10:00 pm marathon? Seriously?

I just got an email from a friend about the Wine and Dine Disney marathon and half marathon with start time at 10:00pm. Really! Who has the energy to run 21K (or 42K!) at 10:00pm? Not me. But the post race wine and dine event is a good idea. Actually , I got excited about the idea of running in Disney thinking my younger daughter would be entertained by the scenery of the theme parks. However, when I realized that the start is so late in the evening I was out. Instead, if my Achilles tendon stops  hurting so that I could actually train, I would try the Montreal 1/2 marathon on September 5th as a pre-Barcelona race experience.
Speaking of Achilles - the pain is back. I am not able to do longer distances and that irritates me.. I will go for an MRI to see what is going on. I would like to find a solution so I can train for longer races...
Happy running to all!

Barcelona Marathon 2011

I love Barcelona! I love Spain but Barcelona is a city that has a very special place in my heart. Not only that it's one of the most gorgeous places on Earth (perhaps after Vancouver) but I have special memories there. So, my husband and I decided to run the Barcelona marathon in March 2011! Yes! It is both exciting and scary. Couple of things happened in the last few days that sort of helped crystallize the idea and have me "sell" it to my husband. First, he was a bit down over the long Easter holiday... he'd mentioned that his life feels sort of boring and that routine is taking over more and more. So, what better way to spice up life than to have a plan?! But the big question was what plan is good enough to be both challenging and exciting? The answer came today when I was reading some personal blogs on the Runner's World website. One runner (Jonathan Davis, Challenger of the Week) stated the Barcelona marathon as the rage run of his life. What a great idea! Hubby and I can set a goal to run the Barcelona marathon as part of our next vacation in Europe. He has not been to Spain yet so the excitement of visiting this beautiful country plus the challenge of training for a marathon should spice up his life enough and kill the routine. I just called him to announce my great idea. Here is part of the conversation:

me: How do you feel about going to Spain next spring?
him: Oh, cool! I would live it!
me: but there is a condition. we have to run the Barcelona marathon
him: how many kilometers again?
me: 42
him: wow! are you crazy... I won't run more than 20km


but after few minutes discussing why I thought it would be a great idea he "felt it" and got totally excited about it. We have a year to train and plan the trip! Very, very cool! I think this is what we needed as a couple and I think this is something he needs to help him see his life as not so routine :)
Plus 10 days in Spain is a prize worth running 42km for. Totally!

So that's my big news for the week.

Running wise, I am doing shorter (5-6k) runs... I've been struggling with pain in the Achilles tendon and being extra careful. But my pace is improving more and more and more. I ran 5k in 27 min, which is my fastest so far and it did not even feel like an effort. I passed the 300k mark which means that my 1000k in 2010 goal is totally on track. All good!

Happy running to all!