One down, two to go!

My first twenty miler of this marathon training is OVER! Woohoo! I ended up sleeping an hour later than I planned (our power went out last night? weird), but that's fine since I don't really have anywhere to be today. I ate my traditional peanut butter on toast with a banana, drank some water, and drove out to drop off my fuel/water. I went to buy water at the store yesterday, and I found these little eight ounce bottles, which are perfect! I don't think the full sixteen ounces when I stop for water, so I ended up wasting half the bottle...and the little bottles are much easier to carry. I usually carry them until I find someone's unsuspecting recycle bin to throw them in, and sometimes it can be a pain running with them.

The weather was pretty blah this morning...low 30's, gray as can be, and a little breezy! I had high hopes of wearing shorts, but it was too chilly for that. I geared up and headed out...Two hours and forty-two minutes later, here's what I ended up with:

Friday, March 27
20.02 miles in 2:41:59, avg pace of 8:05

Splits galore: 8:24, 8:26, 8:11, 8:05, 8:14, 8:00, 8:15, 8:11, 7:59, 8:05, 7:56, 7:59, 8:08, 7:58, 7:54, 8:02, 8:00, 7:55, 7:56, 7:51, 0:19 (7:32)

Fantastic! I actually felt pretty good during the entire run. It's wasn't until about a mile and a half to go that I started thinking that I REALLY didn't want to be running anymore. I pushed through and finished strong, so I was really happy about that. My main accomplishment during the run was that the only times I stopped were for when I drank/ate, so only three times total. I used to take random walk breaks during my runs, but I haven't done that in a long time! I'll take that to mean my endurance and fitness are much, much better!

My little water bottles worked out quite well. I stashed them with little baggies of Honey Stinger Energy Chews, which are definitely my new favorite! They're not too chewy, don't stick to my teeth, and actually taste good! The store where I bought them only had the Cherry Blossom flavor, but I'm going to have to hunt down the Fruit Smoothie flavor. I recommend these to anyone looking for energy food, especially those people who don't do gels!

I just finished my first FIFTY mile week...and I feel great! I'm feeling confident about this marathon...knock on wood!

On the Job Front

I got a call from the nurse recruiter today, and we talked about potential start dates. When I interviewed, they told me I would start the end of April if offered the position, but today they said I would start the end of May. This would be if I was offered the position, of course. They're still approving April candidates, so they're not even thinking about May yet. I'm assuming "approval" means that someone has to say, "Yes, we have the money to hire new people." The unit manager sounds like she wants to hire, but no one can tell me when I would know by. I told them I'm still interested in starting in May if that's the case...but the job hunt is still in full force until anything more is known.

Anyone need a nurse??