The week started out strong because of MLK’s holiday when I was able to do yoga and go on my run. However, on Saturday my ankle was hurting a bit so I decided to move my long run to Sunday. I finished the 9 miles in 1h43, which is not that good, but at least it felt great. I love going from Iddlewild to Mayberry Park and I can’t wait for my runs to get longer so I can explore the trail even further.

Right around mile 4, near Dorotskar Park there is this glacier like sheet of ice that looks cool and weird at the same time. I have no idea what it is. Geologists of my life, please help. We haven’t had snow in over a month and temperatures have been in the 50’s, but all this ice is still by the river, and only on this one spot.

Ice

This past Friday our health challenge at work started. We have to weight in every Friday and you pay $1 for each pound you gain. The team that loses the most weight by April 18^th wins a cash prize. I’m part the SLMR team (named after our children and pronounced “slimmer”). I’m so proud of my teammates, who started jogging and eating healthier already! I don’t have much weight to lose, but at least I hope I don’t gain any. I joined two of them for a walk around the marina on Sunday, but then had a milkshake right afterwards. Can’t get rid of my sweet tooth, but at least now I have a strategy to satisfy my cravings while not eating the whole thing: let the boyfriend order the fattening stuff while I’ll order the salad.

I don’t know if you remember this, but for Week 19 of my first attempt of training for a marathon, I did ZERO miles. I am proud to say this past week I did all of the 23 miles I was supposed to!

It started with a marina run with the boyfriend. He hasn’t jogged in months, and then he goes with me and does 2 miles in less than 20 minutes… I guess I should use that to my advantage and go a little faster than my 11 min/miles. The weather has been so nice (50’s) that I couldn’t wait to go on my weekend runs. So much fun!

As for my eating habits, they were good during the weekdays. I made parmesan-crusted tilapia and spaghetti squash with chard. Delicious and healthy! Can’t say I kept the momentum going over the weekend… had chips, chocolate chip cookies, tons of sushi, chipped beef with gravy, steak, and lots of drinks while bar hopping in Midtown. BTW, I found a new favorite cocktail at Z Bar: a 1944, which is the original Mai Tai with 3 kinds of rum and orgeat (almond simple syrup).

Parmesan-crusted tilapia

Cocktail at Z Bar

Spaghetti Squash with Chard

Even with a gym membership, I just couldn’t bring myself to train for my April marathon during the month of December due to the really cold weather and the holidays. Since I had missed four weeks of training, I had to change my plan. Now, instead of the Reno Marathon in April, I’m shooting for the San Diego Marathon on June 1^st, which is just a few days after my birthday. Click here to see the training schedule.

For my first day back to training, I went to the Sparks Marina with my friend B. who is training for a 10k. We did one lap together, which is 2 miles, very slowly, and then I did another lap on my own for a total of 4 miles. I’m glad I found the marina because when I get home from work it’s already so dark, the well-lit marina is my only option for outside running.

As for my long run, I did 7 miles on Saturday. Yay! It wasn’t difficult at all and now I feel like I’m back! It was very windy, but that didn’t stop me. The next day I completed my 5 miles even though I had an incredibly busy day celebrating a late Christmas with the boyfriend. I did a total of 21 miles during my first week of marathon training. So good to be back on track!

Pre-run walk with the dogs