T minus one month!

Holy cow y'all!!!!!!!! (insert laughter here) The 1/2 marathon is one month from today! I feel good, I feel like I'll be ready. I had a great run last night - 3 miles at 10:10 per mile. Unfortunately, you'll just have to take my word on that because my stupid piece of crap effing ipod lost my run. Bastard. Of course it just had to be the best pace I've run in a looooong time. Oh well, at least it didn't crap out during my run. We'll see if it holds up tonight on my 4-5 mile run - I haven't decided on the distance yet.

I am trying to figure out my training plan for next week. We are going out of town Friday morning and we'll get back on Monday evening. So next week I'll probably run Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I am signed up for a point-to-point 5K on Saturday morning - which will be my 2nd race ever! I can't decide if I want to run just 5K that morning or if I want to try to stretch it out to a 15K - running the distance back and forth 3 times. I hate to miss my long run, and that will be my only opportunity to get one in next weekend. Does anyone have any advice for me? How bad is it to miss a long run this close to the 1/2?

just do it

I was supposed to do my long run on Sunday, but a little something called a "beach weekend" got in the way! My mom came down to visit on Saturday morning and we headed for the coast. We had gorgeous weather all weekend long which made it especially hard to leave on Sunday afternoon/evening. I honestly planned to run when I got home, no matter what time it was. I'd had a realization earlier in the day about what Nike's slogan "just do it" means. We ended up getting home about 8:45pm, but I came in and changed into my running clothes, grabbed my ipod, and.........realized that my ipod batteries were dead. Super great. At that point, I had a little tantrum and tried to charge it for about 10 minutes to see if that would help. Um, no, it didn't. So I gave up and took a shower.

I redeemed myself by making up that 4 mile run last night. The weather was nice - it was hot, but not too humid. I felt decently OK while running, I was having to push myself just a little bit. I didn't push too hard because honestly I was still tired from the weekend. I was pleasantly surprised when Tiger Woods came on my ipod when I finished to congratulate me! My average pace was 10:22 which I was very pleased with! I guess I am getting a little bit faster without even realizing it because I'm getting more conditioned.

Now my quandry is whether or not to run tonight. My right knee hurt last night before and after running, but not during - try to explain that one. It's hurting in a different place than it has before, so right now I'm just keeping an eye on it. Honestly, I already know that I am going to go running tonight. And I also know that I am going to increase my distance to 3.5 miles from my usual 3. I was thinking about it last night during my run. So much of this running game is mental - I had no idea. That's what I learned this time - that once you get that goal in your head and tell yourself to "just do it" it's actually harder not to do it.

Oh! One other (frivilous) thing I learned: running skirts are super cute and comfy! If you know me, you know that I am very easily influenced about some things. So of course, when Runner's World did a story about the rise in popularity of running skirts, I had to have one. I always stalk the clearance section at Target for workout gear and yesterday, lo and behold, running skirts were on sale. Lucky day!

i learned something today....er....yesterday

Yeah........I had good intentions of updating my blog on the actual day that I run, but that doesn't seem to be happening. I am just too tired after running and showering and eating dinner (and having some wine) to get on the computer and try to be clever. Oh well, it's my blog and I make the rules - so there!

Anyway, I did my 3 mile run last night and the weather was SO NICE! I still waited until about 8:15 to go out and it was in the 70's with low humidity - perfect running weather. I felt really good about my run, but I was disappointed with my pace - 10:34. I really felt like I was going faster than that. This weekend I am planning to recalibrate my nike+ to see if that makes a difference.

Speaking of nike+ipod, have I said how much I love that thing? I love that it keeps track of my distance and my pace and that I can check how far along I am in my run at any time. I especially love coming in after a run and downloading my data so that I can see my progress. It is a really cool gadget, I must say! And for those of you that are wondering, you don't have to have the special Nike shoes to use it. You can simply buy a shoe pouch and attach it to your favorite shoes.

Oh, here's what I learned yesterday - deer are really pretty, but they can make really loud noises and scare the crap out of you. Also, when you are planning to run later in the evening, maybe you shouldn't pick blackberries, groom 2 horses, and brush 1 dog before you head out. It will make you tired.