The Weekend and a Winner

First up, the winner of the CEP Giveaway:

#20 - Gracie (Complicated Day)... I already have your info so I'll contact you so you can get your socks!

Another week of marathon training in the books and it's time to officially start tapering. I even had a dream about running last night...will this be the beginning of crazy thoughts? In my dream, I was late for the marathon and rushing around trying to get where I needed to be for the start. When I arrived at what I thought was the marathon, it ended up being a triathlon and I freaked out proclaiming I wasn't a swimmer, I was there to run! Then, I woke up.

On Saturday's run, I decided to try something different. I tried a handheld water bottle on an 8-mile run. My Mom gave it to me several weeks ago, thinking I might want it. Apparently her house is just like a store and she has random new products available at any time. Although I think I could get used to it, that handheld almost ended up in the ditch by about mile 4 on this run. I hated it and will be sporting my usual belt for the marathon. I was hoping I'd like this thing and then I wouldn't have to wear the ginormous belt. Oh well.

Since I'm off my schedule with my re-arranged 20 miler, I didn't have a real plan for this week's long run. I didn't think I should attempt 20 again, so anticipated doing less and was just going to go out with the mind set of going as far as I felt like it. When I woke up, it was raining so I spent some time consulting the weather and it looked like it was supposed to stop. After dilly-dallying around for an hour or so, I eventually just headed out because I was tired of waiting.

I water-proofed my watch and mp3 player which just involved plastic sandwich bags. Then, I put on a hat and headed out. Well, glad I did those things because it never stopped raining/misting the entire time I was out there. Needless to say, I didn't really pay attention to time, distance or pace. Here's what happened:

Miles 1-2 - kept wondering where in the hell the rain was coming from since nothing was showing on the radar map as I left.

Mile 3 - First two loose dogs ran out on me...they were friendly but I had to slow down and basically stop for a bit to get them to stay at their house.

Mile 4 - Due to my delayed start and my big glass of orange juice before I left, I had to pee. Found a woody area and trapsed into it.

Mile 5-6 - Passing some fields with fresh manure...that clears out the head.

Miles 7-11 - Uneventful, but start to realize that Body Glide stops working after you are completely drenched from the rain for an extended period of time.

Mile 12 - Next set of loose dogs. Had to stop again to get them to stay at their house but luckily they were friendly again.

Mile 13-15 - The run itself is feeling great but it's really starting to set in how much my thighs are starting to chafe. Wishing I had worn pants/capris instead of shorts.

Mile 15.59 - End up back at house.

If my thighs weren't burning from the chafing and I had an actual goal mileage in mind, I definitely would've gone more. The run itself felt great, which I find hard to believe. Why? Because leading up to it, I ate the following:

Friday: Chinese takeout. Then, at 10 PM, my husband was tired of me complaining about how much I wanted chocolate and ran out to the store and got me peanut M&M's (I was too lazy to go).

Saturday: Go out to breakfast and eat a big bowl of oatmeal topped with baked apples and caramel sauce. For lunch - gorge myself on Mexican takeout. Bake a Gooey Apple Cake and eat some of it (straight out of the pan). Dinner - M&M's.

I'll have to keep this in mind as I'm trying to decide what to eat before the marathon!