Race Recap - Revel Mt Charleston 2019

In case you missed it, the post covering most of our trip to Vegas can be found here:
http://www.runwhichway.com/2019/05/our-vegas-adventure.html


Revel Mount Charleston - April 27th, 2019



Click Image to visit website

We arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday evening so we would have plenty of time to visit the Expo on Friday.  On our travel day we put on over 30,000 steps between the airport and walking the Strip that evening.  I think this detail is important later.

Friday, April 26th

Even though we went to bed after 2am on Thursday, we got up by 7am on Friday.  This was planned because we wanted to get to bed very early since we had to get up around 1:00 am to be ready to catch our bus to the marathon start. We figured if we didn't get much sleep and got up early enough that getting some sleep the night before the race would be easier.  It was, but in retrospect it probably wasn't a good strategy.

Race Expo - UNLV Cox Pavillion

The Expo for Mt Charleston was a little bigger than the one for Revel Rockies which we did last year.  It was well organized, had several vendors and was held in a very spacious building.  The volunteers working the packet pick-up were helpful, friendly and efficient.

A few things worth noting about the Expo:

• There were quite a few vendors including Aftershokz, doTerra, Sprouts and several places to buy GU, electrolytes and gear.  We bought some salt tablets (since we forgot ours), a few GUs and a hat for me.
• There was an information booth with details about the race and you could get a wrist band for the beer garden after the race in case you didn't want to carry your ID.
• There were photo booths where you could hold up signs for fun pics (we didn't participate in it this year).
• They had a "tattoo station" with temporary tattoos
• The Expo was scheduled from 10:00 am until 8:00 pm which reduced the crowds significantly.
• Sprouts gave out free snacks (bananas and such).  I liked that they did this and I think it would have been a great idea for them to have food trucks on site.

Awesome Swag -

Good swag is fun to get!  We do quite a few events that give little to no swag so when we do a race that has plenty of goodies it makes my heart happy.  I'm not sure why this picture is sideways since I've tried rotating it a couple of times.

The GOODR sunglasses are my favorite swag and since Mitch doesn't care for how they fit I got two pairs.  We got to pick from blue and black frames and I now have both.  Revel is etched small on the lens.  I have to say that the bottle of probiotics is the most unusual thing I've ever got in a swag bag.
Note: The Trail Junkie sticker wasn't part of the swag.  I picked it up at the Nevada trail runners booth.

Course Preview -

After the Expo we drove out to preview the course as is our prerace tradition.  Revel Mt Charleston is a point to point course that starts at the Mt Charleston Lodge and runs downhill on a two-lane road for 21 miles before turning towards the city.  The views are pretty but we didn't get pictures.

When I say "downhill" I really mean it.  This race has over 5,000 feet of elevation loss.  There are a couple of small up hill sections but they are brief and not significant.  Many people complained about them but I didn't think the hills were nearly as rough as the one big hill in the middle of Revel Rockies.

Click Image to visit Revel Mt Charleston website

While we were out on the preview drive, we took a little side trip up another hill.  There are some great trails in the area so we went for a short excursion on the Robber's Roost Trail.  We didn't go far since we'd already put too many miles on our legs. 

We had dinner at the Draught House where I had beef stroganoff that was delightful.  After that we went back to our hotel and hit the sack by before 8:00 pm.

Saturday, April 27th - Marathon Day

We paid an extra $40 each to ride the bus from the Strip to the start line.  Our recollection from Revel Rockies was that the long ride on a school bus was uncomfortable and they had really nice buses for people that bought the premium ride.  It was convenient to drive a few blocks down the Strip to the hotel where the bus picked up rather than across town where the free buses were.  While they were more comfortable than a school bus, they weren't as "fancy" as the ones we saw in Denver last year. 

I was pretty irritated that we spent the money.  1.  They didn't even bother to check receipts to make sure riders had paid for the ticket.   2.  They used the same bus service for the free ride and we would have had the same kind of bus either way.  It was almost a complete waste of money.

At the marathon start, Mt Charleston Lodge was kind enough to open their dining room so runners could stay warm and sold coffee and hot chocolate.  We pulled up a small spot on the floor and waiting for the start.  Unfortunately, they love dropping runners off an hour or more before the start, which I'm sure is so everyone gets a chance to use the porta-potties.  Mitch recognized John Fegyveresi - a Barkley Marathons finisher from 2012 (we've seen the documentary a few times).  He wasn't 100% sure so we didn't go say hello, but later looked him up to verify that he was in the race results.

