Finally Friday

Good morning folks!!  TGIF

This has been a long, challenging week at work. One thing I don't talk about too much here is my work. I really wanted to write a long, ranting post yesterday, but I refrained. I tried very hard to be positive even though I didn't want to. And I think it worked. It actually wasn't a terribly bad day after all! But I'm more than ready for the weekend!

It's going to be a busy weekend here! We're getting up early in the morning to travel to Little Rock, Arkansas. I was going to run the marathon there on Sunday. But, after an eye opening 15.5 mile run, I changed my registration to the half. I've been nursing an ankle/heel/Achilles/peroneal tendon issue since the first of the year. I've been on a 2 week running hiatus. I'm a little nervous about trying to run this race. The smart thing to do would probably be to defer until next year. But I'm hoping for "fresh legs" after this rest period. I've called it the "ultimate taper" I would be a little more excited about it if the weather wasn't going crazy here. I could have at least had fun with it.  But the good old "polar vortex" is going to return over the weekend. They're predicting a winter storm for our area for this weekend. It looks like it will be cold and rainy on Sunday. I'm not thrilled about this. I don't like to run in the cold and the rain is just ok, but cold rain is another issue. This is one race where I'm really not even sure how to dress. I've been told to bring "everything" so I guess that's what I'll do. With the weather conditions and my injury issues, I'm just hoping to finish. I could really use some good running karma and thoughts on Sunday morning if you're so inclined. :-)

I've been concerned about nutrition and fueling since I made drastic changes (no gluten, no dairy and limited sugar) to my diet recently. But I think I've got a plan that will work out well. I used dried fruit and nuts a couple of weeks ago when I did 12 miles. At mile 10, I felt like I was out of gas. I needed more carbs I think. So, I'm planning to make a "trail mix" of nuts, fruit, dry Chex cereal and a few M&M's. I'm thinking that will work out pretty well. I plan to use my Nathan Minimist hydration vest, so I'll use Gatorade G2 for additional carbs. And I plan to have my old standby Honey Stinger chews in case I need more fuel. That should be enough :-)

Alrighty, that's my weekend preview. What's on your agenda for the weekend?

Whatever it is, be safe and have a GREAT one!!