Week 5 just had to be better than week 4. I just knew it would be. I had to believe it would be.

And . . . IT SO WAS!!!!! I just got home from my long run and (spoiler alert) it was unbelievably awesome. More on that in a minute. Here’s how the week played out:

New portion just opened on my running tail. Awesome bridge that goes over this creek. So pretty!

Sunday – didn’t cross train AGAIN

Monday – rest. Again, NAILED IT (of all the elements of this plan this is the one I’m the rocking most consistently;)

Tuesday – 3 miles easy went great, did it on the treadmill and did a run/walk as for some reason I was really dragging and was excited to read in my “notes from Hal” on the app (I’m using the Hal Higdon Novice 2 Marathon Training Plan for iPhone) he specifically said you could do that for this run.

Wednesday – This was supposed to be 6 miles easy but I just didn’t have time for 6 today so did 5. On busy weeks, this mid-week long run is going to have to be one hour as it can be really tough for me to fit in a longer workout than that on a work day. This is one of the ways I’m altering the plan to fit my life (not altering my life to fit the plan;).

Thursday – 3 miles easy. Um, I didn’t do this run.

Friday – rest. I did 30 minutes of swimming today, though, and it felt amazing. I love swimming laps and I purposefully don’t count how far just make my way through the laps. Swimming was my very first sport as a kid and it’s stayed the one that feels the most like “play” to me. I’m going to try to work a swim in at least one day a week as we are very blessed to have a local pool that’s clean and convenient.

Saturday – The Big Enchilada Day. 12 miles. It was SPECTACULAR. Weather amazing (61 degrees and cloudy with a breeze) and it was one of those rare runs where I actually lost miles. In fact, when Hal came on and told me I was half way done I was honestly shocked. I started nice and slow and so felt it at the end when I still had a spring in my step and honestly could have gone further. To all of you that gave me hope that today would be better since last week was SO AWFUL, thank you for your encouraging words! Bonus, I feel VERY ready for the Wine and Dine half in 3 weeks.

Speaking of which, waivers are out and I’m in Corral F so if you’re running look for me!! It’s getting so close and I can’t wait! Scott and I are doing Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Friday night and I’m almost looking forward to that more than the race! But the race will be awesome, too. Oh, and if you’re interested, a wrote a post last week with tip for running Wine and Dine. Last year was my first time and I learned A LOT!

So we move on to week 6. Another week down and another week closer to our goal! Oh, last thing, a BIG SHOUT OUT to Pete and Krissy and all my friends running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday! I will be cheering you on from here and can’t wait to hear all about it!