My Run -

To get a Boston Qualifier I would have needed to run 8:22 minutes/mile for the full duration of the race.  I knew going in that I wasn't going to get it.  I just wasn't running that fast in my training.  But I had some secondary goals I was shooting for - a 4 hour marathon (9:07 min/mile) seemed attainable.

Immediately I had trouble with getting my legs to turn over with any speed even going downhill though keeping a pace around 8:45 was sustainable and I did so comfortably as soon as I got over the first hill which came within the first half mile.  The temps were in the 50's - comfortable running weather.  That was short lived.  The temps were in the low 80's by the time I was done.  I really don't mind heat, but it does slow your pace especially when you don't get time to train in it.

Aid stations were set up every two miles.  They all had water and PowerAde and the latter stations also had GUs and/or fruit.  Two of the aid stations were out of cups by the time I got to them and I was about mid-pack. The volunteers did a good job improvising and I was thankful I decided to wear my hydration vest.

I hit the proverbial wall at mile 12 - SO. EARLY.  I was still maintaining a 10'ish minute/mile pace and hoped to get past the bonk in time to still pull off a 4 hour time but things only got worse.  My pace got progressively slower, I had to take more walk breaks and it hurt to lift my legs to run.  By my final mile my pace was in the 14s and I finished in 4:41:38.  It was slower than Revel Rockies last year and no where near any of my goals.  I don't think the impact of this hit me until days later.  I was very tired but thrilled to be done and excited to have another marathon in the books so at least I enjoyed the afterglow a bit (even though I don't look like it in this picture).

The finish line at this race was hands-down better than Rockies and they even kept all of the vendors and booths up through the end of the race.  Rockies was starting to dismantle well before the last runners came in and I think that is bad business when you advertise a certain course time.

The food at the finish was pizza and by the time I was there, it wasn't worth eating.  It is the same thing they served at Rockies and you would think that they would figure out by now that pizza doesn't keep well.  They also had snow cones for sale and the beer garden served a variety of Lagunitas.  I wasn't walking well so I relaxed in the shade of their tent and enjoy my beer before heading to get my drop bag where I kept the sunscreen.

Then I headed over to the finish line and watched Mitch run in.  He did awesome and it was dang hot by the end of his day.

Overall, Revel Mt Charleston was a great event.  Well organized for the most part (not counting lack of cups at 2 aid stations) and the course was one of my favorites as far as road marathons go.  The Revel races are put on by a company called Brooksee, LLC and their races are designed to be fast.  Mt Charleston is currently their fastest course and I agree that the elevation loss was a perfect grade to have been right for me to get a great time had my day gone better.

I know several "runner errors" that sabotaged my efforts for this run -

• I did too many miles of my training through the winter on my treadmill which was old and the paces weren't accurate.  It also meant I wasn't getting nearly enough downhill miles to prepare for the beating my body would take on this course.
• My sleep strategy leading up to race day was poorly executed.
• I put on roughly 50K steps (that's almost a marathon) in the two days preceding the race so my legs were tired going in.

Unavoidable elements that also influenced my day include the hot temperatures and airplane travel that was required to get there as well as work stress & travel that disrupted my training schedule in the final weeks.

I've never been as beat up physically after a marathon as I was after this one.  The first couple of days after I had to be very cautious while walking because my quad would just give out causing my leg to buckle at random times.  It took about 5 days before I could move around without pain.

As some time has passed and I've had time to digest the unfolding of my goal race for the year it has been a hard reality to come to terms with.  I trained for this one event for 32 weeks.  I followed a plan specific to helping me hit the paces I needed for a Boston Qualifier and though toward the end I felt my speed was still lacking, I knew I was closer to getting there.  I was faithful to the plan with some exceptions due to illness and made some modifications for work travel but even if you count those times, I did 26 weeks exactly as prescribed.  I ran 6 days a week and during the peak of training was putting in over 60 miles/week.  I ran in the dark.  I ran in the cold.  I did long miles on a treadmill.  All of it with just this one goal in mind.  For over a half of a year I ran, ate, slept and breathed running with the hopes of getting a time to qualify for Boston and in the end I came up short.  Way short.  I didn't even hit a time that made me feel like it was attainable and I'm having a difficult time being okay with it.

