Monday June 29^th—Another Monday, another rest day! I really did need this. I was so beat up from last week. I decided to walk the kids up to the park to have lunch and then play for a bit during my work lunchtime, so I got in almost 2-mile walk. Then after work I decided to walk to a new track that my cousin told me was open. It was a little further than I thought it would be plus the one road that I was walking on had no sidewalk, so I felt a little nervous while walking there. I went the longer way back home so that I could walk on sidewalks and not feel like a car was going to sideswipe me. I ended up walking 8.25 miles. And holy heck was it hot. I ran out of water and didn’t have any money on me or a mask to stop on the way back to get more water. Lesson learned. Don’t do that again! But the track was great, and I was happy that though it’s a gravel track it’s been treated and kept up well so it’s not like the other gravel tracks I’ve run on. On my rest day I clocked in 10 miles of walking. OMG!

Tuesday June 30^th—It was a little cooler this morning while I was out running which was so great! My run today was 3 mile warm up with 6 x 400’s (min pace 7:15-7:00) with 200m recovery in between then cool down to 8 miles but I ended up adding on another mile to get to 9 miles. I have a street right near my house that is 400m and is flat and straight and not a lot of cars ride on it so I run there when I have a workout like this. I can put my water bottle down while I’m doing this which is great. I hate carrying anything while I run. I especially hate it while running fast. I can tolerate while running easy. That’s just me. I plug these kind of workouts in my watch so that it’s easy to do by just hitting the lap button and I don’t have to keep track of how many 400’s I’ve done. Plus I get to look back and see how I’ve done when I’m finished. I was not feeling very surgy when I got out, probably from my 10-mile walk on my rest day🤣. But I ended up hitting all my paces except one. And now that I’m staring at the splits I can see that I never rested in between 400’s so that’s why I missed the next one. I wonder how that happened? I’m not even gonna worry about it!

Then on my way to work a client that I’ve been trying to get in touch with for over a month about their benefits renewal finally got back to me asking me to call. So, I called. Then he tells me they are leaving me and going to another product. A product that I can offer him. I was so upset when I heard this that I didn’t have a lot of words for him. I told him I was disappointed in the whole thing. I mean we had a great relationship and I just had lunch with him and the HR person back in March. They met with this other broker before our lunch yet said nothing. And then just basically ignored me and didn’t give me a chance to present the renewal or any options. It’s just wrong. Especially because we did nothing wrong they said and it’s a business decision. What in the hell does that mean? At the end of the day if that is the way he operates then I don’t want to do business with him because that’s just not cool. End rant!!

Wednesday July 1^st—I had 6 miles easy on the schedule, but I ended up getting out with enough time to go 10 miles. These miles actually felt pretty good, but my legs are still feeling beat up! Then after work I got out for 5 mile walk. I think that about did me in 🤣. I probably should not have done that but it’s all for those damn virtual challenges!!

Thursday July 2^nd—Today I felt worse than I did on Tuesday🤷🏻‍♀️. I think all the miles are catching up with me and I am not giving my legs a chance to rest. I opted for the treadmill today for a change of scenery and a softer surface. On my schedule was for this to be a 7 mile progression run going from 9:00 pace down to 8:00 but I couldn’t do it. I kept my pace around 9:15 mile for this run. I kept it at 7 miles knowing my body was begging me for a break. I’m also not worried about not doing what my schedule said. You have to really go with how you are feeling over anything else.

Friday July 3^rd-Gotta love when a Friday feels like a Saturday! On the schedule today was 4 easy miles. Since I was off from work and had the time, I ran 10 easy miles. It was so hot! I got to sleep in and then run a lot of miles. That is the best day ever in my opinion🙌🏼. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way! After today’s run, I finally completed my virtual run across PA, which was 310 miles. Walking and running counted towards that challenge.

Then I hung with the kids and we went over to see my mom because today she had to put her dog down. He was 16 years old and had suffered a stroke a few months back. She along with my dad had been taking care of him since the stroke and really when you look back at it, Kirby was not enjoying life at all. He could not lay down without help. He could not see. He would walk in circles. He would wake in the middle of the night. He was peeing on the floor. It was so sad. So, we went over to hang to cheer her up and take her mind off what had just happened. We stayed until it was the kid’s bedtime!

Saturday July 4^th—Happy birthday America! I was hoping to get to the track by 7am but that did not happen. I got there around 9am instead and it was hot. Luckily the sun was hiding behind the clouds for most of the run. I brought 5 water bottles with me and some salt stick chews. I learned from the week before that I had to bring more water (I only brought 2 bottles of water and that was not enough) 5 was more than enough and I had some left over at the end… WINNING! Also, the salt stick chews are really helpful when it’s super-hot out. I will admit that this run scared me when I first saw it on the calendar. It was 4×4 with each 4 miles to be run faster. The first set were to be 9:30-9:15/mile with the last set to be sub 8:00/mile. I did it and I did it well! I sound surprised, I know. I always say this but sometimes I forget that I can run those paces and they freak me out and I get in my head and think, I can’t do that run. Well, wrong. YES, I CAN. And I must then tell myself that and remind myself that I can. Never underestimate the power of your mind! And never ever stop believing in yourself!!

Sunday July 5^th—Slept in. No rush to get outside today though the more I procrastinate the more I don’t want to get out. This is why most of my runs are first thing in the morning. Not much time to think about it…. I just get out there. Anyways, I did not leave my house till after 11am…oops. I had to scroll through Twitter and Instagram to get some inspiration from those that had already gotten out for their runs. It definitely helped and then I got myself out there. The problem with going late is that it was SO HOT!!! I had 5 easy miles on the schedule but knew that I wanted to go 8 to get to a 60-mile run week. So, 8 it was and then I walked 2.5 miles after to cool down. Though, there wasn’t much cooling down cause it was 90 degrees🥵. I did stop home mid-way through my run to fill up my water. That’s been my savior during these hot times. I still need to get a hydration vest but for now this is working.

I ended the week with 60 miles running and 24 miles walking and 0 bike miles. I really can’t wait to start biking again once I’m done with the race across America challenge. I cringe at the 0 bike miles but it’s only temporary. That makes me feel a little better about it! If you made all the way here I wanted to say thank you for reading my blog!!