Candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup.

4 weeks from now I will have completed my first US Olympic Marathon Trials and will be celebrating with my family and best friends in Houston.

I have just wrapped up my highest mileage week EVER....120 miles. I had 4 hard workouts during this week as well. I have to admit, with Christmas preparations underway and events and parties to attend, I was pretty wiped yesterday. But, this morning I had a great run with marathon pace miles at the end and now I am cuddled on the couch watching the Packer game until I start baking more gluten free Christmas cookies. Life is good.

This upcoming week I have a cutback week of 90 miles before climbing back up to 100, and then the taper! I am feeling really fit and excited to see what will happen in Houston. On Christmas Eve, I will be heading out to Fountain Hills, AZ to run 20 miles with the last 16 miles at marathon pace. This is a tough workout, but my favorite workout of each training cycle. The scenery is beautiful and the course is fast. Exactly what I need to build confidence before the trials.

I am also proud to be a Brooks Elite sponsored athlete for 2012. Brooks has been so good to me. It is so nice to be sponsored by a company that you love.  I am a Brooks addict and could not live without my menagerie of Brooks training and racing shoes! I am also very excited to see what they have in store for us at the Trials. I have been getting little clues via email, I am so excited!

Fiesta Bowl 23 miler

On Sunday I wrapped up a 110 mile week with a 23 mile long run with a half marathon-The Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon in the middle of the 23 miles. My goal was to just run the 13.1 mile race as a long tempo run at 5:55 pace and to finish feeling like I could have kept going. I warmed up 5 miles and the gun went off as I eased into my pace. I was feeling great!

There were 2 lovely fellas in front of me, but they were running about 5:50pace and John had said no faster than 5:55's, so I hung back by myself.  At around mile 7, I saw John and he told me to speed up and stay with the guys. I was feeling great running the 5:55's by myself, but with the pack running 5:50's, I felt even better! It is amazing how much better it feels when you are not working by yourself trying to hold pace. I am so happy he had me speed up and stick with the guys, it was a valuable lesson in racing that I will take with me to the Olympic Trials next month. (!!)

Despite feeling good, I was hit hard with a severe stomach cramp at mile 11. I could feel my stomach starting to rumble a bit at 6.5, but thought that as long as I didn't have my planned gel, I would be able to make it to the finish. At mile 11, I knew I was going to have to make a pit stop and I did. Ugh. So embarrassing! It was my own stupid fault for thinking I could have a liter of creamy tomato soup the day before a race/long run. I knew that in the past it had wreaked havoc on my stomach, but I had been doing so well lately, no tummy troubles at all. I thought I was in the clear. I should have known better. Needless to say, my stomach was torn up the rest of the day. It was awful. Oh well, lesson learned! The 5 miles I had to run after the race were not fun on the gut, but otherwise, I felt good.

I ran a 1:17:45 with my pitstop and won the women's race and came in 9th overall. I am super happy with the way the pace felt on weeks of high mileage. It was a big confidence booster for me.

6 weeks…

Until the 2012 US Olympic Marathon Trials!! Holy cow!!!

Matt and I had such a great weekend in San Diego for the Thanksgiving holiday. My parents flew out from Wisconsin, so it was so great to have them (and their cooking!). No one makes a grilled turkey with maple brandy glaze like my dear Dad and no one can match my Mom's kaposti. (Latvian saurkraut). I was full all weekend!

Thanksgiving Packer Game!!

Matt, Lukas, Marisa at brunch after our long runs!

Dad (ran his first 16 miler!!!!) Mom, and Me

I am continuing to run hundred + mile weeks and I am loving it! I raced last Sunday in Big Sur and PR'd in the half marathon. I ran doubles the rest of the week with a track workout on Wednesday, a PR and a win in the 5k on Thursday with 14 miles total, (Father Joe's Thanksgiving 5k)  and a long run of 20 miles with miles 10-18 @ 5:50 pace on Saturday followed by an afternoon run of 4 miles. Needless to say, by the time we were supposed to go see the Tom Petty cover band on Saturday night, I was exhausted. I tried so hard to make myself stay awake and have fun, but I was so tired. My eyes were literally getting puffy and closing at the bar! By the time 12am rolled around and the band was still setting up, I knew I had to be a weenie and go home. I still had 12 miles to roll out in the morning! Luckily I have a great husband and siblings that understand my lameness.

It is hard though, especially with all of the Holiday parties coming up. I want to be fun and enjoy the season, but I also need to be strict with myself and get enough rest. I am thankful that most of my friends are runners and will not scoff at me when I go home to go to bed at 8. Ha! Nah, I will try to make it a little longer than 8pm, maybe 9 if I can get a nap in during the day.

I am very exited for the Holidays and can't wait to start decorating and baking!

Happy December!

Big Sur Weekend

This past weekend I flew in to Monterey, CA to run the Big Sur Half Marathon. I arrived Friday night, was picked up by the elite coordinator, Steve, and arrived at the host hotel for the weekend, Pacific Gardens Inn. I met my fab roomie, Jeannette Faber, and we headed out to a meet and greet with race officials, sponsors, and volunteers. The food at the event was great! I had my fill of seared ahi, california rolls, and dried fruits/nuts.