I know I need to go back to the drawing board.  I need to reassess and determine what I can do to improve. There won't be a next time without a back-up plan, that much I know.  I've done 6 months of training and put all my eggs in one basket this season and I don't have a secondary race planned to see if I would do better given different circumstances or a better day.  I'll walk away from all that training empty-handed this year and that's a mistake I won't make again.

So here's to learning from it all and using those lessons in the future.  Now I get to move on to trails and crazy distances in the mountains with my husband.  At least these blog posts will get infinitely more interesting and have prettier pictures.

While I really don't love race pictures and Revel's were no exception, here are a couple from Mt Charleston because you can see the beautiful views that I didn't take the time to get shots of during the race.

Today we are putting our application in for the Bridger Ridge Run lottery.  Wish us luck!

Our Vegas Adventure

We're back!  What a whirlwind of days it has been!  Today's post is about our Vegas trip (more pictures than anything).  The race recap will be up on Sunday.

Our vacation started on Thursday of last week (Wow... has it been a week already???) with our first commercial flight together.  I fly for work all the time and we've flown together in private planes (Mitch is a pilot) but we've never done this before.  I made sure Mitch got the window seat on every flight.  We had a long layover in Denver which I was happy about because Denver has a pretty awesome airport.

We arrived in Las Vegas around 5:30 or so - a little late because someone packed dry ice in the same compartment with an animal on the plane and they had to fix that.  By the time we picked up the rental car and drove to the hotel, it was closer to 7pm.  We almost doubled our rental car price by adding the insurance.

We stayed at the Stratosphere... actually now called The STRAT.  Cool things happen on this tower, like people jumping from the top on bungee cords.  Yikes!  There are also rides at the top, but we never got around to going up there.

I booked our room through Hotels.com at a pretty awesome rate.  Unfortunately, to get a room with any amenities (like a refrigerator) we had to pay another $25/night.  Between that and other "fees" our room cost almost doubled.  At this point I'm starting to think Vegas is stupid expensive. The room was sufficient, but certainly not impressive.

After an expensive buffet for dinner we decided to go for a walk from the hotel.  It wasn't our intent to head all the way down to the Strip, but that is what we ended up doing.  We walked over 5 miles from our hotel almost to the other end.  I cannot believe how many people there were.  It was so crowded.  The sights were amazing though and I loved watching the Bellagio fountains.

On a day that we spent 3 hours on an airplane, we still managed to get SO. MANY. STEPS.  That was even after taking the Monorail from the MGM to the STRAT rather than walking back.  We capped off our first night with a trip to the hotel bar where I paid $10 for a 12 oz beer and Mitch paid $3 for a glass of ice and a splash of diet coke.  Bedtime was around 2:00 am. 

Friday & Saturday are mostly about the marathon so I will leave those details for the race recap post but in those two days we did get to Fremont Street.  On Friday it was during the day and Saturday we went at night so we could see the lights.

 I love this guy so much!

 

 One of the best places we ate the whole trip:  Mickie Finnz

The street tacos were really good and not too expensive.

 

 Entering Downtown Vegas (not the same as the Strip)

 

 Fremont Street at night was cool!

 

Possibly Mitch's favorite attraction - A giant preying mantis that shoots fire to music (in this case Funky Cole Medina)

Sunday was ROUGH.  I've never been so beat up after a race - even walking on flat ground was difficult.  But not being the type of people to sit around when visiting a new city, we headed out to see Hoover Dam.  Our stay at the STRAT was done anyway so we booked a room in Henderson and got out of the city.

 Boulder City is on the way and if I had to live in Nevada, I would pick here.  What a beautiful city and who could resist the opportunity to bump in to aliens.  We stopped at the local brewery where the beer was good and the service sucked.

 

 Hoover Dam is an amazing feat of engineering (yes that's my finger... don't judge)

 

 Equally as impressive as the dam is the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (view from the dam)

 

If you pour water over the dam the wind will blow it back at you!

 

 

Our evening in Henderson was blissfully relaxing.  We had dinner at a little Mediterranean grill and then walked over to Boulder Station Casino.  This is the only place we put more than a couple of dollars in a machine.  We put in a $20, played for about 45 minutes and cashed out at $30.  We're not big risk takers.

 

Our last full day we headed back to Las Vegas because I booked a room next to the airport to insure an easy departure.  We liked Fremont Street so much that we went back and wandered around.  I finally made it to Banger Brewing, suggested to me by one of our friendly Billings Area Trail Runners, Jessica.

 

 The beer and the service were good and the happy hour prices were reasonable.

