Excellent Week of Running

This past week was spring break, so there was no preschool for Isaac. I thought my running may suffer a bit. Happily, I was dead wrong! On Monday we dusted off my running stroller and headed to the Olive Branch City Park just before a major rainstorm. I had forgotten how hilly it is over there. Plus, pushing a 35-pound boy is no easy feat, even on flat ground. We got the job done, albeit slowly.

On Tuesday, thanks to a quirky flight plan for Chasen, we all loaded up and headed to my hometown, Little Rock. Isaac and I planned to stay for two days as Chasen jetted off to California for work. We stayed with my old pal Jennifer.

Isaac investigates a small tractor parked at her condo lawn. Cute, huh?

I had concerns with accomplishing my training runs while away, but Jennifer assured me that they would happen. Bless her!

On both Wednesday and Thursday we headed to the Big Dam Bridge. It's HUGE.

Isaac did not sleep well in LR, thus neither did I. But I was determined to have some fun. And so we did! We went to eat at a few of my favorite places, and we visited the Museum of Discovery. Finally - somewhere Isaac can go and touch everything.

Here we are learning about gravity. Very cool stuff!

Here we are learning about sound waves - and doesn't my 8-month-old hair color rock?

He was less impressed with learning about light and colors, I must say. But he tried.

Playing with electricity -- right up his little daredevil alley.

He stayed at this magnetic maze for longer than any other display. Very hands on!

On Tuesday afternoon we headed to the Big Dam Bridge. I was to run for 40 minutes. I went all the way up and over twice, plus a bit more to accomplish that, I think. Hills, hills, hills. Sweet Jennifer strolled Isaac all over the place while I was running. He loved to look at the boats, cranes, geese, etc.

Here we are post run. Isaac is sporting his new Razorbacks cap.

And back down we go! It is a very popular place.

We went back to the bridge first thing the next day so I could walk four miles. Jennifer again tended to Isaac so I could cover the miles. But I did have to push him down and up once for a potty break and - HOLY COW! - pushing him on that bridge was some serious resistance training. Thank you, Jennifer!

We departed that day. And I immediately began catching up on all of the sleep Isaac didn't let me get while away from home. Know why? I had to prep for a 20-miler!

I woke this morning at 4:30 to tackle this course:

I planned to use the Galloway 30:30 method, since it seems to get rave reviews. You know what? I do believe it was my best 20-miler ever. EVER. Seriously. Chasen remarked that I didn't look bad for 20 miles at all. Ha! I did it at 1:30 over goal marathon pace per minute, which is right on track for how Galloway recommended handling the long runs. Go me!

So this week was just incredible on the running front. I logged 29.99 miles total. I have some challenging days ahead, as Chasen is jetting off to China on Tuesday. Here goes nothin'!