Marathon Monday: Week 1 is done!

I have finished my first official week of marathon training--woo! :)

Monday started with a cross-training day, so I went out for a bike ride. I love cycling and every time I do it, I wonder why I don't go out more often. It was a perfect night to go out for a ride.

Tuesday I had 3 miles on the schedule. I decided to take my dog, Nova, since she's a pretty great running partner. We ran to the bog near our house, she got to play in the water for a little bit, then we ran back. In non-running news, our dog has finally figured out how to swim--she used to just hop though the water wherever she could touch (which was incredibly cute). We ended up with 3.2 miles at a 9:45 pace.

Nova resting after the run

Wednesday: 5 miles to run. About a half mile into the run, my watch died. I think it had died sitting on my desk, but when I powered it up it had enough juice to turn on and get me started. I have a pretty good idea of how far 5 miles is since I run the routes around my house a lot, but when I got home and checked the mileage on mapmyrun, I was only at 4.85. I still counted it as a completed run for the day, but I was annoyed to have a 4 instead of a 5 there. :) I had looked at the clock right before I left, so I think I ran at about a 9:45 pace.

Thursday was another 3 mile run and I took Nova with me again. It's nice to have a dog to run with me so I'm not always running alone. Plus, she definitely gets better at running on the leash every time we go out. Again we ran 3.2 miles, but this time at a 10:11 pace.

Friday was a rest day and I took full advantage of that! We went over to visit some friends in the evening and had a ton of fun playing Secret Hitler. If you haven't played it before, you should definitely check it out because it is a ton of fun.

Saturday we picked up my two nieces to have a sleepover. It was a jam packed day! Immediately after we picked them up, we went to Imagination Station, which is similar to an interactive Children's Museum. I think they had a good time.

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at Moe's, then went to a local park where you can swim in a creek. I didn't bring my phone, so I don't have any pictures, but it was a ton of fun and included lots of swimming, catching a toad, finding seashells, and getting some sun. When we got back, Dustin offered to take the girls to the store so I  could squeeze in my run. I got it done, but it was pretty warm, so I was a little slower than normal for pace runs. I figured I'd give myself a pass due to the heat, and was glad I at least got the miles in.

The rest of the night was spent making dinner and watching a movie; we rented Zootopia which was really cute and I'd definitely recommend even if you don't have kids. :)

Sunday we took Nova swimming at the bog, where the girls caught another toad--without us knowing! They got it all the way home when finally we asked what they were whispering about and they showed us the toad. The next hour or so was spent making a toad habitat, and reading about what they ate. :) We then went to the local zoo/park and spent a decent amount of time there seeing animals, and playing at the park.

The girls with a llama

I thought we were going to drop the girls back off with my parents in the afternoon, but they had gone to help my grandma paint, so we ended up keeping them for the entire day. By the time we got back home it was 9:30, and I still had to run 8 miles! I quickly changed my clothes, put a red blinky light on my back, and grabbed a small flashlight to go out for my run. I did one loop that I frequently run, but I was creeped out in the dark, so I ended up finishing the run by just doing laps around the neighborhood. :)

Overall I ran 24.4 miles this week, which is right where I'm supposed to be. It was a good start to the marathon cycle and I'm excited to continue. :)