Cheers!

Well, we haven't quit marathon training, so that's a good thing! :) We ran our furthest long run with 13 miles last Thursday, December 15th. The idea of running a half marathon on a weeknight was both frightening and exhilarating at the same time. We all were nervous about the long trek, but the good news is that we made it! We started from WHS: it was myself, Alison, Dawn and Steve and JB started from the bank and met us along the way. We met up with JB on Harvey and she ran her first mile in 9:19! That's even up the hill! Well, we all know how awesome she is :) It was a nice run, it started out nice and when the sun went down, it did get quite chilly, but it wasn't too bad. Dawn and Alison finished their run with a time of 2:04, and JB and I finished with a run time of 2:05. The times do not include drink stops, but we didn't take very long at the stops, so it was a good pace for the mileage. Injury update: Alison was in pain for about 3 miles with her lower back, JB has had a left hamstring pain, and I was feeling the pain in my knee. We all stretched and tried to work out the kinks. Lisa is still dealing with some pain in her foot. Mitzi has foot pain and some knee pain. They are working on speed and distance.

Saturday we were to run a short 3 mile run. We had a good group again from the Donut Shop at 8 am. Alison was still not feeling good, so she stayed home. JB and I ran our short 3 miles and it was tough! Its amazing how different you can feel from one run to the other. And it's amazing how the shorter ones almost seem worse than the longer ones! We did run well at about a 9:20 pace considering how tough it was. Mitzi and Lisa also ran 4 miles. They are moving right along also!

Saturday night was the Wellington Boot Camp/Runners party and it was awesome to see how much our group has grown in the past year. Lots of boot campers and runners were there enjoying great food and a few beverages :) Ok, so the great debate/conflict in running is how to properly fuel yourself so that you can run in the best way possible. Well, I made a pact with myself when I began training that I wasn't going to drink. Because I wanted to give everything I had to training for this once in a lifetime event. Of course JB, Lisa and Mitzi thought I was crazy, but were troopers and encouraging me, all the while drinking without me :) Alison also jumped on wagon with me a few weeks into our training. Well, I forgot how difficult that might be over the holidays. So..my pact came to an end on Saturday with my consumption of a few drinks. We didn't get crazy, so we were all good girls. With the weekend fun, I think I'll be OK and training will continue just fine.

So, here's an article on drinking and it's affect on running. You be the judge :) Until next time..
Alcohol and running

Quote for the day: "If you resolve to give up..drinking and loving, you don't actually live longer; it just seems longer"
-Clement Freud