faster, contact cards, meetups, oh my!

  Last night while running with Jaymon, I was once again reminded that there is still so much work to do.
I can run slow and steady for miles and miles and have a nice relaxed form. I could finish a marathon this very minute and feel great. Ah, but to run it fast. My current idea of fast, that is catered to me personally, is to run a sub 4 hour marathon.  This is an arbitrary goal and really just on my list because I need goals to put on said goal list so I picked this but I would like to meet it. After that I would like to qualify for Boston. I want to run a 22 minute 5k and a 1:45 or less half. Lofty goals I know but hey, why not right. They are totally attainable if I work at it and they will more than likely change. There are still the ridiculously long miles I want to run too. I have friends running Burning River 100 soon and barefoot if just running 100 miles were not enough. I could do that.......ok stop it Angie B and just relax and take a breathe....(insert cheeky grin here) maybe 50 miles to start sounds more reasonable.

  Sorry, I digress, we were running on our favorite paved bike trail and had planned to do close to 11 miles.  Our route is a 2.66 out and back that we were going to run 4 times.  As we were approaching our turn around on one of the loops Jaymon started sprinting so OF COURSE I start sprinting too.   It is damn hard to keep good form going that fast.  I yelled "F*CK"  when I just couldn't seem to make my body move forward in space any faster. It was like being on a treadmill. My legs and arms and lungs were pumping and yet that stupid bridge was getting no closer.  I can keep up with him for the most part and even when I am wheezing and he says "are you going to say it?" meaning am I going to say "slow down". I wheeze "NO!" and keep going with the knowledge that eventually he will need to slow down and it will be a blessed reprieve!  Thats when we are going fast for some distance though and not all out sprinting.

  I was frustrated and wanted to go all out.  In my mind I was thinking I am not going to hurt myself over this and the sprinting will make me faster for next time but dang it, I want to be able to keep up with Jaymon even though I know that he, with his super long legs and overall more powerful body will probably always be faster. I can still imagine "chicking" him though and it does make me smile!   I am thankful to have a partner that likes me even though I could never fart out loud so ofter in the vicinity of another and not pass out from the blood rushing to my cheeks from embarrassment.  I love that he pushes me to step it up and move faster which in turn is strengthening my form.  Since I am sort of winging it and only loosely following a marathon training plan, I know that my runs with him are keeping me on track with speed and mental toughness training. The miles are piling up and my base is getting more sturdy every week.

  It really was a fantastic run and we talked and laughed and worked hard together. Earlier in the day we shopped for shelving and organized the nuun storage unit together with the youngest spawn. It was a very relaxing yet productive day after a weekend of 12 hour work days. We talked about getting the spawn out to run with us.

Today I finished and ordered my contact cards.  I made one for the Barefoot Running Society, since I am the president of the Iowa Chapter although I have yet to schedule a meetup. Soon I will bite that proverbial bullet and set up a time to meet with others to run together. Oh social interaction, how you are so much easier to do in cyberspace! I am going to hit the Chest and Back and abs today and get a few miles in as well.  I can tell that its been a while since I have done core work!

A shout out to the pretty blonde lady that recognized me from my blog at the Windsor Heights Hy-Vee nuun sampling!  Don't be a stranger especially since we are in the same city!
Today is the last day to enter the nuun and SPIbelt giveaway!  There will  be 3 winners and don't worry if you are not one of the three, there will be other nuun giveaways soon as well as other awesome products to come!
A shout out to all you new bloggie friends out there too!!