19 miles! Holy Crap! Oh.. and heading to Australia today

So Mike Syre, my running partner, and I are really starting to train for this marathon now.  Today we planned out a 15 mile run where we were going to start testing different nutrition.  Everything I have read says that before you do a marathon you need to try different Gels and Gu’s and electrolyte drinks and nutrition bars out while you are doing your long training runs and then on marathon day don’t eat or drink anything you haven’t trained with.  So we planned to run to Beverly Glen from Outpost on Mulholland which www.mapmyrun.com said was a 15 mile loop.  The thing about Map My Run is that it is a good estimate but I never can draw the curves well enough so the runs are actually a little longer than the map says.  By the time we got to Beverly Glen we had already run over 8 miles so we knew we were in for more than 16 already.  But then we had the crazy idea to turn off on Woodrow Wilson at Laurel Canyon so we could do some steep hill work (this was at mile 12, mind you).  Then after we did that we decided to run to the bottom of Mulholland and then run back up to the top of it back to my house.  That is a two mile run straight uphill and we did it!  No stopping! Just powered through it!

So, first, I am really happy because it makes me not so scared of the marathon anymore.  I feel like if I can do that will steep hill work for the last 5 miles and an 8 minute mile sprint for the last mile I can probably run 26.2.  Second, I can’t believe I have found someone as insane as I am in Mike! I couldn’t have imagined ever finding a running soulmate like him where when I say, “Hey I know we were going to just head back on Mulholland but how bout if we veer off for steep hillwork on Woodrow Wislon?” He is like,” Sure, and after that we can go to the bottom of Mulholland too and see if we can hit 20 miles!”  He is as nuts as I am, thankfully!

The nutrition went really well. It is the first time I have ever eaten on a run and the Cliff gel cubes were awesome energy boosts.  After mile 10 I started drinking an electrolyte drink instead of water and that really helped to.  Mind you I was stiff at the end but as soon as I stretched it out I was fine and I feel awesome now!  But it may be a different story after the 14 hour flight I am taking tonight…that might stiffen me up!

So, I am off to Australia in a few hours to play the Aussie Millions.  Joe can’t come because of this new job he has for the next coupld of weeks segment producing and directing so I am off alone.  But Karen Williamson is there already and she is going to share a room with me.  She is doing the marathon with me so we are going to train some together in Australia and we are going to site see and shop   My Dad is going to be there too and I think we are going to catch some of the Australian Open as well as go to the IMG party where the big tennis players will be.  That is going to be fun…thanks Howard for setting that one up!

Erik will be there too and I haven’t seen him in forever, since London.  I really miss him.  And of course, Bub will be there too so I won’t be lonely.  It is just that I love sharing a new country with Joe and I am going to miss that and miss him a lot. 

Leo is totally jealous that I am going to Australia.  Australia and Africa are the two places he really, really wants to go so I promised I would take him another time.  I love that he is so interested in other countries at his age.  Before we went to Italy he did a ton of reseach on Florence and even presented me with a printout of things we had to do there!  He really is an amazing son among my amazing daughters.

Anyway, when I get back from Australia it will be Leo’s 10th birthday.  He is very excited about being double digits and we already have the laser tag place booked and the evite is sent out.  It is going to be a big blowout party for the big milestone!  Nelly’s birthday is the next one after that and she actually requested that I make the cupcakes for her party.  I am honored   I made a bunch of cupcakes this week because of an awesome Vegan Cupcake book I got from Kim Quackenbush for Christmas.  The kids got pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cinnamon frosting, vegan oreo cokies and cream cupcakes and banana cupcakes with chocolate frosting this week.  When I get back we are going to try the s;mores cupcakes and the gingerbread cupcakes. Afterall, we need to know exactly what to make for Nelly’s Bday   It is a good enough excuse for me anyway…