(L) As I reported last week I was hoping for a long run during the forecasted warm weather.

I DID IT!!

I got the kids off to school, did a load of laundry, picked up the house, met with a client and then went to the trail to embark on 20 miles.  I was prepared and had snacks and extra water in the car.  My plan was to run south for 5 miles and then back to the car for refueling and then north for 5 and back.

Everything went really well until about mile 9.  That is when a very nice biker let me know that I had dropped one of my bottles about a mile back.  He wasn’t sure who it belonged to until he saw me with my three bottles and one empty slot.  He kindly offered to go back, but I made the decision that I would refuel and just go back the same way.

At mile 10 I was feeling good.  At mile 13, I wanted to cry.  My iPhone battery apparently cannot handle the mileage tracker and the music and my phone was dead.  Fortunately, I had already been down this path so I knew where I needed to turn around to complete my miles.

At mile 16 I needed a bathroom break and having managed it quite well earlier in the woods I thought, “no problem.”  At this point in my journey the air force cadets were flying quite low and finding a tree with leaves in April proved challenging.  I found what I thought was the perfect spot.  That is until I came out of the trees, ran about a minute and then two bikers passed me with really big smiles on their faces.  I am pretty sure they saw me peeing in the woods.

At about mile 17 I considered laying down on the side of the trail for a nap and waiting for my family to find me.  But, alas my my phone was dead and therefore my GPS was dead.  The coyotes would find me before my family.

I did manage to complete my 20 miles.  Then I drove home, changed clothes, ate a banana and promptly drove to the carpool lane for after school pick up.

I still don’t know if I am ready for 50, but I am ready for it to get here.

(G) At long last the “torture” is about to end. Only one more week of training and I use that term very loosely. Let’s be honest the training is done.

Now all that’s left is the last-minute prep, packing and praying.

This week the taper began for me and it was a glorious thing to experience.

During the week, my longest run was 8 miles. I did have a little issue with wind this week. There were a few moments when I had difficulty running in a straight line due to the wind. And more than once on Sunday I either caught my visor before it flew off my head and another time I had to chase it down. (Great speed work, I am sure.)

I did, however, get some new, sassy shades for running as an early birthday gift from Johnny Armani. The lenses adjust based on the brightness or darkness of your environment AND the coolest part is they don’t fog up due to heat or cold. How cool is that? I got a chance to try them out this week a few times and they are awesome.

 

I have spent so many weekends running long that I just don’t know what to do with myself when Sunday rolls around and before 11 am I am done, finished, completed. I mean, I could clean my house, do laundry or go to the grocery store (To be clear, II didn’t actually do any of those things but I could have.) You know, all the things I have basically been neglecting as much as possible while in training.

I rounded out the week with a whopping 36 miles. That was a whole lot more restful than the 54 miles of the previous week or the 62 the week before. Woot, woot for tapering!

11 days and counting…and make sure to tune in next week.  We will be posting pre-race blogs, torture reports and much more on our 50 for 40 Journey!

Sunshine & Sarcasm,

Lowi & G

Tuesday’s weekly Torture Report is designed to keep all of you posted on the insanity of training for a race to celebrate G’s 40th birthday. The goal is 50 miles at Outrun 24 Hour Trail Race but we’ll see how it goes. To find out more on how this plan was set in motion, check out Lowi’s blog. If you missed the last Torture Report, check it out here.