Weekly Wrap-Week 16 Marathon Training

November 16-22, 2015

***Sorry the formatting is so crazy on this post. Some of it is centered and some of it is not. I've spent all afternoon trying to correct this, but Blogger has a mind of its own.

 

I am joining the Weekly Wrap hosted by  Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin. The Weekly Wrap is a blog link up where bloggers share their active lifestyle and other exciting things weekly. To find out more, click on the image below. Feel free to join in on the fun.

 

 

I am currently training for my second marathon at St. Jude Memphis this December. I just completed Week 16 of Hal Higdon's Novice 2 Marathon Training Plan. I will recap my training and other highlights from my week here in the Weekly Wrap.

 

Monday, November 16th

 

Monday was a scheduled rest day for running. I enjoyed the extra hour of sleep. My legs were still tired and sore from my 20 miler on Saturday.

 

My St.Jude Heroes singlet arrived in the mail. I also received two more donations towards my fundraising. Thanks to everyone's generous donations, I exceeded my goal of $1,000 raising $1,120 for the children of St.Jude.

 

 

Tuesday, November 17th

 

I ran 4 miles at an easy pace to begin week 16 of marathon training. There was a beautiful sunrise.

                 

I had a nice surprise when I got home from school Tuesday evening. Michael has baked me a cake every year for my birthday since we've been married. I didn't expect him to bake me one this year because he wouldn't have an opportunity when we weren't both together. He told me he was working his off day because they really needed the extra help. He left the house for work as usual. Turns out he came straight home after I left for school and began baking my cake. My birthday is not until the 24th, but this was the only chance he had to make my cake. He made this triple layered chocolate ganache cake from scratch. It tasted as good as it looked!

 

 

Wednesday, November 18th

 

When you oversleep by 30 minutes and you're under a Wind Advisory with wind gusts up to 30 mph you adjust. I was supposed to run 5 miles at marathon goal pace on Wednesday morning, but I swapped it for Thursday's run of 4 miles easy. I was able to get this run in before the downpour later that morning.

 

 

Thursday, November 19th

 

I ran 5 miles at marathon goal pace. It cooled off a bit since the rain on Wednesday. It was foggy with a light drizzle.

 

 

Friday, November 20th

 

Friday was a scheduled rest day for running. We had a laid back day at school. All the students were eager to get out for Thanksgiving Break. I stayed late to do my lesson plans. I still need to go back sometime over the next week to get my Christmas stuff put out. I always like to surprise the students when we get back with the Christmas tree and the arrival of our class elf.

 

Saturday, November 21st

 

I had a 12 mile long run on my training plan for this weekend. My friend Paula convinced me to sign up for the Magic City Half Marathon in Birmingham, AL. It probably wasn't wise to sign up for a half this close to my full at St.Jude, but I planned to treat this as a training run and take it easy.

 

Michael and I arrived in Birmingham around 12:30 and got an early check in at our hotel. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and settled into our room. Michael was ticked because the hotel didn't have the SEC Network, so he couldn't watch the Bama game. He refused to go to a sports bar nearby to watch it. When Paula and her husband arrived, I walked with them to get my packet at Regions Field. There really wasn't much to the packet pick-up. We got in and out quickly. There were a few sponsors set up and clearance merchandise from the Trak Shak.

 

 

Michael and I ordered Pizza Hut to eat in the room while we watched other football games. I went to bed around 9:00, but I tossed and turned most of the night.

 

Sunday, November 22nd

 

I ran the Magic City Half Marathon. It was the coldest morning that we've had all fall with temps in the 30's, real feel in the 20's, due to the wind chill. I took it easy as planned. It was actually more fun running with no pressure for a PR or time goal. For the first time ever I brought my phone with me and tried to take pictures along the course. Click here for a full race recap and more pictures.