Livin' the Dream in Lima

Why carb-loading, you ask? Besides the fact that I'm pretty much always  carb-loading. I start training for a marathon #2  tomorrow! Yes, I am going after a second marathon, even after the not-so-great experience with the Flying Pig . (Hitting the wall at mile 17 is never fun. Especially when you're soaking wet.) I'm in the pink. I will be running the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon on Saturday, April 28 in Champagin-Urbana, IL. It is supposedly a "fast & flat" course, which will be so nice after the hills of Cincinnati last year. Plus, I get to finish on the U of I Memorial Stadium! It's just 1.5 hours from my parents' house, so I'll be able to coerce them into coming to cheer me on as well. I'm also trying to convince my BFF Talen to come out and run the half (or the full!) so we can reminisce our time spent in hotels the night before big cross country & track meets. And you know, just spend some QT together.  I've...

Goodness, it has been a looong week. Next week is Spring Break, and all the kidd-os at school have decided to just shut down this week... ya know, cuz' we'll be on break soon! That means they shouldn't have to do any work, or keep in dress code, or bring pencils to math class, or anything of that sort. It also includes whining. Lots and lots of whining. And not just from the students. Anyways, tomorrow marks the last day of school before break, and we even get out early! I originally was planning on doing my long run for this week tomorrow, since I'd have extra time, but figured that I'd probably want to party hard after school (aka take a long nap) rather than go run for 3 hours. So, I decided to do my long run today. And I ran inside. On the treadmill. Before pic... super excited to be a hamster for 3 hours. Did I mention it is cold again in the Bean Town? I mean, it's not super-cold, but it's cold. I spent 2 hours outside with the kidd-os at...

Yesterday was a crazy day. First of all, it was a Monday. Monday's are always kind-of nutty. Second of all, I knew that if I was still in Illinois, I would have had yesterday off school. Why don't we celebrate Casimir Pulaski Day in Ohio? Why, why?? Third of all, it was the first day of spring track practice. I'll be helping out with my school's track team this year, so I was excited to get to know and run with some of the kids. Of course, I left my meticulously packed bag of workout clothes at home, so I just got to watch and cheer them on. This also meant that I had to spend extra time getting my run in. I didn't get home until just after 7pm. That is very late for me. And then we still had to make dinner. We have been surviving on leftovers and frozen pizzas the last week or so and I was ready for some home-cooking, or at least as close as we could get. When we were in Columbus this past weekend, we spent some time in our favorite bookstore, Barnes...

So... I mentioned yesterday that I ran 16 miles last Friday. Some of you might be thinking... "Why, oh why, would you put yourself through 2+ hours of torture and pain?" And trust me, I think 16 miles is a looooong way to run, too. 12 is not bad, just an hour and forty minutes or so. But once you get up over the 2-hour range, that's just insane! You see, one of my life goals is to run a marathon. I've run two halves, one in 2006 and one in 2010. I like the half-marathon. But I want to be able to say I've completed a full. I wasn't sure if I was quite ready to tackle it just yet, but I set forth a tentative training plan about 5 weeks ago. (You can see my weekly runs here , or by clicking The Land of Running at the top of the screen. ) I decided that if I made it to a 16-miler and felt okay, that I would proceed with running the marathon. The 16-miler went great! So I guess here goes nothing. I've decided to run the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon on...