Thankful to run with the Nikki’s Voice team, who graciously allowed me to slow them down for a couple miles!

Sunday: 3.1 mi Superheroes Kick Butt virtual 5K. I ran this in a very slow time, partly because it was hotter than Hell (which coincidentally, I live just 6mi from Hell in the Cayman Islands) but also because my legs were a mere 12 hours removed from a fairly fast 13.1 mi long run the night before (9:45 pace overall). My finish time was 29:30 for this 5K. In spite of the heat and the stiff legs, I had a blast because I was dressed as a superhero AND more importantly, I was able to run with Nikki’s Voice!

Monday: Rest day. Sweet!

Tuesday: 6 mi, speed intervals. I was meant to only do 5 miles, but I felt really, really good (even doing my Yasso 800’s!) so I went another cycle to give me a 6 mile run for the day. In all truth, I wanted to keep going, but knowing a 19-miler was looming on Saturday, I didn’t want to sabotage my training. There is a reason why my weekly miles were low: it provided my legs with an easier week to ensure I could meet my long run goal. So I cut it off, but the mental boost it gave me to know that I could have kept going was huge!

Friday’s turtle volunteering: fresh turtle tracks leading to a green sea turtle nest.

Wednesday: 5 miles, 6.7 mph. My pace run for the week. I’m digging this 5-5-5 schedule. Things felt good!

Thursday: 5 miles, 6.3 mph, hill intervals. OK, I had a little too much to drink Wednesday night, so I was NOT feeling like running at all, but I laced up and headed to the gym for an easier 6.3 mph hill session. I stopped doing hills for a while there, but I’m back at it now to train my legs how to handle inclines. DC isn’t too bad, but I understand Tulsa has its share of hills. Better to be prepared!

Friday: Rest day. Walked 4.75 miles on the beach, in the sand, while volunteering with the sea turtle nest monitoring project. It was HOT! I then went home and took a 2 hr nap.

Temp at the start of my long run.

Saturday: 19 mi long run. Sweet Lord above! This run was NOT anything how I had planned it. Originally, I was going to run 12.5 miles outdoors then finish the remaining miles at the gym (in the air conditioning) to ensure that I didn’t get sick from hydration issues. Well, that didn’t work so well. I ended up running a total of 13.25 miles to the gym and I felt really good (maintaining a 10:17 pace overall). Upon arriving to the gym, I discovered it CLOSED, which meant that I had to run 5.75 more miles outside, in the heat and the DARK. I ran the 0.25 miles back to our condo to let my husband know there was a change of plans, grab my lighted arm bands and go back out. I decided to just stick to the street our condo is on, which is set back from the main road, and around the parking lots at either end. I will not lie: it was boring, hot and I wanted to throw in the towel. After about 1.5 miles, my husband came out to run with me a bit (and ensure that I was safe…did I mention it was DARK???) – and this was after him running four miles with me earlier at the golf course. He ran some stretches and walked others, patiently waiting for me to loop through this parking lot or that, watching my running slow down to an almost painful crawl.

Feeling good after 11 miles!

My wonderful husband who came out to run laps around our street & the parking lots to help me finish off my 19 miles.

With 1.5 miles left to go, I was almost in tears and told him I wanted to quit, and he said something like ‘don’t be silly. You are almost there. And I’ll make sure you have your ice bath and beer as soon as you finish.’ So I gritted my teeth and kept going, trying to think of anything that would help make the boring parking lot miles go by faster. I ended this adventure of my run with a sad pace of 11:29/mile, but I DID IT! I ran 19 miles, my furthest ever!!!

Temp at the end of my long run.

Upon getting home, I indeed went straight to the tub for my ice bath, where my husband handed me a beer, dumped ice into the tub and left me alone so I could reflect on my run. But before he gave me the alone time, he gave me a kiss and told me how proud of me he was.

In spite of the slow finish to my run, I realized that even if I run that pace (or similar) for another seven miles at the marathon, I would finish in about 4 hrs 45 min. While that is not really what I want (I know I can do better), it wouldn’t be terrible, especially knowing how much my legs hurt at the end. I could live with that finish time. And yet, I am pretty certain I will run faster at the Marine Corps Marathon, as it is unlikely to be 100-degrees at the race. However, if it is that warm, I will be among the best conditioned for those temps!