So yeah, that running thing…..

It’s been awhile since an update on anything other than football, so let’s remedy that! I did mention that I was convinced to sign up for a ½ marathon at the end of the year. That means running jumped up in the priority list as of October 1. Renee found a great training plan that was the perfect length at that time to get me ready for the 12/29 event. I’ve managed to follow it pretty closely. The challenge as I expected is squeezing in time for the mid week runs. Once we lost the after work evening daylight it has really been difficult. I’ve been alternating between running before work on weeks when I don’t have to take 17 to school, and leaving early from work to catch at least partial daylight for an evening run. I bought a headlamp so running at night at least on the sidewalk routes around me or up at the middle school track are quite possible. I just haven’t come up with a routine that I like so far. But at least not following the mid-week planned runs perfectly does not seem to be impacting my progress.

Weekends are much better. I started with 5-6 mile runs on Sunday mornings and then have been adding a mile each week. Today was my 11 mile run. I’ve felt FANTASTIC during these long runs! So much better than the last time I ramped up the mileage earlier this year. Not a single twinge in my IT bands. My toes feel “hot” after about 7 miles, but proper pre-run wrapping has held off any full scale blistering. My hope is to complete the event in 2 hours 45 mins which is between a 12-13 min mile pace. So far, my long runs have been spot on at around a 12:20-12:30 pace. My shorter 3-5 mile mid week runs are even faster and without really trying all that hard. So it seems as if I have settled in nicely at 12 min miles being very comfortable for me. Renee is doing the race with me and will act as my pacer to keep me on track. Frankly I think we will both have to resist going TOO fast early on since I can run a 10-11 mile pretty easily now & we all know she is a rabbit who tends to “settle” in at 8 min miles 🙂

The best part is just getting out there and enjoying the beautiful spaces around me.