18 Miles of Pure Joy

After the nine and nine last week, I was able to do up the full 18 miles and barely broke a sweat. Well, that's not entirely true, it was quite warm and sunny, and since I wore my sunglasses, I ended up with a racoon-style sunburn on my face. Return of the lobster boy. It's my annual required burning, so things should be better from here on out. I have been exfoliating like crazy, and the color has come down a little. Unfortunately, I'll never be tan; just don't have any tan-juice in me.

I also got my first blister of this training - on my right big toe. I didn't even notice it until I went to run last night, then I decided to pop it but then it hurt like the dickens. Oh, well, price you have to pay to build your strength, right?

And last nights run was pretty special: 10:36 per mile over 4.6 miles. Was feeling pretty good, then went to see Ironman immediately after.

A bit of good news: this morning, I dropped into the next weight bracket at 179 - that's minus 13 from the high point. I was very excited. ELMO has been working hard for me. I eat a pretty constant stream of food throughout my day and I have been not eating as much in the evening. After 9 pm, I am done eating for the day. Huge difference. I finally started to understand that "carbo load" does not mean 1,000 calories, but more like 200. Replenish doesn't have to be a huge mass of food, but can be something more simple.

I called my friend Erin about meeting up to do a 20 mile "tour of places I lived in my college years" but he hasn't returned my call. Heather and Allyson, on the other hand, might do the Green Mountain Marathon.

Getting pretty excited about my trip, and the thought of a few runs in Amsterdam and Rome. Running in Amsterdam will be interesting, and running by the collesum will be awesome. Since it will be a down week, I will not have to do do many miles - maybe 4 twice throughout the week - but it will still be challenging and fun!