Hot Hot Hot!

Well the Texas heat is here! I have now been through almost 3 full weeks of training and it sure is sapping my energy. I can't seem to get enough sleep these days. I know exactly how those lazy porch dogs feel.

To make matters worse, the A/C on half of the house stopped blowing cold air on Sunday. I thought it was just in my mind that it was warm in the house, but a quick glance at the thermostat showed a toasty 88 degrees indoors. Thank goodness I live close to parents, or I would have been a grumpy camper these last few days.

The A/C service company has just left, and I am starting to feel the return of the cool times.

11 hours 'til official start

So at 6 am tomorrow, I will be starting my first official long run of marathon training season. St. George is only a few months away, and I am so excited to be getting officially started.

Yesterday I went to Academy and picked out my new outfit of the season. I picked the same marathon shorts that I wore at Freescale, but in a bright blue. Also, I bought them in small instead of medium. To coordinate with the shorts, I splurged on an awesome Nike running top that matches well and makes me look good. I actually look like I have boobs in that top!

Buying Gus for the first time in a while was also a novelty experience again. The taste of Gu never really leaves you, so hunting through the boxes for the good flavors definitely brought a smile to my face. No Espresso Love or Chocolate Outrage for me! TriBerry, Orange Burst and Just Plain are more my style. Plus, hot weather seems to mix better with fruit flavors instead of Mocha.

It looks like my first week of training as an 'advanced' runner is going to be a good ramp up in mileage. I am going to be running 38.2 miles this week! Very exciting! It is a good thing that I am on summer vacation. Sleeping, stretching, and swimming sound like great ways to spend the down time.

Reservation Made

I have been stressing out about hotel reservations! Apparently St.George has a limited number of hotel rooms (the whole reason for the lottery), and I was an idiot to think that I'd be able to find a hotel room for marathon weekend. I waited until a week after the lottery results had been posted to even start searching for a room. After checking the hotels and spas in the St. George area, I resigned myself to the fact that I would not be staying close to the marathon finish.

Solution? I gave up!

I decided to look for the most interesting place outside of St.George. The Super 8 and Motel 6 were just going to have to rely on other marathoners to take their rooms. If I wasn't going to be in the hubbub, then I was going to stay somewhere nice.

Found! The Desert Pearl Inn. http://www.desertpearl.com/

Looks pretty!