Fit Fun Mom

It pleases me immensely to report that my scheduled 18-miler at 9:20 pace is in the bag, D-O-N-E in 2:47 at an average pace of 9:17. My confidence needed that boost after a rough week of less than stellar speed work and tempo runs.

In retrospect I should have planned my Friday night meal better. I am a big believer in using your long runs to practice race conditions and that includes choosing a Friday night carbo-loading meal similar to what I plan to eat before the marathon race. I generally like chicken or fish plus brown rice or pasta. Somehow I got lucky this time and even though I didn’t pay attention to my Friday night meal (in the excitement of my uncles and cousins coming over to visit I grabbed a meal on the go that consisted of my mother-in-law’s roast beef and my pantry staple of whole grain crackers with some Gruyere cheese), I didn’t bonk on my weekend long run.

I did do one thing right though. Before bed, I went through my long run checklist and got everything ready. Coffee ready to make, oats soaking in the pan, clothes in a pile, sunscreen, iPod Shuffle charged, Garmin charged. I also filled my water bottles with Fluid sports drink. This time instead of running one way toward the beach and having to carry an extra water bottle in my hand, I planned to divide the run into three 6-mile segments. Three miles down the trail and three miles back to my car to get another full sports bottle. Three miles up the trail and three miles back. New sports bottle. Take gel. Run another six miles.

That system worked quite well although I must confess that as I was leaving my car for the third segment of the run, I had a little trouble staring down those last six miles. I don’t like to stop for water along a race course (I carry my water with me) and I don’t like to stop for water during a training run either. Once I stop it’s hard for me to get going again. Mind over body and somehow I got my legs trucking again and hit the pace for those last six miles.

Now, lest you think I’m getting taking myself too seriously or getting too big for my britches in light of my successful long run, I leave you with a completely unrelated, humorous story at my expense. Last week I attended the kindergarten roundup meeting for the school district. Somehow my “baby” will be old enough to attend elementary school in the fall. She’s ready. I’m not sure I am, but that’s another matter. Anyway, after the meeting I went up to the superintendent for the district to ask her an important question about how to get an intradistrict transfer from our home school to the school where my older two daughters go. It was only when I got home, and my husband asked, “What’s that on your shirt?” that I realized I was wearing this little memento from Teddy Bear Week at my daughter’s preschool:

Blue ribbon courtesy of Billy Frank Alexander.

That’s right friends, I’m the Most Loving Bear and proud of it, no matter what the superintendent thinks!