Obsessing

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runnings
Things I’m obsessing about this week before the marathon

• Did we do our 20 miler too long ago?
• I love cool weather but this week is the first I’ve run in it in about 6 months. Have I adjusted?
• Which socks am I going to wear? The ones I’ve been wearing for my long runs are more for warm weather.
• Do I consider wearing tights? I think I have answered that one. Probably not.
• My knee isn’t swollen, but it has randomly given out on me several times lately. How will it handle Sunday?
• Will I have to stop at the satellites?
• Will I be able to get enough hydration? If I put a Nuun in my water bottle right away, this will be much earlier than any of my long runs, but I don’t think I can refill my water bottle.
• Will Sunday be a good day for asthma? Is the steroid inhaler I started on this summer helping as much as I hope it is?
• Does RF still think we can run the marathon 20 minutes faster this year?

Despite all this, I really do have a bit of excitement building up!

Ready

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RF and I are both ready for the marathon to arrive. I think I can say we’re ready as far as training goes, but it’s more the fact that we’re ready for a break. As we ran Saturday we both agreed we were struggling a bit mentally. I don’t at all think that we’ll have the same trouble Sunday though. The weather is looking good, there’s bound to be a good crowd and neither knee is swollen. I also plan to wear closed toed shoes all week.

Portraits

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A friend of mine asked me to take photos of her daughter for her senior portraits. I was honored she asked, but apprehensive since I don’t consider people, let alone portraits, my strong suit. And photography itself is something I’m learning! We went out last weekend and I’m actually pretty excited, as is my friend, with the results. The natural beauty of the subject certainly helped!


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Stadium Tour

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I had the opportunity to go on a tour of the Gopher's TCF Stadium, including going right down on the field.



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Machu Picchu

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My little hiatus from blog entries is mostly because I was off in Peru. We didn’t have time to take advantage of anything near what Peru offered, but we did see Machu Picchu. Not that I’ve seen many ruins, but others cannot compare. The surrounding landscape was stunning and added to the awe of the Machu Picchu ruins. The massive, intricate structures are in the middle of a seemingly impossible location. We also climbed Wayna Picchu, the mountain frequently pictured in the background of Machu Picchu photos, to see the massive spread of ruins. The top of Wayna Picchu also offered some ruins to scale that would be sure to give anyone with vertigo a serious fright, including myself. Only once, however, did the drop off off the side of the narrow stairs force me to take another path.

Wayna Picchu

The view from Wayna Picchu.

runnings
Before I left for Peru, RF and I ran 20 miles. I then proceeded to not run for 10 days. When I returned I got in a couple runs before we tackled 18 miles yesterday. I wanted to believe the time off would be good rest for my legs, but it seemed the rest of my body (namely my insides) forgot how to handle the running. I was never ill in Peru and was adventurous in my eating, and perhaps it was just the adjustment to returning home, but I had to stop at several satellites to make it through our run. Other than that, the run was successful!