Guess what you guys? It FINALLY feels like spring here in Boston!! Also, (brag alert) guess who has two thumbs and ran her first 50 mile week ever… this gal! I was super duper jazzed to finally get past this mileage hurdle feeling strong. Rewinding to Monday, this week started out with a nice rainy easy run, during which I ran into my mom and her gal pals powerwalking around Jamaica Pond. #squadgoals.

Tuesday I had the first of two hard workouts–during which I finally managed (sort of) to program my Garmin for interval training. I was running 4 2k (1.25 mile) intervals at a 10k pace. The wind was kind of crazy during the back half of this one and I couldn’t figure out how to see my pace during the workout, but I managed to run pretty even splits at goal pace just by feel! It’s cool to trust my body to know what I want it to do… sometimes. Wednesday I did another easy run over to my book club meeting–nothing like a run that ends with guac and red wine! Thursday was the second hard workout–5 minutes easy running alternating with 2 minutes hard for 7 miles. I actually had trouble with this one. For some reason I kept feeling jolted in and out of the intervals and didn’t find my rhythm–but I got through it and the back-and-forth made 7 miles fly by! Friday was a few early miles before…

We got hit by another noreaster. With snow. In April. UGH! I took this one in stride because it didn’t actually accumulate, but it was pretty nasty while it was happening. J and I had a really nice Saturday of yoga, errands, and celebrating my Dad’s birthday before heading to an all gluten free dinner party!! This was a pretty big deal for me–usually dinner parties are minefields of breadcrumb hell, so it was super cool to be able to eat everything. Because carbloading? Yup! One of every dessert pls.

Sunday morning things were looking up! The roads were almost completely clear, and my friend Denise (who lives on my block and is also running Sugarloaf) and I hit the roads for an 18 miler. We ran an out and back on the marathon course, with the first 12 miles easy and the last 6 at MGP. This run felt really, really strong, which I totally needed after last week’s crampy mess. Denise is a great, steady pacer and she’s super fast, so it’s fun to challenge myself to keep up 🙂 After the run we scooted out to support Alexa at her marathon fundraiser–which was a really intense boxing class. The boxing was actually super fun but it was laughable how little I was able to do after 18 miles.

Also, a TV crew came to film some of my coworkers pretending to be cheering during the marathon. I barely make it on camera, but my ponytail did. The little teaser video came out really well (ponytail is famous around 7-8 seconds in).

Onwards and upwards–7 more weeks til race day!

Week 9: 50.2 miles total

• Monday: Easy 7 + strides
• Tuesday: 1 up, 4 x 2k at 10k pace (7:35, 7:16, 7:06, 7:10), 1 down for 8 total
• Wednesday: 5.6 “watchless” easy miles
• Thursday: 7.3 mile fartlek (5 min easy/2 min hard)
• Friday: 4 easy
• Saturday: 90 minute yoga class
• Sunday: 18 miles! First 12 easy, last 6 at MGP (7:56, 7:58, 7:50, 7:50, 7:50, 7:29)

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!