Hi again! I just completed week 3 of my training and I think it's going pretty well, although this week included some highs (as in runner's high) and lows (as in, "...do I really have to do this run?"). Last weekend we had some really great friends stay for the weekend. We had a blast, which included lots of lobster eating, wine drinking, s'more roasting, etc. It was awesome. But it kinda put a kink in my running enthusiasm. I had told my friend ahead of time that I needed to run 5 miles while she was here and she was totally cool with it, but I still felt funny about taking off for an hour to do my run. So that, combined with the fact that I had a teensy bit of a hangover on Saturday morning, was why I put my run off until Sunday morning. I didn't expect to have a good run. I just went out thinking I'd put in the miles and chalk this one up as one of the "not so great" ones. And what do you know, I ended up with a P.R for pace. Yes, that's right, I ran my best pace ever (well, since I started keeping track of that sort of thing)! I couldn't believe it. I felt awesome and was really proud of myself for sticking with my training.
So, that was one of the "ups" in my week; now for the downs. The day after my super duper long run, I kicked into full gear to get ready for a family camping trip the next day. I suppose it may have been that my focus was elsewhere, but I just didn't have the excitement and enthusiasm for running the rest of the week. I maaaaaade myself run on Wednesday (4 miles of drudgery) and then tried to put in a few miles at the campground on Friday (was supposed to run 4 but only ran about 2). I gave up after my phone died and I had no idea where I was. That and the carload of heckling idiots I encountered sorta killed the deal, so I threw it in and headed back to the campsite. So, I missed a short run and didn't even try for any cross training activities this week. I guess that left me feeling a little out of touch with my program.
But, as the saying goes, "What goes down, must come up," (yeah, I know that's not how it goes, but it's pretty much always true, too). So here we are on Sunday evening and I just completed my longest run yet - 6.24 miles (was supposed to be 6 but the dumb Nike+ guy never told me my run was finished!). It was a good run. Not my best, but it was good enough to get my head back in the game and remind me why I'm doing this - because it feels great and I can't believe I just ran 6 friggin miles after coming home from a really great but really exhausting camping trip!
Another little reminder of why I'm doing this half marathon thing came up this week. Actually, it's a big reason, but it came from a little person. I was driving in the car with my 5 year old son and we passed a caravan of army trucks, which he loves. He asked me if Army guys die and I explained that sometimes they do because they are very brave and sometimes have to go to battle. I reminded him that my Dad was an army guy and Aidan said, "I know and he died." And I explained that yes, my dad did die, but not from being an army guy. My dad died 10 years ago from a sudden heart attack. He was 57 years old. Heart disease runs in my family. Big time. I have it coming at me from both sides. Obviously I like the health benefits I get from running. It's part of the reason I decided to train for a half marathon, although mostly I wanted to do something to challenge myself. Thanks to my 5 year old for giving me even more incentive to do this. It was a great teachable moment for us. I got to emphasize to him how important it is to take care of our bodies (eat right, exercise, etc) and I didn't even have to feel like a hypocrite!
Also, I just realized I'm a quarter of the way through my training! I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, it's so exciting to be a quarter of the way to my goal, but on the other hand, I just ran almost a half of a half marathon tonight and I can't imagine having to do that once over. But, I guess that's what the rest of my training is for. One day, one mile at a time, right? I also think it's kind of crazy that my "short" runs were 4 miles this week. Not so long ago, 4 miles sooooo far (as in, "I don't know if I could ever run 4 miles!").
Roadkill count this week: 2, which unfortunately included a beautiful owl who looked like he probably had a wingspan as long as mine.
Miles run this week: 12
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