Week four of Cleveland marathon training is done! This week was a rough one and I’m relatively sore today – especially my knees. This week called for Tuesday: 3. Wednesday: 4. Thursday: 3. Saturday: 9, for a total of 19 miles.

Monday: Rest day. I ended up doing the elliptical for 35 minutes in the morning. Day after Superbowl = rough!

Tuesday: 4.17 mi, AM outdoors. Ran before work because I had a meeting after work and wasn’t sure when I’d be home. Scheduled for 3, but somehow got in more. No complaints here- felt good after 2 days off/xtraining and was a nice cool (not cold!) morning.

Wednesday: 4.17 mi, PM outdoors. Ran with B after work after a super stressful day and ended up running it in just under 40 mi. Scheduled for 4 mi but ran the same route as Tues a.m. Felt so good to pound out the miles before heading back to work this evening. Thank goodness for running!

Thursday: 3.32 mi, PM indoors after work. Miserable dreadmill run. Actually ran on three different treadmills because I was so bored I kept switching it up.

Friday: Nothing! Slept in before work and then welcomed a friend from college, Mitch, into town at night for some Noodlecat and beers. They went out after dinner and stayed out until 2:30 a.m. — I went to bed early, knowing that we had a 9 mi early run due for Saturday.

Saturday: 9 mi, outside. Met Brian’s sister at 8 a.m. (early for a Saturday) for a 9 mi run outdoors. Oh my goodness. WHAT a run! The weather was BRUTAL – 20 degrees with 25+ mph winds (meaning it felt much colder) and blowing snow. AND snow dunes for us to run through. Thank goodness for my Screw Shoes (post about those, here). By the end, my left toe was hurting and my right knee was tight. Hopefully two days off from running will help both.

After the run we went to the CSU Butler basketball game and enjoyed a close game – sadly, CSU lost. At night, we showed Mitch and his friend around Ohio City – we started with dinner at Great Lakes Brewing Company (hooray for a 10% foursquare discount), a brew tour, then drinks at Market Garden Brewery and ABC Tavern.

Market Garden with Mitch and Brian

Sunday: Today = nothing at all! Right knee still sore from yesterday’s run and body a little tired from going out last night.

This week I’m looking forward to:

• Hopefully better weather.  I don’t want to jinx anything, but after Saturday’s run, I’m keeping my fingers crossed this week is a little better.
• First double-digit training run on Saturday.
• Valentine’s Day! B and I are scheduled for a romantic dinner out on Tuesday, preceded of course by a 3 mi training run.
• A less planned out weekend. This weekend B and I were pretty busy with Mitch and I think Friday night we’ll keep it simple before our first 10 miler this season.
• Hopefully receiving my new ellasport long-sleeve tee! I won it from Poise In Parma’s recent blog giveaway and was told that it has shipped!