Sub - 4 Wednesday

I liked Amanda's idea of including sub-4 in the title of every post this week, so I can continue to brag about it, so I'm going for it.

Monday night I went to Bikram. I really didn't want to (it's at 7pm, way too late for this Grandma) but I was meeting Lily. I was so tempted to cancel but I forced myself to do it. After 90 minutes of sweat soaked hell, I went home, passed out, and happily discovered that stairs didn't hurt the next morning. 

You would think the marathon would be the worst pain, but the foam rolling and Bikram used for recovery hurt more. And I didn't even include an ice bath this time.

Last night, Carolyn hosted a run through a meetup group when are both in. It was mostly people who had participated in BRF (Baltimore Running Festival) over the weekend, so we could all suffer together running again just 3 days later. I didn't take any pics, but here's Carolyn and I before the marathon.

I did five easy miles with my friend Deidre and another guy in the group, Sean. I was surprised that despite a little soreness/tightness in my quads, my legs felt fine. After other marathons, sometimes when I run or even do the elliptical, even if my legs feel fine, my heart rate is much higher than it normally would be at that level of exercise. I didn't wear a HRM, but I didn't have that feeling, I was easily chatting and felt good.

So in other words, I didn't look like this

This pretty much sums up the first 20 miles of the marathon. Kara looking adorable and happy, and me looking like "WHY?".

After last night's run, the group met back up and went out to dinner. I used to be opposed to social activities during the week, but recently I've started loving them. Something about actually enjoying my life and not just hammering through five days to get to the only two that don't suck.

I was supposed to meet Mike to run this morning, but he canceled when it was pouring rain. I was going to do it on my own, and do grad work after school, but then I realized I could do grad work while it was raining, and run after school. Great plan, right?

FAIL

I'll happily take a rainy Wednesday for a clear weekend though.

I don't have much else to say, so let's look at more marathon pics. My bib was on a race belt, and kept sliding to the side, so that must be why I have only ONE terrible picture to enjoy. The others were found my looking up Kara and Eric's numbers.

Arriving at the race - exhausted and pretending to be excited

Look how happy we are!

 I was shocked when I saw the background of this picture. The lake is miles 20-21, and I specifically remember hating life at that point. For once, I got it together for the cameras. It didn't last though. I'm pretty sure Kara didn't hate me at this point yet because it was way too crowded to go too fast, and Celine and I weren't having our love affair yet.

 And there's the picture that indicates I may have a future in modeling.


Alternate title "What crossing the finish line in under 4 hours looks like". 


Another option "The only finish line picture where Alyssa is not pausing her Garmin".


Strangely enough, Kara and I specifically remember crossing the finish line together, yet, where is she?