Do you know that brilliant scene in 500 Days of Summer where Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s expectations of an evening and the actual events unfold simultaneously on a split screen? (This is my first attempt at embedding a video clip, so I apologize in advance for whatever coding mess may or may not follow.)
That’s a pretty accurate portrayal of my training schedule this week. I entered my final week of pre-taper Broad St. Run preparation with high hopes – another 30+ mile week, a Wednesday interval workout, a voicemail from Ryan Hall begging me to pace him in London this summer – absolutely none of which came to fruition.
| DAY | EXPECTATION | REALITY |
| Monday | 3 m run + strength training | Walked 5 blocks to ShakeShack. Inhaled double Shack Burger. Walked home. An exhausting exercise all around. |
| Tuesday | 6 m run | 2 (whiny) m run on treadmill |
| Wednesday | 8 x 800 5-K pace | 3 m run and the consumption of entire loaf of cheesy bread with my favorite British bombshell |
| Thursday | 4 m run + strength training | Rest, plus convincing my friend on antibiotics that drinking a bottle of wine was more important that curing her ear infection. I am a terrible human being. |
| Friday | Rest | 10 m run to try to make up for a week of wrongdoings. Too little, too late? Perhaps. |
Friday evening may or may not have also included my second ShackBurger of the calendar week. Don’t judge me.
I’m not going to lie: I’m a little disappointed in myself, because I know the Wednesday interval training in particular is key if I’m going to reach the ambitious 1:22 goal time I’ve set for next weekend’s event. But I’m also trying not to beat myself up too much, because sometimes life/cheesy bread get in the way, and that’s OK too.
(And sometimes your favorite New York street artist seems to know you’re having a rough week and tags the sidewalk in front of your apartment at a serendipitously opportune moment. Thanks, de la Vega. I love you.)
Did your week live up to your expectations? I’m sure my brother’s did, since this morning, he brought home this blond beauty. I have never been so jealous in my life.
Riled Up Runner 
Blonde has an “E” at the end.
But hey. We can’t all be English Majors.
Hey genius, only the noun has an ‘e.’