Week 17

Day 1- Dec 24

I had a great run this day! It was 31 degrees out and I was perfectly comfortable in running pants and a quarter zip jacket. I got into a really good rhythm and ran an average 9:55 minute/mile pace.

30 minutes: 3.03 miles
Total: 4.36 in 50 minutes

Day 2- Dec 26

When I started my run this day my knees were feeling quite tight/sore. I had considered stopping after 15-20 minutes, but the pain worked itself out after a short period of time. The wind was the only thing that bothered me on this run.

30 minutes: 3.02 miles
Total: 4.38 miles in 50 minutes

Day 3- Dec 29

I don't even know where to begin in describing this run...For starters we ran a half marathon! Our time goal for the race is 2:30 or under and we ran 2:38 this day so we were really happy about that because the conditions were awful. Mother nature sure doesn't like us to have good weather when we are scheduled for long runs. This time it was down pouring rain the ENTIRE time we were running! We decided running in the snow was way better than the rain. We had to constantly hop and jump over puddles the size of lakes and Em started having a new pain in the top of her calf because of doing this motion over and over. 

Between mile 5-6 we stopped for a bathroom break. We proceeded to wring out our gloves and we noticed that our legs were blood red. Our pants were clearly not wind and water resistant. My yellow rain jacket kept my upper body dry. Poor Em's jacket let the water come right through so she was soaked head to toe.

Between mile 7-8 my music on my playlist started replaying songs I had already heard. I had originally had over 40 songs on there. Before going to run I hooked my phone up to my computer to add 2 songs to my playlist and it ended up taking off all of my best running songs because they are new and didn't match my playlist on the computer. Bummer! So on one of our walk breaks I added two songs I wanted on the playlist and toughed it out the rest of the run. My phone ended up dying around mile 12...cherry on top. 

At mile 12 I started getting punchy and after every half mile I would tell Em "Only __ miles until we are finished!" During one of our walk breaks I started making train noises and motions and saying, "Only one more mile and we'll be pulling this train into taper town, toot toot!" I then looked across the street on the left and saw this...

it was an excellent comic relief.

We finished our cool down and changed out of our soaked clothes as quickly as possible. We literally could not warm up. We kept moving, added more layers, stood over heat vents and we continued to shiver for at least 30 minutes. I'm not going to lie, it was getting a little scary. I would love to know what my core body temperature was during this time. Finally, I felt warm after 45 minutes. I hope to never experience hypothermia like that again. 

Source

Source

Total: 14.25 miles in 2 hours 59 minutes

13.1 miles: 2 hours 38 minutes

So I've officially been in taper town for 2 days now and it's going well. Check back for a separate post about what my taper plan means to me.

That's all for now!