Happy (Belated) Valentine’s Day Everyone!  I hope you had a lovely day with your loved ones yesterday.  A mid-week Valentine’s day is always bummer since it’s tough to plan a festive evening but my valentines did a good job this year.

Since we both worked a full day, we agreed that spending a nice evening at home together would be perfect.  Charles ducked out of work just a little bit early to throw together a nice evening for us.  He wouldn’t tell me any details but asked that I stay out till 7:30 or so.  That was fine when I hadn’t looked at the forecast and innocently assumed that my group run would go on as scheduled.  However, it quickly became evident that this would not be the case since non-stop rain all day showed no signs of stopping as our normal 6 pm start approached.  Since I had to stay out of the house anyway, I had no good excuse to skip my run.

I suited up in my Valentine’s Day best and headed to the gym for an easy 4 miles on the treadmill:

I just love my over the top pink capris.  They are me completely and coordinate oh-so-nicely with my shoes.

Anyway, although making a dinner for us was inconceivable given Charles’ busy schedule, he managed a very thoughtful surprise anyway.  When I came in the house, he made me close my eyes and led me over to our kitchen table.  When I was allowed to open my eyes, I saw a lovely display.  He made a heart out of Ghiradelli Sea Salted Caramel Chocolates, bought a bouquet of red roses, and had picked up my favorite Chinese dish for dinner – shrimp lo mein.  He capped off the evening with our favorite dessert – cheesecake!  Needless to say, my evening of sweet and savory delights undid my 4 miles but you can’t worry about that on a night like this.

We had a perfect evening, curled up on the couch with the kitties watching above before bed.  It may have been a simple evening but it was just perfect for us.

Our Recent Valentine’s Day Blog Feature

The folks over at One Hug A Day were kind enough to feature us on their blog in honor of Valentine’s Day!  This great blog celebrates the power of the simple but important hug and its ability to change your day and even change the world a little bit at a time.  They showcase fun examples of the feel-good power of hugs and are sure to brighten your day with their posts.

Go check out our feature now:

Recovering From My Chest Cold

So I am sure you are all wondering about how my evil chest cold recovery is progressing this week.  Well, overall I am definitely making progress.  While I think I am still not back to where I started in terms of my breathing (a fairly important part of being able to run and especially run fast), I was able to have pretty normal runs this week.

• Monday – Cross Trained with Kazaxe class
• Tuesday – Off – had a work commitment in the evening
• Wednesday – 3.1 mile Fartlek workout
• Thursday – 4 easy treadmill miles (although nothing ever feels easy on the treadmill)
• Friday – 3.1 mile tempo run

Tonight’s tempo run was essentially the fastest I have run since my illness but still isn’t back to where I was in my training pre-Tink.   I just need to have faith that my speed will come back as my lungs continue to recover.  I ran a 24:43 (my tempo runs usually have a 23 at the front although they’re typically just under 24 minutes.  That 3/4 change out makes a big impact psychologically) which isn’t terrible.  I should also take into account that I rarely do a tempo run after working a whole day and as my 3rd consecutive running day.  I know, making excuses never did anyone any good.

The biggest post-sickness change has probably been how darn dry my mouth and throat get when I’m running hard.  What’s the deal?  I don’t know if it’s a hydration issue or I’m just breathing shallower and as a result taking more breaths that are drying me out?  Who knows.  I would be interest if anyone has any insight here.  I guess I just need to be patient with the process.  *Sigh*

Let The Princess Jitters Begin

I am starting to get a bit anxious about Princess.  Thanks to this stupid sickness, I just have no confidence about what short of shape I’m in.  I really only took a few days off for my illness (which did include missing a long run) but tonight was the first night I was able to run what I would consider fairly fast.  Although this is probably no real indication of my currently fitness level, it certainly shakes my confidence.  Plus, coming off of such a great run at Tinker Bell, it’s already intimidating to wonder whether or not I will be able to repeat (or better) such an incredible performance.

I am sneaking in one more long run on Sunday so I am hoping this may put me in a better place psychologically.  We are supposed to have some chilly for Florida temperatures this weekend so it should be nice weather for running.  I am also taking tomorrow off to rest my body a bit.  I need to catch up on sleep and go into next week feeling strong and healthy.  Races don’t wait for you to be ready so you just have to go in with whatever level of training you were able to achieve and leave your heart out there on the course.  After Sunday, I can look forward to a few nice easy runs this week leading up to the race.

I also have the exciting task of finishing off my Princess Half Marathon costume in the mean time.  This will be the very first time I have run a half in a real costume and I can’t wait!  You’ll have to just wait and see where that’s headed…

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What did you do for Valentine’s Day?  Did it include a run or did you give all your time to your Valentine?