Should I run tonight just to top 100 miles this month?

So this month I've run more than I have since July when I was at the peak of marathon training. While not officially training for a marathon until January (although I am following a schedule called "tranica" that Sarah made me so I wouldn't be a sloth between now and then), I have been running regularly and have managed to log 99.6 miles this month. Was going to wait until tomorrow for my first run of the week, but this may tempt me tonight when I get home from work. Stay tuned :)

Sunday Steady State

Today I did my first "Steady State" run - a speed that's slightly slower than a tempo, and was 25 mins long during the middle of a 60 minute run. I did my long run yesterday, so I didn't have high expectations of what my legs could handle. I feel like I did pretty good - it helped that Dan ran with me and that the weather was beautiful. It's not too ideal to do this run after a long run but I thought it wouldn't hurt (well not too much) to try and squeeze it in and close out the week. I feel pretty good and now I have an excuse to relax the rest of the day and drink mimosas, right??

Windy Post Thanksgiving Long Run

November in San Francisco can be warm, rainy, cold, windy, foggy or all of the above. Mostly it's about 65 and sunny and that's pretty much what it was yesterday, except for the wind. I ran against it on my way to Marin over the Golden Gate Bridge, and it carried me back to San Francisco, almost lifting me off my feet at times. Tres gusty! That was the fun part. Then I ran the rest of the 13 miles, getting the mileage wrong and running an extra .5. I think anything over about 11 miles hurts. Or at least that's how I feel right now because it's the longest I've run in 4 months. In January when I start my marathon training again, I'm sure I'll be wishing for a Saturday with only 13 miles to run!!

It was really nice though and made me relax for the rest of the day, since I didn't have much energy for anything else.

Good luck Amber and all of the Philadelphia Marathoners

My cousin Amber is running in the Philadelphia Marathon tomorrow and it's her first marathon. I am so proud of her. She has an hour commute to work each way everyday and a three year old, yet she managed to get all of her long runs in! I have a fiance, a commute and a cat and I can barely keep up with running.

Can't wait to hear how it goes! Send her your good running thoughts :)

Running on empty, with a full tank of stress

The past month has been filled with work stress and I've been doing my best to run through it. Work has been stressful, as I'm sure it is for most people. I love my job, but sometimes working so hard just wears me down and I just want to have a power cry. Maybe this is all because I am not training for a marathon - that always proves as a good stress reliever and distraction. Luckily, after the holidays, the training will commence and all will be well again. I'll have sore legs to complain about :)

Running wise, I'm just taking the same routes over and over lately. I think this is something I have control over and it's comforting to know what I can expect. On the weekends, I usually head over the Golden Gate Bridge. Seeing all of the tourists, bikers and runners always makes me calm.

Power running

Becky, my BFF/Matron of Honor/wedding cake designer flew out from Philly last week to see me. After a busy week at work, we had a busy weekend getting some planning done. She even played around with cake design, since she has so sweetly offered to make my wedding cake. I decided to drag her along on my long run on Saturday, thinking she could bike beside me. I run much slower than she bikes, and she had to go on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was pretty fun and the weather was great.

Congrats to Sarah!

My running buddy Sarah ran the NYC Marathon in 4:07 yesterday. She did this after having run the SF marathon only 3 months ago!! She is a rock star.

I had some of my own victories last week, having gotten back into a running routine. I ran 4 times last week and ended with a 8 mile run through Golden Gate Park yesterday that was really nice. I ran with my ipod for the first time in awhile and I think that really helped my pace.

Happy November!