Giveaway Winner and Friday Roundup

Wow, time does slip away sometimes, doesn't it?  I have been so busy doing nothing this week that I completely forgot about (well, almost anyway) the Roxy's Creations Giveaway!  First of all, thank you to those of you who entered to win, and thanks to to Roxy's Creations for giving away the necklace.  And, congratulations goes to ***Brooke Williamson*** on winning.  You are luck number 11 in my random.org drawing.  Send an e-mail to ShannonAverageRunner@gmail.com with your address, and I will send the necklace right out to you!

As I said, this has been a busy week of doing nothing ... running-wise, that is.  The week has actually been kind of busy with other things.  Between all the classes my kids are enrolled in, as well as soccer now; helping plan for our running club's marathon training runs, which start next week; and figuring out the odds and ends to some races and vacations coming up, there hasn't been a lot of time to sit on my laurels.

Running-wise, my sole focus has been on recovering smartly from Saturday's 50K, and I guess that is going well.  I don't feel like my knees are going to fall off anymore and I don't feel like my legs are going to collapse under me if I so much as walk across the room now, so I take that all as a plus.  All this week, I have been alternating a bit of walking with a bit of bike riding, and I can honestly say the break from running has been nice.  This weekend, I hope to get back out there with a short, four-mile run at some point, but really I am in no hurry.

Looking ahead, I realize that I have another goal race coming up in about 15 weeks now, but I am not too worked up about it.  Yet.  I still have to come up with a training plan, and I will.  But for now, I am just enjoying the rest that comes after completing a big goal.  Generally speaking, for whatever reason, I feel kind of relaxed about my fall goal.  I feel optimistic and hopeful that it will go well.  Since the fall goal is "just" a marathon (mwahahahaha, never thought I would type that!), I don't feel intimidated by the running anymore, but realistically there are a lot of other elements I want to incorporate into training this time around (and I mean it this time!): speed, hills, strength, core, and more flexibility.  I need to give some serious consideration on how to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, especially with school soon coming to a close for the year.  Summers are always such huge training seasons, but they are really when I have the least amount of training freedom.  This year I am determined to make it all come together.

But, that will be this weekend sometime. Or next week.  For today at least I don't want to think about training plans.  Today I need to spend some time catching up on all the other parts of my life that have fallen by the wayside lately.  Happy Running!

FRIDAY ROUNDUP:

Saturday: Ice Age Trail 50K event
Sunday: Rest
Monday: Rest + mowed lawn
Tuesday: Rest + 20-minute bike ride
Wednesday: 60-minute walk (about four miles)
Thursday: Rest + 20-minute bike ride
Friday: Rest

Total Mileage: 35 miles