Practice Practice Practice

**UPDATE:  Dad and I completed 16.6 miles last night (Friday)...we thought we'd increase our long run pace a little...but when all was said and done, we'd ran 16.6 miles at race pace--and it didn't feel that difficult.  I'm sore this morning...sore like crazy, sore.  But, HOLY COW I am so proud of us!  16.6 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes...YAY!  Boston Marathon here we come.  

WELL...I have officially taken a weeks worth of random pictures--mostly of Layla but I have quite a few of my lamp...artificial flowers...a bug??  Layla has ran around for the better part of the week saying "cheese" at every little black box that she sees.  It was quite humorous when she "cheesed" for a lady's black cell phone at the grocery the other day.  She's also started gasping with excitement when she hears the camera click!  So funny.  She's such a good mirror for my reactions--reminds me I better watch my attitude double time since she's picking up on everything.  

Layla in her little tutu--she loves that little tutu...wears it ALL day

SO yeah...I have my third wedding with dad this weekend and I couldn't be more excited if I tried.  I don't know how dad does it...waiting a whole week to get out there and get his game on.  It was only Tuesday and I was up at 3am thinking about the wedding this weekend.  I really think I've stumbled upon something that seems so unlikely..but something that I actually love and am developing a passion for--and something that actually makes money--as opposed to running which has been a debit since I started (cue Disney fairy tale music....or maybe I'll get a sponsorship...ahhhhhh...nice...Asics maybe--Nike???). 

Finally...speaking of running...

Dad and I did a tempo run on Wednesday--3.5 faster miles between a warm up and cool down.  Our plan was to do the faster miles at a little less fast than race pace (8:20 per mile)--say around 8:30 a mile.  After the second fast mile,  I was thinking...hummm....not as easy as I thought it would be.  Dad and I neglected to actually go out and mark miles on the road...so we were doing a best guess.  When we finished and plugged in the numbers we found out that we were running 7:23 miles!!!  So 8:20 should feel like a breeze, right?  We'll see next week as we add on another mile to the fast 3.5 :-).  Tonight we'll head out and do another 16.5 miles at a slightly faster pace before gearing up for the last BIG push.