Happy Friday! We were originally going to go camping this weekend, but I’ve got quite a bit of work to catch up on before leaving for Eugene (IN ONE WEEK!) so we will probably just hang around here! I also want to create some amazingly fabulous dessert for my birthday on Tuesday (who says that someone else has to create it for your bday?). I’ve been scouring Pinterest for ideas on what I want to bake and it’s either down to this , this , this, or this.

Regardless of how my upcoming races turn out, I guarantee that my legs will be the strongest they’ve ever been thanks to the ample wall squats I’ve been doing.

Also pretty sure that there will be 100% chance of me doing an epsom salt bath this weekend with some hot coffee and Gilmore Girls on repeat. It never gets old.

Facebook also reminded me that it’s been 3 YEARS since I ran the Inaugural Star Wars Half Marathon with my mom?!? I remember training for this race super conservatively (since I had just had a PRP injection in my Achilles the summer before and did a very long 8-12 week run/walk program before I was cleared to run again without walk breaks (and also advised to avoid any sort of incline running as much as possible —> I did A LOT of treadmill miles during this time!). I also used this half as a training run before my 2nd marathon, Revel Rockies, where I somehow shaved over 30 minutes off my previous 26.2 time without much training! Thanks to that super fast course, it gave me a lot of confidence that maybe I could be a “faster” runner. It’s fun to look back on where you came from and the journey to where you are today.

I’m also starting to put together my MARATHON PLAYLIST! I need suggestions! What are YOUR favorite pump-up jams? I have my race plan loosely coming together (so I can visualize it several times throughout the day) and roughly think that I will not start with any sort of music until the halfway point (this will be when we leave the streets of Eugene and head onto the bike path).

Also purchased my YETI and clearly, the cats love it. Or maybe they love cuddling with me? IDK.

I’m ready for whatever race day brings me. I know it will hurt and there will be tough parts, but I’m stronger than whatever it throws at me. I will conquer the distance and come away with a big, fat PR. I used to back-down and cave when things got tough, but I’ve worked so much on my mental strength this past year and am ready to ‘be my own cheerleader’.

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-Favorite birthday treat? Any dessert recipe recommendations?!?

-Favorite raceday tunes?

-Wall squats- thoughts? Where do they fall on the burpee scale of love-to-hate?