Week 13

So far this week I've felt pretty good. The weekend run was a good smooth sailing (it's about time I had one of those) with nicely paved the path for a good week. And boy did I need it for a confidence booster.

At this point making time for my 9+ mile weekday runs has been the challenge. I did it last night and I think I'm going to have to succumb to the fact that this is going to be my top priority for the next 5 weeks. I felt good yesterday. I ran the entire 9 miles which is only surprising because it's the longest week day run I've done and normally on the weekend LR, I try to fit in at least 1 walk break to help conserve energy. The last time I ran 9 miles (only 9 miles) was at week 4 and I’m sure I took a walk break. Little things like these are encouraging for me. See how far I’ve come!

Last night, of my 9 miles, 4.5 of it was on the race day course. I didn’t totally hate it which is good because it is one of the areas I considered “problem areas”. The course I ran last night was VERY hilly. Pretty typical for St. Louis being as we are in the river valley. Two river valleys in fact. All of the reviews I’ve read of the St. Louis Marathon claim the same thing, pretty course, lots of low-grade hills. Hopefully I will be able to handle them OK. I was really tired on the last hill and was having some breathing problems so I know that they get to me. However, I like the feeling you get when the hill is over and your flat run is nice and easy for about a minute! I hope there is a nice aren’t TOO many hills and that they are appropriately spaced out.
I’m starting to get really nervous. I’ll feel better after Saturday (hopefully).