Well, I did it. I ran my 36th marathon and 25th state (officially halfway done) yesterday. I will share a race recap this week- stop by! But first, I wanted to recap the week of the race, as that’s an important one too!
Monday: Short little workout- 3 miles easy, 6x 1/2 mile at marathon effort with 1 minute jog in between, 1 mile cool down, 7.75 miles, 9:05 min/mile average.
The idea with this workout was to find that 8:30 min/mile rhythm which was my goal marathon pace for Fargo (or a 3:45 marathon.)
After work, I did a few core for runners classes on the Peloton app, but pretty much cut out strength training this week. My focus was rest!
Tuesday: 6 miles with Ruth, 8:40 min/mile average.
Wednesday: 4 early solo miles, 9:15 min/mile average
Thursday: A coworker from our NY office was in town, so I met him and another coworker for an easy lap around Lake of the Isles (plus a little extra distance), 3.6 miles total, 9:30 min/mile average. It was such a beautiful morning, Lake of the Isles was looking very pretty for our visitor!
Friday: 4 mile shakeout run, 9 min/mile in Minneapolis before hitting the road to Fargo.
We arrived around 1 pm, grabbed a quick sandwich at Potbelly’s, and then picked up my bib at the expo at the Fargodome.
That evening was lots of nuun and a margarita pizza from Rustica.
Saturday: The marathon started at 7:30 am at the Fargodome. There was plenty of parking there, so Dustin came in and hung out with me until the race started.
Spoiler alert- I finished under my 3:45 goal and felt pretty amazing the whole time.
I think 3:45 is my sweet spot, where I can run and smile and be happy. Getting back to my PR (3:35) might involve a little less smiling, ha!
But seriously, I had so much fun at this race and my love for the marathon was rekindled, (I admit I was a little discouraged after Idaho.)
Post-race, post-shower, we had a delicious lunch at Sol Ave Kitchen, followed by a celebratory beer at Junkyard Brewing Company, and then a stop at the historical Moorhead Dairy Queen- home of the dilly bar!
I did crash for a bit of a nap after that, but then we had a bit more time to explore Fargo Saturday night, which was more interesting than one might expect. Fargo is a friendly town with nice people. 🙂
I’ll share more in my race recap, but I recommend this race- flat, fast, friendly, good weather, easy logistics. Great choice for North Dakota!
Sunday: We had breakfast at BernBaum’s in downtown Fargo, picked up some donuts from Sandy’s to bring home, and hit the road back to Minneapolis! Easy-peasy logistics on this marathon trip. Since Dustin didn’t run this race, we will probably be back to Fargo in the future for him to check off North Dakota as well! (He’s running Boston in two weeks instead.)
Summary: 52 miles of running, limited strength training this week since it was race week.
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner as part of their Weekly Rundown. Check it out!
Hooray! Well done, super pics and I look forward to the race recap!
Thanks Liz!
Congratulations on another marathon finish! It looks like this one was a fun one for you, and how cool that Dustin was able to cheer you on throughout the race 🙂
Thank you so much Kim!
Hooray and a big congrats!! I knew you’d crush this one. The midwest is the best, am I right? Looking forward to your recap. Glad you are so happy and in love with the marathon again.
Thank you Wendy. Yes those midwesterners are pretty darn nice!
Congrats on your race! That’s really great that you enjoyed it so much. And its nice that Dustin was able to cheer for you throughout the race!
It was such a special treat since we usually run the same races!
huge congrats to you! I am so glad to see that you really had fun and felt good about your race. Nice job!
Thank you Deborah!
so happy to hear that the race went well and that you enjoyed it.
Margarita pizza is my go-to pre-race meal too.
Congrats!!!
It’s the pre-race meal of champions! Ha!
Congratulations!!! So glad to hear it went well and you enjoyed it. I love the pre-race meal of pizza and Nuun. Can’t wait to read your recap! And yes- I’m sure the people in Fargo are super nice.
Really nice people in Fargo.
I’m so glad the marathon went so well for you!! Excellent job!! Fargo has been on my bucket list; I’ve heard so many good things about it.
I was very impressed by it! Great race.
Huge congratulations! I’m so glad you had a happy race! A 3:45 “smiling” pace is fantastic. Nice that you had fun in Fargo too.
Love that you took your coworker for a run! Great idea.
Thanks Coco! I am proud that 3:45 is a smiling pace!
Congrats on a race well run!
Thanks Betsy, it was a blast!
Yay! I’m so glad you ran the race you wanted. Sounds like a wonderful race week leading up to the big day.
Thank you Marcia!
How awesome to beat your goal time! Congrats on a great race! And I love that photo of you smiling. I have a feeling if I were running a marathon I wouldn’t be smiling .. . .
Smiling helps! 🙂
Yay for having fun! Congrats on #36! Looking forward to reading your race recap!
Thanks Michelle!
Congratulations! What a huge victory and comeback for you! I can’t wait to check out your race report! I’m sure you must be over the moon!
And Fargo looks like such a cool city! I would love to visit!
Thanks Jenn! It was a nice confidence boost to feel good for all 26.2 after Idaho was a bit more challenging/disappointing.