Finally

I have been waiting about 7 years to be able to earn this sticker. When I was thinking about marathon weekend, I figured I would have bought one at the expo and would pop it on my window when we left on Monday. Of all the things they sold at the expo I couldn't believe no one had them. So I ordered one off of ebay but I was away housesitting when it came so, alas, 7 years after the dream first came to me to run a marathon and over 2 weeks after actually having done so, I have earned my window decal.

I. Freaking. Love it.

Of course, the day I put it on I passed a guy with a 140.6 sticker (Iron Man Triathalon) on his car. Showoff. ;) Still, I love my 26.2 sticker and I get happy every time I walk up to the back of my car and I see it. It kind of offsets the fact that I busted the passenger side mirror backing out of the garage the other day. Whatevs. I'll get it fixed.

Next year I plan on earning the coveted 39.3 sticker for the other side of the window -- The Goofy Challenge at Disney. It's a half marathon on Saturday with the full marathon the next day. I talked it over with my husband and he's game. We haven't been to Disney in a few years and I have always wanted to earn that Goofy medal. But that's a long way away. Right now I'm just happy with my 26.2 sticker.

I had my first really good run today since the marathon. I did it on the treadmill because I just needed a break from hillwork, which I seem to encounter no matter where I go. It was a nice change because today I did some fartlek training (and yes,that word makes every runner giggle). It's Swedish for "speed play." I did intervals of 2 minutes much faster than I usually run followed by 2 minutes of a regular pace. I spent quite a few speed interval in the 8-something minute/mile range which made the recovery intervals of my normal pace seem easy by comparison. It passed the time, was a solid workout, and hopefully will improve my overall pace if I do this type of workout once a week. I got in 4.1 miles today which felt just right.

Today someone from work contacted me about writing up a piece about the marathon for our company newsletter. I was so flattered! A few people at work knew I was doing it but I'm in a satellite office so I don't have a lot of close friends at this job. My boss knew I was doing it and she passed on the information to the woman who writes the newsletter. So that's pretty cool. :)

Tomorrow is the big annual pre-Thanksgiving outlet trip to Woodbury Commons. It's our 5th year in a row and my friends and I look forward to it for months. It's become a whole thing -- I sleep over the night before, we order food, and then we get up at the crack of dawn to head to NY. Our shopping is an endurance event in and of itself. We are all totally wiped out by the end of the day and we never get to all the stores we want. I'm so looking forward to it!