Aghhh, I actually did it.

Well, I'm STILL waiting for my sister to send me her Mexico pics, so I decided to just post some of mine, but first a big big sigh of relief. Today I was able to do my peak long run. My 3hr run. Actually, I was supposed to do an additional one 2 weeks ago, but I hadn't built up that far yet and didn't' want to risk the IT band... so I think I did a 2:40 that week instead.

It was actually Pretty darn good. I did 2 loops.. the first one with the dogs, which was fun. We had some stormy weather which brought a lot of humidity and cleared the horribly polluted air a bit and also cooled the temp as well so that first hour was very comfortable. Of course I always wish I started earlier, but it seems to be taking me :45 to get going lately, and I wasn't getting up any earlier than 5!

We live close to some mountains so pretty much unless I just head West, which is way boring and too much traffic, then I have some hills. Nothing big, but some good ups and downs. 2000' of climbing (of course I did that much ascending as well)...

The IT held up. I did find a really nice new dirt trail (how have I not noticed this before???) around an equestrian park that made for a nice change. I switched up my route a bit and decided to check it out. I had no idea it would go for so long. It was basically 4 miles of nice, hard packed trail. By the time I got off the trail and realized where I was, I also realized I was going to have to end my last 30mins up hill... Oh well, it's good for me right?

As much as I enjoy running on trails I think my lack of coordination gets the best of me and my form isn't that great, so the last 30mins I had a lot of twinging in the IT band. THANKFULLY it never actually locked up, which is usually the case once I start feeling the pain. I made it home, safe and sound and STOPPED right when my watch hit 3:00. 18.51miles.... I'll take that! Especially with the tough route that I challenged myself with!

So, all in all I'm RELIEVED. I've been intimidated by this run since October when my knee started bugging me, and even more so as the weeks got closer and closer and I know that there is still a problem with it.... It was never a fear of not being able to RUN 3hrs.. but the instability and inconsistency of my IT band just frustrated me and I had the lingering ??? of will I be able to do it, and will it hold up for so long!

And, to top it all off.... a couple hours later I went to Masters and swam 3800yards. I didn't quite pull off the level 4-5 stuff the coach had on there, but I felt pretty good considering. Actually, overall I feel better today than last week after my 2.5hr run...

So, hopefully my next couple of weeks will start looking up and the training will continue to go as planned...

And now.. a few pics :-) Of course now I realize why I've been waiting for my sister's pics... mine were all from the same day, pretty much. Dinner... when I made the mistake ONCE AGAIN of asking for more tequila :-) Trust me. I am FUN in Mexico!

Thanks to my fabulous friend Carrie, I was able to drink in STYLE again...

Here is Taylor.. We got matching "el COACH" sunglasses in Old Port!

Shane's mom & step dad Karl. Apparently I gave Karl is first hangover in 20 years. So proud!

Training makes my tolerance apparently ZERO. Here's my sister. I've always been able to drink her under the table. She pretty much kicked my ass on Saturday... I'm totally blaming it on Ironman!

Shane & Tay....

If you ever go to Rocky Point, you must eat at the Blue Marlin. This is the owner/chef. The food is FANTASTIC - you must love garlic however...

And this one is for Carrie AND Stacey... Doing it up right on Cinco de Mayo... 10 am post run Mimosas....

I'm so ready to go back :-)