Oh what a week–lots of ups and downs in training! I started things off really easy on Monday after my half–just a short yoga class and an extra rest day. Tuesday I got my legs back under me and felt a little bit sluggish but not too bad. Wednesday I didn’t have time to fit in my usual yoga class, since we were celebrating my parents’ anniversary at Brassica (which was fantastic!!) Instead, I did a very easy run totally by feel. I did wear my watch but I set it up so that I didn’t get any pace information–all I could see was the total elapsed time. It felt really nice to run so intuitively! I have trouble taking my easy runs really easy, so I hope to incorporate more of this into my training.

Friday morning I had hills on the books and didn’t feel like getting up early to go to November Project with J, so I decided I’d run after work. As soon as I got into my running clothes, one of my friends from school texted about heading over to a happy hour for my MBA classmates–and I decided to go. It’s rare I can carve out the time to spend with people from school outside of class or study groups, and it was a blast–I even found out one of my classmates is an avid runner, so hopefully we’ll be able to get together to run at some point soon! Even more momentously, this was the first time this training cycle that I gave myself full permission to skip a run because life just got in the way–and I don’t regret it one bit. Life happens–it’s ok to give yourself the occasional break!

After drinks I went to see an amazing musical version of  The Parable of the Sower, which we read in my book club. It was fascinating, but it ran fairly late, and it took me a little bit to wind down and get to bed–not ideal before my long run. Saturday I tagged along with Alexa for the “longest long run” before Boston. It was SO fun! We took a bus out to the start line in Hopkinton with literally thousands of other runners, and then we ran the course in towards the city. It felt like a party! People were in costumes, there were cops directing traffic, and there were tons of water stops set up by various groups and charities. This video gives a good sense of what it was like. I had a pretty good run physically, but my tummy was totally out of whack–I think I didn’t hydrate nearly enough the day before/morning of the run, and that combined with lack of sleep threw me off. Either way I got 18 done and Alexa crushed her 22 miler. I can’t wait to see her run Boston! The rest of the day was pretty lazy–mostly doing homework and then watching Moana, which I adored 🙂

I wrapped up the week with another easy “watchless” run yesterday–my stomach was still really crampy and off, but I’m hoping it’s a passing thing. I did get to meet my friend’s new puppy, Toby, which pretty much made for the best day ever.

Week 8: 40.6 total miles

• Monday: Easy 60 minute yoga class
• Tuesday: 5.7 miles + strides
• Wednesday: 5.1 very easy “watchless miles,”
• Thursday: 6 miles
• Friday: Nothing (oops!)
• Saturday: 18.3 miles
• Sunday: 5.2 recovery miles

Linking up with The Weekly Wrap (hosted by Hoho Runs and Miss Sippipiddlin) and with Eat Pray Run DC for her training recap linkup. Also, joining the Jess’s (Jess Runs ATL and The Right Fits) for their weekly recap linkup!