Flying fast - 16.3

This morning my alarm didn't go off because I set it for 6:00 pm. Ah, that old mistake! Luckily, I woke up at 6:15 anyway. Way to go body clock! I was supposed to leave by 6:30, but by the time I got dressed, had a little oatmeal, stocked my fuel belt, put sunscreen on and went to the bathroom twice, It was probably more like 6:45 when I left. Elle woke up just as I was about to leave, and I just told her, "Mommy has to go for her run now, but you can go get in bed with Daddy." She didn't make a fuss about it at all, just turned around and went to climb into bed with Pete. I'm sure he loved that. I guess I'm getting her pretty trained on me leaving for my runs too.

I did almost the same route as last week, only I looped around a little further on the way out:

I did the first 45 minutes or so really easy with my heartrate in the 140s, but it went up when I got into town and started getting to the hills. As usual, I really enjoyed running in The Avenues, and I'd like to thank Cucina Deli for being there for me when no on else was when I needed to use the bathroom at about 1:30 into my run. I still need to go eat there some day so I don't feel so bad about usuing them for their restroom (which is really nice). At least Pete's eaten there before. (Hm, maybe I could re-do their website)

After my stop, I felt refreshed, and continued trying to get to the top by 1:38 (15 minutes after last time). Now I can't remember what time I actually made it to the top, but it was after that. I think maybe 1:50? Anyway, I love that turn-around point because when you get there you've conquered the hill AND you're now on your way home. It is so fast and fun running down the hill too! I was careful, again, to make sure my knees didn't hurt, but they didn't so I just had fun. 

When I got to 2:00, I started feeling hungry which worked out perfectly because it was time to take another shot of my Hammer Gel. I was drinking Gatoraid on the half-hours and Hammer Gel with water on the hours. Pete doesn't think this is enough, but I don't want to make myself need to pee any more than I already do on a run, and this seems to suffice for me. What do you guys think?

Sorry, Ethan took this picture for me, and I could not get that boy to stop moving!

I wore the fuel belt again today, and I'm starting to like that thing. I hated it when I first started wearing it, but if I wear it nice and low on my hips it doesn't bounce around much at all so it doens't really bother me anymore. I'm actually thinking of maybe wearing it for the Ironman because then I'd get to have the things I like with me instead of being stuck eating/drinking whatever they have. I don't know if I want to do this, though. I should take advantage of the awesome aid stations when I can, plus I would look so much more dorky with it on. Any opinions on that?

I was trying to keep moving as I put my flask (I'm always afraid when I say "flask" you're going to think I brought a little whisky along for my run, but I swear it's just for the Hammer Gel.) back into my fuel belt when my foot hit an uneven part of the side walk and I tripped. Luckily I caught myself with one had barely touching the ground, but my flask was launched a couple yards in front of me. I was really glad I didn't get hurt, that could have been bad! When I ran up there with Heather, she told me about a time where she tripped on a string while running and went flying. That sounded really painful!

For the way home, I turned up on Redwood Road instead of going all the way back out to 2200 West, and I felt really good. When I got to that point last week, I was starting to hurt and having a hard time keeping my feet going. I was tired today, for sure, and my feet were starting to hurt, but it wasn't bad enough to really slow me down too much. I stopped running at 2:05, then walked the last block to my house.  

My total distance was (drum roll) 16.3 miles. That puts me at an average of about 11-minute miles which would be just under 5 hours for the marathon. Sweet.

I got home just in time to make Pete late for his meeting. (Sorry about that, hun.) It was about 9:50 and he was trying to get there by 10, so we just jumped in the car and I dropped him off. I drank a strawberry Recoverite (Pete picked some single serving packs up for me yesterday because we are out of the big one) while I drove, then did a lot of stretching when I got home.

By the time I got out of the shower, it was almost time to take Ethan to school, but I was starving! For some reason I was feeling like it was still breakfast time, plus I never made bread yesterday like I had planned so I hurried and made some omelets with avacado, cheese and chicken and drank some OJ with it. It was really good, and I even got Ethan to school on time!

Elle and I stayed and played at the school for half an hour because Mindy was having a short day, and I didn't want to go home just to come back and get her. Elle got to play on all 3 of the playgrounds there so that was a lot of fun. I mostly just sat in the shade and watched her because my legs were tired. When Mindy got out, we went home and Elle and I took a nap until time to pick Ethan up. Then we had orange/bannana smoothies. Yum.

Now, where did my day go? It's already almost over!