Last week marked week fifteen of my Cleveland marathon training. The week’s training called for Tuesday: 5. Wednesday: 10. Thursday: 5. Saturday: 20, for a total of 40 miles.  Yipes. Forty miles! Again, I didn’t follow the running schedule. 😦  After standing up all day on Monday and Tuesday and walking around a trade show in not-so-comfortable shoes, I was hurting. That, plus my on and off ankle and achilles pain during and after runs, made me decide to run every day but not complete the mid-week 10 miler.

Monday: 5 –  Pre-work run on the dreadmill at the hotel gym.  As I mentioned, I was in Orlando for work last week from Sunday through Wednesday, meaning I knew it’d be hard to fit in my normal workout schedule. Luckily, the hotel gym was awesome – it was like a full gym with rows of treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, and a weight room. I decided to hit the gym before a day on the Convention floor and was glad I did!

Tuesday: 5 – Pre-work outdoor run in Orlando with my coworker Leslie!  Leslie is another runner who has trained on and off for various marathons and whenever we travel together we like to run together. It was 55 degrees before the sun was up and it felt great to have someone to run with and explore the area where we were staying.

Wednesday: 6 – Another morning run in Orlando with Leslie. I didn’t think I’d be able to make the full 10 miles without being in some serious plane, but decided to see how 6 would feel. Not bad! After landing back in Cleveland, I spent some time icing.

Saturday: 20– 20 miles. Yes, 20.  WOW. Longest training run before the marathon (3 weeks!) and longest run in my life. Had to set the alarm for 5-something to get outside and get in 10 miles before completing the Cleveland 10 miler. It wasn’t great – Friday night I had started feeling sick, coming down with a cold, and Saturday morning it was there. What could be worse than running 20 miles? 20 miles with a cold. AND in the rain. Luckily the rain held off somewhat until mile 16ish where it started freezing rain/sleeting for about a mile. But by then, I was just happy to be at mile 16. We had our worst times ever in the race (woops!) but am SO happy it’s done!

No photo of the hotel gym, but here’s a photo of my bathroom. Love it when there’s a TV in the mirror!

Plus, a photo of me during the trip. Working hard of course!