Monday July 13^th—Nothing crazy to report here for today. I took another FULL rest day because my body was feeling just so beat up from the last 6 weeks. And because I still went on with my run yesterday as scheduled, even though my challenge across the USA finished Saturday. Also, I tend to eat like crap on the days I don’t do anything. Anyone else in that same boat? It’s like a cheat day I suppose? I think we had chick fila for dinner and then milkshakes for dessert. YUM!! This week is a scheduled cut back week from running so that my body can have some time to recover. My goal this week is to get out on my bike a few times since I’ve totally neglected it for weeks.

Tuesday July 14^th—On my schedule was to run 3.5 easy paced miles. In my brain I thought, only 3.5 miles? Sorry, it just doesn’t seem like a lot after running 10+ miles per day. I got out and it felt pretty good and then came back home and hopped on my bike and rode 6.5 miles. A nice brick workout!! And the weather was awesome and on the cooler side. I was so happy to be back on my bike! I have missed it so darn much. Back before when I was only working from home, I felt like I had more time to get out at night no matter what, especially using it as a break from being inside sitting all day. Now, I’m back to going to my office 2-3x per week so I feel bad coming home after being out all day and then going out again. Mom guilt big time.

Wednesday July 15^th—Today on the schedule was more easy paced miles, yay! I did not get up in time to get my run and bike done before I left for the office so I settled for just the run. I had hoped to get the bike in when I got home from work but decided that there’s no need to push it and hung with the family instead. Oh, and cleaned my house too. What fun LOL. My mother is law has been coming every week on Thursday and spending the night to stay Friday to watch the kids for us so the least I can do is have a clean house for her!

Thursday July 16^th—Not getting my biking yesterday sure was a motivator to get up early enough today to get both in. I was supposed to do speedwork but emailed my coach to ask to change so that I could do that on the track this weekend when I had more time. I only had to run 4 easy miles then hopped on bike and got in 8 miles. And then I was heading to the office and then golfing with my work crew around 3:30, which was fun. But didn’t get home until 9pm and was so exhausted.

Friday July 17^th—More easy paced miles on the schedule. Also, my mother in law has a golden retriever and I ran a little bit with her last week and she loved it! I took her for a 2-mile run this morning and am really warming up to the idea of getting a dog. At some point☺️. We are looking to put an addition on our house and I really would like to have that done first and then get the doggy. I’ll just enjoy my MIL’s dog for now! I was a little nervous running with her dog because I’ve never really done that before. The next time I’ll take my phone so I can snap a picture! Once I got back I went out and ran my scheduled 4 easy paced miles. I did not have time to get out on my bike before heading to the office.

Saturday July 18^th—I didn’t realize when I moved my speed work to Saturday that it was going to be blazing hot. However, the nice part about the track is that I can bring loads of water, and salt stick chews and a towel to dry myself off and have all that available whenever I need it. I needed to run 2 miles all out for a virtual challenge I was in. They had reached out to me and told me I could join for free so I figured why not? There are 4 rounds and based on how you do each round you can get eliminated. The first round is 2 miles all out around the track. The next round is 1 mile all out around a track. Anyway, I had to alter my run just a tad to get this in. I was originally going to do my warm up (2 miles) then do this 2 miles all out and then do what was scheduled 3 x 1 miles with 3 min jog in between then cool down but after my 2 miles I was so done that I decided to just do 1 more mile speedwork. Finished with 7 miles and then walked 2 miles to cool down. Then came home, had a protein shake and then got out on my bike for 10 miles. And then I was toast.

But my husband thought maybe we could go play 9 holes of golf if my parents could watch the kids, so we ended up doing that around 5pm and had fun. It has been some time since he and I golfed together. We always end up golfing separate because typically when we are golfing it’s thru work and someone has to watch the kids ☺️.

Sunday July 19^th—Another super-hot blazing day. One thing about me that is probably very different from most runners is I love running in the hot weather!! If I’m prepared with water I can manage pretty well. I’d much rather run in heat then in the cold. I hate all the layers and not being able to feel my toes and fingers.. it’s just the worst thing ever to me. So I decided to go back to the track since I was just running easy paced miles. I brought tons of water and salt stick chews and got my 10 miles in. The last 2 miles were harder than they should have been but that’s my fault. I should have woken up earlier to beat the heat but decided to sleep in and didn’t get out till after 10am so when I was near the end of my run it was BLAZING hot.

I wrote my post on Sunday on twitter and Instagram about how age is simply a number. And that you shouldn’t let age define what you think you are capable of accomplishing!! I feel fitter than I ever have been and I’ve been running for over 20 years. You just need to keep showing up and working hard every day, every week 👊🏽