 

Mitch was hoping that Nellis Airforce Base would have a display area that we could visit but they don't allow any civilians on base.  Instead we parked the car out by the Vegas Motor Speedway and watched as several jets took off.  We eventually moved to a street at the end of the runway but we were asked to leave by a couple of soldiers who didn't have a sense of humor.  As we headed back in to town we saw the Thunderbirds practicing and coming in for a landing at the base.

 

 Our last big meal was at Hash House a Go Go - This chicken pot pie was the "small" version.  I can't imagine what the full size plate looked like.  This was so much food and I don't think I got through half.  The food was delicious, not super expensive and the service was good too.  By this point, I'd given up ordering beer with my meals because it cost almost as much as the food.

 

 We took one more opportunity to visit the Strip, but spent most of the time exploring Caesar's Palace.  This place is incredible.  So much you can't see from the Strip... like an indoor walking mall.  The artwork and statues were amazing.

 

 With our hotel being right next to the airport, we asked for a room that overlooked the runway.  They put us in a huge, handicap accessible room with a perfect view of the runway and the city.  Mitch was in heaven watching the planes take off and land right outside our window!

 

 

I let my anxiety about large airport security get the best of me and we ended up wandering the Las Vegas airport for 3 hours.  It was the dirtiest airport I've ever been to and everything was unreasonably expensive.  I never thought I would think Denver Airport food was cheap.... but I do now.

 

To sum it all up, Vegas was a fascinating place to visit but overall way too overpriced.  I ate too much, drank very little and walked 41 miles NOT counting the marathon.

 

What's next?  We're heading to Helena in two weeks to run Don't Fence Me In 30K on Mother's Day weekend.  Everything else we have planned this season will be on trails and for that I am thrilled.

 

Don't forget to check back on Sunday for a recap of the Revel Mt. Charleston Marathon.



My Biggest Week!

Training week runs from Monday through Sunday.  In that aspect, I am at my biggest mileage week at over 60 miles after today's run (exact number unknown until I've completed today).  But the big deal for me is the week from Sunday through Saturday.  Since I did my long run on Sunday last week and Saturday this week, I hit 75.5 miles in 7 days!

I am officially tired, sore and constantly hungry.

Here's what that looked like:

Sunday:  18.6 miles - Swords Park    Mitch ran 15 miles too.  He dropped me off at the airport end of the trail and started from the other side.  We've done this a couple of times and its great because we can run our own pace and still see each other from time to time.  We did the last 7 miles together.  My overall average pace clocked in at 10:51/mile but most of my spits were in the low 10s.
Punxsutawney Phil made an appearance.  He's a long way from home.  (Actually a rock chuck is not quite the same thing as a groundhog but this is my story and I'll tell it how I want).

Monday:  10 miles - Shiloh Rd (Big Ditch Trail) at a 10:27/mile avg. pace.  I did this one after work and I dressed too warm for the weather.  This trail isn't much to look at so I didn't bother to take any pictures.

Tuesday:  3.4 miles - Zimmerman Trail    Yay!  The some of the trails are dry enough to run on!  I was mad at myself for not bringing a belt to carry my phone for pictures.  Mitch and I enjoyed a leisurely run/hike and then went out for dinner.

Wednesday:  9.6 miles - broken up in to two runs    This one was supposed to be a 3/3/3 (3 miles each done at a certain pace) but I was getting tired and it can be difficult to give up my entire evening to run when I have that many miles to do after work.  I got up and did the first half in the dark and then finished it with a treadmill run after work with a little speed thrown in.  I was trying to complete a challenge on Zwift anyway, but I wasn't excited about the treadmill when the weather was nice, but I admit that it is handy to be able to cook dinner while I'm running.

It was a beautiful morning for run -

Thursday:  10 miles - 2 out & back laps in the neighborhood.  I decided to take this one very easy.  It was cold and rain/snowing so I tucked my hands in to my jacket and refused to look at my watch the entire time.  It's so easy to feel like I need to push faster if I can see how slow I am running.  My goal was to run the whole time, including the hills at as easy of a pace as I could make myself do.  I kept telling myself "slow and steady, take it easy."  I managed an average of an easy 10:50/mile pace and only walked in a couple of spots for a few seconds.  The pace was what I was hoping for.

