A Run Filled Weekend

What a run-filled weekend! Yesterday Melissa and I got our long run–a scheduled 19 miles for both of us. Fives weeks until the marathon and we’re both in pretty good shape. Thankfully my ankle has been okay since taking a spill at Ragnar.

Our run consisted of two nine mile loops plus one mile extra on the first one. Let me say, the second loop was hard. It is a very hilly route that we’ve been training on for the past few months and so far it has been worth it!

I tackled the hills pretty good the first loop, but for the second I was getting tired. After hitting 15 miles my legs weren’t cooperating. I just wanted to be DONE! Thankfully the last four miles were mostly downhill and flat. But even the downhills hurt sometimes.

19 miles done.

I can’t believe I saw 19 miles on my Garmin. Holy crap! Anyway, we were BEAT after that run.

After stretching, showering and eating lunch, I went to my sister’s Albany Crossfit competition, the Fall Face Off! My sister is an avid Crossfitter–so I knew I had to see what this was all about! She was on a team of four other people that were competing against a ton of other teams. They each had to do a certain number of Crossfit exercises for time. She did great! The gym wasn’t set up for spectators so it was a little awkward to watch her, but we looked on from above.

Craziness. Go JULIE! She did great! 🙂 I have no desire to ever do Crossfit but that was pretty impressive.

So, today was the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon & Half Marathon! If you remember, two years ago this was my first half marathon, so this race is near and dear to my heart. It only made sense for me to volunteer this year since I didn’t register in time to run it! What a great decision, volunteering was so much fun!

My friends Andrea, Valerie and myself were volunteering together as course marshals at the 26 mile mark–close to the finish line! Our job was to keep passersby off the course. It was awesome to cheer on the runners too. What a great experience. It has me PUMPED about my own marathon in five weeks!

We ended up staying for the whole time (5 hours!) to watch even the last marathoners come in. I saw many people I knew on the course and everyone did such an awesome job.

I’ve ran so many HMRRC races it only made sense for me to volunteer for this one. Thanks to Andrea for the idea! 🙂

I can’t believe there are only five weeks left until my marathon. Its really sinking in now…soon I’ll be a marathoner!