Weekend Madness!

First: Thanks for all your ideas on fueling! I'm going to try several of them and let you know what works best. It seems that stomach issues are kind of a big deal for a lot of people. I'm glad I'm not the only one! It never ceases to amaze me how great the blogging/running community is. I love that everyone is willing to share their tricks and that even the elites are willing to share their "secrets" to help the average joe runner become better. Awesome!

Second: I may have the best husband in the world. We had a really busy weekend planned. My brother was in state from Alabama with his wife and new daughter. They were blessing her while they were here with family and we were traveling down south to be with them. (She is a doll by the way! I almost stole her and took her home.)

But as such, we were leaving early on Saturday morning when I would normally be running. I jokingly told my husband that he should take Friday off so that I could do my long run then instead of being stuck on the treadmill for 15 miles. I didn't think much more of it until he came home from work 2 days later and told me he took it off. What a sweetie!

My long run can be summed up in one word: windy. YUCK. There is pretty much nothing more than I hate than running in the wind. Give me rain, snow, sleet, hail... but keep the wind! I feel like a big whiner most of the time when I talk about my long runs. So why would this week be any different, right? The muscles all around my ankles feel tight lately and it took about 5 miles before they felt loose and good. The top of my foot hurts right above my big toe, but it never got any worse during the run. I wore my VFF's with bandaids over the blister residue and socks. I still don't really like them. I think my off brand (Gist) work better on my foot. The VFF's just feel so tight around the top of my foot and a little too loose in the toe area. But the size down felt too tight all around. Argggg. I'll still give them another go before I make up my mind. I tried GU Chomps as fuel and got nauseous towards the end. I'll try Hammer gels again next week and see if it was a fluke that they worked for me last week or if they're a keeper.

Saturday, in the middle of family activities, I got to meet up with my elite runner friend, Janae. It was great talking with her about running and life in general. I love that girl. She is so sweet and really cares about people. If you are one of the few people on the planet that doesn't read her blog yet, you should. The only complaint I have about our meeting is that it just wasn't long enough!

Sunday we spent the day at church and then with my husband's side of the family celebrating my mother in law's birthday. So much fun! Especially since the weather was springlike! My favorite part of the night was having races with the kids across the grass. We did skipping, gallops, sprints, running backwards, wheelbarrow races, and combinations of them all. It was great and was the biggest reminder that spring really is coming!

Yes, that's me in the white dress. It was getting dark so they're all blurry!

And yes, I'm coming in 2nd. In my defense I was dodging kids. But I still beat my daughter so everything was good!

I missed all of my spin classes last week due to a charter school meeting (we are working on getting one going for the 2012 school year. It will be the first one in our area!) and a church meeting and I can't wait to get back at it again this week!

What did you do fun this weekend?

What work outs are you looking forward to this week?

Monday: 4 mile run outside in Evo's, upper body weights and abs

Tuesday: 6 mile run outside in Evo's (4 hills), lower body weights and abs

Wednesday: 6.25 mile run barefoot on treadmill, upper body weights and abs

Thursday: 2 mile hike (.5 barefoot)

Friday: 15.5 mile run in VFF's

Saturday: 5 miler run in Evo's