This is what 10 miles running in the rain does to the end of a braid:

Friday:  4.4 miles - Phipps Park   We've been waiting so long for this trail to be runnable again (Mitch's favorite).  In the winter we ran the steep climb for hill repeats often until the trail became to slick and then eventually too deep to run.  Now it's mostly clear with a short section that is till too muddy but otherwise perfect!   I love when the dirt is a little tacky because it's so much easier to run down than when it's completely dry.

Pause a moment here to look back at the first picture in this post.  There was quite a bit of snow still on the ground.  It's amazing how quickly it melted!

Saturday:  20 miles - Swords Park to the end of Zimmerman Trail and back.  Mitch and I did this together even though he was only going to do 18.  It was a long day.  I had already forgotten how much harder it is to do long runs on trails and overall it took us over 5 hours because we did a bit of walking and a few stops.  We are both sun burnt because I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that I need to wear sunscreen.  I can't think of a better way to spend a beautiful, spring Saturday with my husband.  We took time for a little photo shoot along the way:

 

 

While this was a big week for me, I have to give Mitch a shout out!  He topped out the last 7 days with over 47 miles and that is a huge week for him too.  I'm very proud of him.

 

 

 



If I'm following my plan to a "T" then I would start tapering now.  Unfortunately, my training plan is a week ahead and assumes that my race is in 3 weeks. I have 4 weeks so I need another peak week.  I'll be traveling for work again and that makes getting the miles in pretty difficult, but I will do my best to get in a good run every day and work in some speed since my training plan hasn't incorporated that in a while. Next weekend I will run an 18 miler on Molt Hills to simulate race day and make sure I'm good with the gear choices I've made and then.......... it's taper time.

It's Been Redundant But I Can Finally See the Light

The last few weeks I've spent many miles between the treadmill and the path at Swords Park.  Montana experienced an insanely cold February with sub-zero temps more days than above.  I'm beyond grateful that I have a treadmill at home even if I hate to run on it.

 

But sometimes I just have to get outside and brave the cold no matter what or I will lose my mind.  I have put many miles on the path at Swords Park because they usually plow it.  However, a snow storm followed by strong winds made the trail quite challenging if I beat the plow there.  You can't see much of me because it was -4.  Even my eyeballs were frozen.  Why do I live where my eyeballs freeze?

Looking back over my Strava, the last ten days have literally been Treadmill, Swords Park, Treadmill, Swords Park, Treadmill, Swords Park......

The redundancy is starting to get to me.  On Sunday I had 18 miles to run and had planned to run Molt hills in to town but as Mitch was driving me out to the start point I had to change my game plan.  The sidewalks were in bad shape from the snow and had ice slicks from the melt off that was just starting to happen (finally).  My plan B was to run Swords Park.  It's only about 3.25 miles from end to end so that would mean doing about 3 out and back trips.  Ugh.  But it was a beautiful day and there were lots of runners out there.  Even Mitch went out and did 13.6 miles on his own!

Swords Park is also an easy place to meet after work to get some miles in.  Sometimes the views are pretty amazing so I shouldn't complain so much.

There is light at the end of tunnel finally.  Spring weather is on the horizon and we are starting to warm up.  This weekend is Run to the Pub half marathon in Bozeman and the forecast says it will be in the upper 30's.  Perfect.  I don't have any goals for this race.  In fact, I have a 21 miler that I will be doing the day before so I don't expect to have much left in my legs. 

I just ordered a new pair of running shoes.  I love the Brooks that I have been wear testing but they aren't great on down hills.  Since my marathon is all down hill I had to choose an alternative.  I have a pair of Topos that I love for working out.  They have a funny split toe so they look like deer toes.  The ones I ordered are similar to Altras in that they are zero drop and have a wide toe box.  I can't wait for them to get here.  Sadly they will arrive the day I'm leaving for Bozeman.

I also got a new cookbook.  Has anyone else tried a Hungry Girl cookbook?  I love her recipes which I usually get off the internet.  I made the Sloppy Janes last night and they were really good.

 



Have a great week!  I'll see you after the race this weekend.

Peak Training Has Begun, North vs. South and My New Habit

I have officially hit the peak weeks of my training schedule. With one more run to go this week I am at 47 miles.  It's hard to see at a glance using the Training Peaks app, but I believe the peak training will top out somewhere around 67+ miles/week.  I would be lying if I said that doesn't intimidate me a bit.  I don't recall what my biggest week is, but I know it's somewhere in the 50's.