Christina, Jeannette, and I

On Saturday morning, a few of us girls went out for a run and to catch the beginning of the kids’ 3k race in downtown Pacific Grove. The weather was gorgeous! Cool and sunny. For the rest of the day, I just chilled in the hotel  room. Christina arrived at noon, so we had fun eating and watching Real Housewives. We had a dinner to attend at 5pm. I knew that whatever the restaurant was serving, I wouldn’t be able to eat, so I made some rice, chicken, and sweet potatoes at around 3 pm and ate some toast and rice when I got home after the dinner.

Race morning, I felt awesome. I knew this would be my day! My body felt relaxed, I slept well and I was just excited to race! Forecast was 70% chance of rain, but it only rained before we warmed up and after the race! Wow, were we lucky!

I ended up not having the best race. I started slow: 5:51 first mile. I was confident that I would catch many of the girls as they all went out super fast. After Twin Cities 10 mile, I knew that I could not get sucked in to going too fast that first mile. I started catching most of the girls by mile 5. However, I was running alone. Magdalena  Boulet and Blake Russell were the two front-runners, followed by Jeannette and Tonya Nero who I thought were going too fast for me. I did catch up to them for a mile or so, but I was not feeling so hot and they got away from me.

I ran by myself in 5th place until mile 11 and Kelly Calway passed me, she was looking so strong! I had passed her in the beginning and she gave it right back to me.  I thought to myself, “Ok, now I am in 6th place, not bad” Then I heard a spectator shout “Good job ladies!” LADIES??? What? I thought I was alone! At this point, I am pretty proud of myself because I was giving everything I had to speed it up so I wouldn’t be caught.  Nicole Aish caught me in the 12th mile. I was so tired!

So, although I ran a new PR of 1:16:27, 5:50 per mile average pace.  (Results here- I was definitely *not* at a 5:33 pace through 8 miles, that is a mistake, lol!)  I am a little disappointed in myself. I should have run a faster time. I should have gotten a pack together. It was stupid to run in the wind for so long by myself and try to hold the pace. I also was not expecting the course to be as hilly as it was. It was beautiful, but I should have asked to drive the course on Saturday. I love hilly courses, but I think that knowing the course would have really helped.

Looking back, I feel like I need racing experience. I just don’t have it down yet. I was so afraid of blowing up that I didn’t stick with a pack. But, if I did, would I have done worse? Who knows. Ahhhh!!!

The awards and swag that we got were awesome! I won some $, an awesome shoulder bag, a glass plaque and best of all...WINE! We were also given “Big Sur Elite Athlete” jackets that are super nice! I love this race and will definitely run it again. Steve and Greg, the elite coordinators were so awesome! Next time I will also stay for the afterparty. I highly reccommend this race. Pacific Grove is beautiful, and the race is spectacular!

How awesome are the race medals? Each one hand made!

I will be running a 5k in San Diego this weekend, and am hoping to run a new PR. I am back to 100 + miles this week after dipping to 75 for Big Sur. I am still loving training and excited about how far I have come this year. I will get over my crummy feelings about my poor racing strategies and just work to improve on them.

Jeannette and I with our wine, yum!

Post-race mimosa brunch at Rosines.

My Elf breakfast- 3 maple syrups with a side of pumpkin pancakes

Bag swag

Greg, Me, Christina enjoying the view before heading to the airport

3 Trips to California in 2 weeks.

I have had such a great past few weeks!  I have been having a really fun time running high mileage and have been feeling so good. So good that last week it kind of scared me. I did not expect to be running so much and to be feeling so good.

Last Friday, Matt and I decided to surprise my brother Lukas, and drive out to San Diego to surprise him as he was running his very first half marathon on Sunday.  We arrived Friday night and just walked in to the house. Needless to say, he was quite surprised! I think he thought we were robbers at first, ha!

At Alchemy for San Diego Beer week. Smallest plates ever, definitely not for runners' appetites! haha!

Unfortunately, he ended up having a sprained ankle and could not run the half marathon. I know he was very disappointed because he has been working so hard, but we are busy making plans for an alternate race when he feels better. I am SO proud of him for starting to run, I will need to start watching my back, he ran a 20:00 first 5k!!! This was a guy that not only didn’t like to run, he was *against* running, ha! Now he is a runner!

Lukas and his beautiful, wonderful, girlfriend Anna!

My sister killed it in the Silver Strand half marathon. She ran a new 5 minute PR of 1:38:44!!! Holy smokes! I am so excited to see what she will run at Houston. I think she got a little annoyed at my positive words during the race! heehee! She does all of her training on her own, which takes a lot of dedication. So proud of her!

Em and I post-race

Best Bloody Mary's EVER at SmallBar

It rained ALL day on Saturday! Matt and his big bowl of soup at Tender Greens, my new favorite restaurant in San Diego!

Rainy Day Happy Vegan Salad

Large Marge in her raincoat. Seriously the cutest, silliest, thing you have ever seen!

I leave for Monteray, CA today to run the Big Sur half marathon. I am excited to run a fast race and to be there with my girly Christina! I will be home for a few days and then we will be back in San Diego for Thanksgiving!