Well, here we are at the end of July...

In May, I tried buying a pair of shoes from Universal Sole, since I'd gotten a coupon from them in a goody bag. I was just thinking of getting the same old Brooks Adrenaline, which I have no complaints about (other than that they're not the Brooks Trance 7), but they didn't have 7.5. I just wanted it done, as everything was hurting in the old pair, so I decided to try a pair of Mizunos that were lighter and less stability that the guy there recommended. Bad idea! Maybe I could someday wear them for a short run, but they were wrong. I wonder if the guy doubted that I need the big girl shoes that I do since I'm not such a big girl, but my loyalty to Fleet Feet has been cemented, despite the free t-shirt they gave Pavel for his birthday (which I am now wearing--it's that big). I went down to Fleet Feet, and got a new pair of Adrenalines. A young guy who fitted me suggested I get an 8, based on how the 7.5 looked on me. After he did a fancy lacing, they have been just great--no black toenails, and much less in the blister department as well.

Training went swell until Mats got out of school and we went to Cape Cod right away. Cross-training has pretty much gone the way of the dodo bird. I miss riding with Pavel on the tagalong.

Yesterday was to be the Waterfall Glen Xtreme 10-mile trail race, but torrential rain (7+ inches out by the site!) and lightning called it off. I got a nice shirt. The director e-mailed a profuse apology and hopes to reschedule--I hope I can do it if/when that day comes. Out there I ran into a woman whose son is in the same hockey class as my boys. I see her practically every week--it's a small world, after all.

My fear about the 24-week plan was that mentally I would tire out early. I do feel that I'm in the doldrums, and the extreme heat and humidity of the past month has really stomped on my morale. I've had a couple of long runs in which I've been soaked to the skin. I do not look forward to runs as I did when it wasn't in the 80s with high humidity by 7 a.m. I worry that this will continue right into race day and I am not enjoying it.

I had a really crappy run this morning, despite the fact that it was a rare cooler day (but still plenty humid in the morning). I spent my whole run (13.3 of a scheduled 18--boo) thinking through what I need to do to get to race day and finish with a time I can feel good about. I know I can't control the weather, but I've been telling myself that this miserable weather is preparing me for whatever comes my way on race day.

My ideas:
Stop thinking about the weather. It doesn't do any good. Nothing can be done. Deal with it.
Do more of the PT exercises from 2 years ago. (I do some of them around 2x a week.)
Do more general strengthening--lunges and squats, etc. as well as core exercises, which largely left with the cross-training.
Modify training plan--there will not be three 20-mile runs. Not sure if there needed to be.
Try to do some cross-training, by the way.
Go back to Dr. Natarajan (and Novacare)? To the chiropractor who's the partner of T's teammate (and whom I think I met back at National all those years ago)?
Stop cutting corners on stretching, icing, etc. Ice baths are a reward in this weather!
Straighten up the nutrition!
Sleep more... yeah...