Catherine Hiles

It’s been a while since my last post… it’s been a bit of a busy week! I’ll recap in a nutshell (although it might be a large nut!).

Last week, we listed our house for sale. We’ve been wanting to sell and move for a while. We bought our house six years ago, and while we love it, it’s not in an ideal area. We also bought the house in early 2008, which, in hindsight, was the worst time to buy a house. The value quickly diminished and we were left with a house worth much less than we paid for it. We’re looking at taking a loss, but at this point we just want to get out and start fresh. So, fingers crossed someone wants to buy our house!

Our house experiencing its first snow after we bought it!

Also last week, my hubby Ben was in Michigan for work so I had to take care of signing paperwork, cleaning house, feeding and walking dogs, and other house-type duties on top of my marathon training and full-time job. I have no idea how parents cope–I have my hands full with dogs and house!

As far as training went, last week was much better. I took it easier than usual in preparation for the weekend’s long run, and I felt much less tired than I had the previous week. My training last week looked like this:

Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 7 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Saturday: 20 miles

Yep, it was my first 20-miler since last year’s marathon training. Last year I remember feeling downright miserable during these runs, so naturally I was not looking forward to the run. We started at 6 a.m. to get done earlier, and also to miss the rain and snow forecasted. We made it to 11 miles before the rain started, but once it did it was heavy and cold. By the time we were done, it looked like we’d been swimming rather than running! But it was an awesome run with some awesome people, and I shaved more than a minute of my average pace from last year’s training runs.

Next weekend, we’re running a half marathon, and the following weekend we have a 22-miler. After that it’s easy 12 mile runs for a couple of weeks, and then the marathon! Yikes, that came up fast!

Apart from the 20 mile swim run, Saturday involved cleaning out some crap from the junk closet, watching The Wolf of Wall Street (and not falling asleep!), baking cupcakes, going out for a couple of beers, making and eating pizza, and passing out at 8:30. Rock n roll! I slept right through until 7 a.m. and it felt wonderful.

(Almost) vegan s’mores cupcakes!

How was your week?
I feel like I missed a lot!

Have you ever sold a house?
This is the second time we’ve tried–first time was unsuccessful. It’s stressful having to keep your house near-perfect at all times!

If you’re a marathoner, what’s the longest training run you do before the big race?
Last year 20 miles was my max… trying to mix it up this year and get past the mental block!