This running skirt thing is getting out of hand.

Workout: 4 miles at a comfy pace in the nice cool 50 degree temps of the early morning here in northern Illinois/almost Wisconsin.

This week I was supposed to start my marathon training plan.  In fact, I was fully intending on doing my 5 x 1000m workout on the training schedule this morning.  However, my legs had other ideas.  It seems my quads were a bit cranky with me after my 17.5 mile ride yesterday, and my shin splints are whining more than usual.  I still wanted to get a run in, so I decided instead just to do an easy 4-miler and enjoy the run.  And enjoy my new running skirt from runningskirts.com:

If you can't see, it's got all the running distances written on the skirt, from 5K on up to all of the distances I will only dream about doing.  I have to say this skirt was pretty awesome.  I bought what they call the "athletic skirt," which means it has compression shorts underneath.  Those shorts are comfortable and don't ride up during the run.  The seams are all on the outside of the shorts, so that means no chafing, ladies.  There are also two pockets on each side of the skirt that close in the center with velcro--pretty handy for iPods, gels, or small phones. (I couldn't imagine running with a big clunker of a phone in this pocket, though; it would quickly become a projectile and then become what they call "broken.")  While not cheap, you can tell they were designed with some foresight and with a runner's needs in mind.

This running skirt thing is getting out of hand.  They make me look like a girl or something.

Nevertheless, I will suck it up and wear it during my 11.6 mile night run this weekend at Ragnar Wasatch Back.  I have the cutest blue top, blue calf sleeves, and running shoes to go with it.  It's really too bad, then, that all people will be able to see of me at that time of night is my bobbing headlight and flashing butt-light.

But I digress into the realm of fashion; let's meander back into the realm of my marathon training plan.  Since this week is pretty much all thrown to hell, I decided tomorrow will be a much shorter ride on the bike with some light yoga afterwards, and then a rest day on Thursday while I'm traveling to Utah.

After Ragnar, however, will get decidedly trickier...I will have to recover for a few days and then resume some training.  I think I will do some easy runs and gear up for the long run that's on the schedule for the weekend (16 miles).  After that, I can resume training as usual.  I don't mind skipping the two speed sessions next week, simply because I will have 14 more weeks to enjoy them.  Oh the joys of marathon training!  At least I'll have a cute running skirt to do it in.