I had to travel for work this last week.  Getting in the running was going to be very challenging, let alone the weight training.  I did weight workouts the Saturday and Sunday before knowing that I would not get to while I was out of town - partly due to time but as it turned out I didn't have access to dumbbells at one of my hotels either.

I left Billings on Sunday afternoon and got in to St. Louis around 1:30 am and had to get up, check out of my hotel and get to my client's location by 7:30.  Meetings wrapped up there at 3:30 and then I had a 5+ hour drive to Willow Springs, MO.  I just have to say that driving through Oklahoma was a lesson for me... don't travel without cash.  I had to pay a toll on the interstate at 2 places and couldn't get off the freeway outside of the metro area without paying another toll to get OFF the freeway.  It was hours before I could use the restroom.

Thankfully Monday was a rest day.  I got in to Willow Springs around 9:30 pm and I was pooped.

I had the pleasure of running outside on Tuesday.  My schedule called for nine miles, which seemed like it would be difficult to do while I was out of town.  But Willow Springs is a sweet little town so I wasn't afraid to go running alone and I had plenty of daylight once my meetings were over.

They had a short, 1/2 mile loop around the park that I incorporated in to my run so that I could pick up the speed a little.  I did 3 loops when I first found it and another 2 on my way back from touring the town.

This mural is in the town center. There was another one as well and there was a nice "picnic" area.  I didn't get to learn much about Willow Springs, but I suspect it was a bustling railroad town at one time.

Their high school track isn't connected to the school.  I got here before students filtered in for whatever sport they are training for this time of year.  It is a really nice, paved track so I did four loops so I could pick up the speed again for a bit.  I didn't do the nine miles exactly by the prescribed speeds, so this is how I made up for it.

Willow Springs has these boxes at various places around town.  The first one I saw was at the park with the walking trail. This one is by the high school track. There are jars of food in this one.

As you can probably tell from the pictures above, the weather was pretty nice.  It was blissful to run in the sun and warmer weather.

Meanwhile in Montana.............. (I had Mitch screenshot this from his weather app at the same time I took the one above)

I flew home on Wednesday and got home after 6:30.  Mitch and I went to dinner and then I did 6 miles on the treadmill.  I was supposed to hit a 7:44/mile pace for the last 20 minutes of my run but I was tanked.  I could only hold that pace for about 3 minutes at a time.

While I was out of town, it snowed.... and snowed... and snowed.  When I got home, it was still snowing.

Thursday I had ten miles to do, broken up in to 5 mile segments of intensity.  I did the first five on the treadmill before I went to work and the other 5 in the neighborhood when I got home.  It was snowing again.

The temp was somewhere near zero.  These hand warmers are a life saver.  I wouldn't be running outside at all this year if it weren't for the bulk bags of them we bought at Scheels last winter.

I miss the beautiful 60 degree weather I enjoyed while in Missouri.  Why oh why didn't I bring it back with me?

I did 7 miles of interval work on Friday morning before work.  Then it snowed again that evening.

This weekend the bottom dropped out of the thermometer again.  I was planning to do Saturday's long run outside in spite of the forecasted 0 degrees.  But when I got up, it was -14 with a breeze which prompted me to change my plan.  Fifteen miles on the treadmill is good mental training, right?

Today is worse.  It is currently -19 degrees and the wind chill is somewhere in the -40's.  I'll be running inside again but thankfully it will be a much shorter run than yesterday.

I really dislike winter and the last month has highlighted exactly how much.  We've had the coldest February on record and plenty of snow to back it up.  I should live in Arizona.

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I started a new habit recently.  It is my goal to drink over 100 ounces of water/day.  I dislike plain water so I don't get enough.  I started three weeks ago and only missed the days I was traveling and that is because you never know when you are going to get to use the restroom on an airplane or how long you might have to sit on a plane without going anywhere. I kept my liquid intake to a minimum on those days as well as the day I had to drive from Oklahoma to Missouri.

We bought a water filter for the sink because we already use a ridiculous number of plastic bottles.  If we added another gallon worth of Dasani bottles every day it was just irresponsible (we do recycle at least).  I got this crazy big water jug with motivational notes on the side to help me stay on track. It holds a gallon.  I've been teased a little at work about it.

I've had the Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headphones on my wish list for a while now.  They are bone conductive so they don't go inside your ears.  You can hear what is going on around you while still listening to music, books, podcasts, etc.  Yesterday we found them on sale at Sam's Club so I got a pair.  I'm excited to try them out.  Stay tuned for a review.

I hope you have a great week with perfect running weather!