Training for 1/4/16

So far, Shamrock Marathon training is going pretty well in 2016!

Friday was a scheduled rest day, which was perfect because I knew I wouldn’t feel like doing anything the day after New Year’s Eve. It was about 11 a.m. when I finally got out of bed. The rest of the day was similarly unproductive but relaxing. I did let Clark talk me into watching the first “Star Wars” movie, which is actually the fourth. It wasn’t terrible.

Saturday, I ran the shorter of the two runs on the weekend’s schedule, an 8-miler. It had gotten cold enough I had to wear tights and an actual cold weather top. It was a pretty good run though. I breezed around the 8.4-mile loop.

That afternoon, Clark wanted to go to the Y in Easton to swim laps. He convinced me to go too. I’ve never swam laps in a pool for exercise. We went to Dick’s first, where I got everything I needed to look like I knew what I was doing: Proper swimsuit, cap, goggles and a nose clip, because I don’t care if it looks dorky, I’m not getting water up my nose.

Clark and I shared a lane at the pool. I swam 750 yards. I’m sure I looked like the clueless newb I am! It was tough, but I enjoyed it. I was pretty sure it was going to have an effect on the next day’s long run, but oh well.

This coming weekend, Kara is going to meet Clark at the Y to give him some pointers on swimming, so I’ll go too. I definitely need the help!

Yesterday, I woke up with a sore neck, from all the flailing around in the pool the day before. I think that’s a clear sign I’m doing it wrong haha. I really didn’t feel like running anything, let alone the 16-miler on the schedule. I was pretty happy drinking coffee and playing my Game Gear on the couch, but Clark wouldn’t let me punk out. So I got dressed, filled up my water bottle, put two GUs and two salt caps in the pouch and went out.

I didn’t breeze anywhere yesterday haha. It was a MUCH rougher run than Saturday’s had been. But I actually passed up every chance to take a shortcut and ran the entire 16.3-mile loop! It wasn’t fast, but it was 16 miles in the books.

I think the lesson there was to get up early enough to do the long run this coming weekend Saturday morning, before swimming, and saving the shorter one for Sunday.

Yesterday evening, we took Pepper to Rehoboth to get him a new collar at Dogfish Head. Of course, we had to stop in the brewpub for dinner and a couple beers while we were there. The place wasn’t very busy, but one of the few other patrons was the drunkest person I’ve ever met in my life. She probably couldn’t out-drink Clark, but she definitely out-drunked him.

We were sitting near her at the bar while she was yelling into her phone at a friend on Facetime. She pointed the phone at us and told us to tell her friend how much Pennsylvania sucks, so we did. (I really have no feelings on Pennsylvania one way or the other.) When the call ended, she invited herself down to the seat right next to mine so she could repeat the same story over and over, only with different details every time. Something about playing lacrosse, pissing off her grandfather by going to a college other than the University of Maryland, being friends with someone who owns half of the Starboard in Dewey, opening a new restaurant in Bethany, being a real estate agent, currently living in a house near Dogfish Head her 88- or 89-year-old grandfather bought… it went on and on.

When we were leaving, she told us if we ever needed anything to call her, and then repeated a string of numbers over and over, which I guess was her number, or what she thought was her number. That girl was a mess! I hope she really did live only a couple of blocks away.

Anyway, today, I have a short run on the schedule, just a 3-miler, and strength training.