and let's talk about sex too while we are at it! JK...that would be awkward.

 Along the same lines, I've come to believe this is true.  I think some people don't like us posting our awesome workouts because they are busy spending quality time on the couch with their friends, Doritos and Skittles, and they are jealous of our killing it on all these long runs...  Just sayin' this could be true...or maybe we are just annoying, which is a long shot at best, but I guess it could be true in some alternate universe or something.

 I guess I figured people want us to talk about the marathon training since 99 percent of people have never experienced one...I honestly thought I was doing them a favor! My bad. I would say I will stop talking about it, but I won't so that would be a lie and I am not a liar so I guess I will keep telling everyone I see about this marathon!

The current conundrum. What, oh what, do I wear on race day?...the struggle is real! It is still too far off to have a decent weather forecast so until we get closer I just have to chill about this. CHILL! Wait a minute, technology is kinda cool sometimes when it isn't busy driving me batty or pissing me off.  Weather.com says this about race week...

Low of 45 high 56 and mostly sunny...

Looks like great weather for a marathon!!

 Although I realize this could change like 15 million times between now and then, it strangely makes me feel better about my clothing choice for the day. Shorts and tank tops are my favorite!

I really hope come October 21, 2018 this picture does not represent our reality. I pray that our training will make it an enjoyable experience for our entire crew.  I believe that we will all say, "that was FUN!" In the end, I hope we can use the experience to say I Lived and I hope our training was smart to go with my new flashy smart phone!

Vern Out