Grandma’s Marathon is Almost Here- Time for a Capitol Run!

It’s time for my weekly recap! It was a really strong week of running. Read on for lots of pictures and running fun!

Monday: The Brian Kraft Memorial 5k! You can read all about it in this post, but it was a good one. I did 1.5 miles to warmup and 3 to cool-down for 7.5 miles total. My coach had me do a second really slow recovery run of 5 miles later this day for 12.5 on the day.
Tuesday: The Lebanon 10k, as part of the Endless Summer Trail Series. It was pouring all day leading up to this race and then it rained for most of the race. Therefore, it was a muddy mess on the trails. Who’s afraid of a little dirt? This is what it’s like to run like a girl, right?
I didn’t race this 10k though, as the mud did make it crazy slick. I didn’t want to slip and break something before Grandma’s Marathon, so I took it easy and ran for fun.

It was still an awesome event. The Endless Summer Trail Series is a blast. I love trail runs and the pizza and beer afterwards is a fun treat. I did about 0.5 mile to warmup and 1 mile to cool-down afterwards for 7.5 miles total.
Wednesday: 7 miles around marathon goal pace in the morning with my friend Julie, 6 easy miles super easy after work for 13 on the day.

Thursday: Tempo workout: 2.7 mile warmup, 3 miles at tempo, 5 minute recovery jog, 3 more miles at tempo, 1 mile cool-down for 10.25 total. It was a hot day for this run. I ran down the Cedar trail to the river. Unfortunately, none of the water fountains down there were working yet. Such a bummer! I really could have used some water.

Friday: 6 easy miles in the morning with my friend Christie

Saturday: 22 mile Capitol Run! This was my longest run of the marathon training season and it was a BLAST. A lot of organization goes into this run, as its a point-to-point 22 mile training run from our run club to the Capitol.  Several awesome volunteers provide support stops for us along the way. There were about 20 Grandma’s marathoners who participated in this run and we had such awesome weather- cool, low 60’s and sunny! I actually got a little sunburned.

Our first support stop was around 7 miles, where Carla jammed out with 90’s pop hits at her stop! Thanks Carla!

The second support stop was at mile 14, where Julia was thoughtful enough to have sunscreen for us! Lifesaver.

We took our time at each spot, even taking a picture or two:

The final support stop was hosted by Dustin (and Matilda) on Summit Avenue around mile 18.

Matilda and Dustin had run the Fast and the Furry 8k that morning, where they got 4th place with a time of 31:25! I was so impressed that Matilda ran that fast (6:18 min/miles). I had no idea she was that speedy!

Anyways, at the Capitol, the rest of the runners waited with all kinds of post-long run goodies- Gatorade, water, strawberries, watermelon, pickles, even pickled herring! It was such a great day with amazing energy. This is what I LOVE about marathon training!

Sunday: Easy 4 miles with Matilda. Then we took advantage of the great weather and went to the Minnehaha dog park, and then stopped by SeaSalt Eatery. Tilda was pretty tired at that point, and all she wanted to do was sit in my lap!

It was a really great week of running! I am so excited for Grandma’s Marathon in just three short weeks.

Summary: 75.5 miles! Holy guacamole…That’s a lot of running. I’m on a bit of a runner’s high right now, can’t you tell?

I’ll still have some higher mileage next week before I totally cut back for the taper.  Bring on Grandma’s Marathon!