I Beat Joe the Kenyan: Week 9 Wrap-up

I can't believe I've already completed nine weeks of training. I'm pleasantly shocked at how fast the time is going. All in all I would classify this as a pretty good week. Even though I started the week feeling stiff and fatigued, I was able to loosen up and finish strong. I'm loving my new socks and I found some new material to put on my I-Pod. I also downloaded my stats thus far from my GPS. During this training I have:

Run 235 miles
Burned 30,000 calories (but haven't lost weight)
Kept an average pace of 10:47 a mile
Spent 44 hours running

I may still weigh the same, but I have lost a few inches and 2% body fat. If I can lay off the sweets then maybe I can drop a few pounds. Now on to my long run.

My long run this week was surprisingly good too. I ran the first hour and forty-five minutes by myself and then met up with my dad for the rest. All I can say is that my dad must really love me because he ran an hour and a half by himself and then finished the last hour and fifteen minutes of my run with me. If that ain't love then I don't know what is! The last few weeks we have been starting from different locations and then meeting somewhere in the middle. It's pretty fun and it works well. You never know where you're going to meet because neither of us have a set time as to when we are going to start. So you have to keep a lookout for the other person. Plus I work much harder when I'm running with my dad, so it's nice to just go my own pace for some of the run and then have him keep me going the last part when I really need extra support. This week I was keeping a great pace even by myself. When I met up with him I was feeling strong and the time was just flying by. I got to mile 13 and I just hit the wall. It all happened so fast. The last 3 miles were really a struggle but Dad, as always, got me through it. The last mile or so he decided we were going to race. He was "Joe the Kenyan" and I was "The Girl from Folsom." I kept telling him I didn't want to play that game but eventually I gave in and passed him up. He narrated the entire performance. It was hard, but I beat Joe the Kenyan.