More Than One Way......

 I really loved every single comment on my race report. I know many of you have been following me since I started trying to qualify for Boston and it meant so much to me to finally report a good day. Every time I missed the mark, weather-related or not, I felt like a failure. Thank you for all of your support, whether you're a new follower or have been with me since the beginning. :)

Since I didn't share much of my training leading up to Santa Rosa, I thought I'd share some of the highlights of my preparations.

Training for Santa Rosa was a bit unstructured. Here are some notable differences:

Even though I was consistently logging miles in the 60/week range, most of the summer has felt inconsistent. A heavy travel schedule all but eliminated the nice progression of gradually lengthening interval and pace workouts. Instead, I climbed mountains and ate Dairy Queen on my long runs at 7,000 ft. I ran the trails I grew up running. I wanted as much flexibility in my training as possible so I could enjoy the summertime weather. I had a great summer and wouldn't change a thing (especially the outcome!).

I like structure. I like those neat little progressions in all my workouts and mileage. In the days leading up to Santa Rosa Marathon, I wasn't sure what to expect. Nothing in my training really indicated that I would be faster than the last one.  I had to trust that there's more than one way to run a fast marathon. Just because it is different, doesn't mean it won't work. I wrote "Don't be afraid" on my bib number the night before. It became my racing mantra on August 24.

After Mountains2Beach, it was clear my fueling plan was to blame for the mile 25 bonk .  Mostly, I added more food and the salt tabs:

And even though I wish it didn't matter, weather does play a factor. This is especially true since I live and train in perfect conditions. Everything even slightly outside of my acclimation range will impact my racing.

Now that summer has come to a close, my traveling schedule will calm down. I hope to include more regular posts. Thanks for hanging in there! Until then, here's a teaser photo:

Anybody recognize the mountain in the background? Hint: It's a volcano in Oregon.