Will Run For Ice Cream

My longest run so far this year. Note to self, drive the course before running it for the first time. I didn't expect the hills, but it was a nice challenging run. I had to stop a few times to stretch my knee. The slant of the road really started to bother me. It's the same knee that has the 'lump' on it. I iced it after I got home, and I will ice it again tonight. But I loved the cooler temps. I'm pleased with my pace. It was a nice decent pace for me. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Well I definitely had a "that was stupid" moment. I decided to go do my 'long run' today instead of this weekend. The problem? Well first of all my foot is still sore. I'm not sure what the issue is there. But it hurts to flex my foot. I worked through that though for the most part. After my run, it is tender to walk. But it was 12:30 and HOT. I had my hydration belt so I really didn't think it would be too much of a problem - wrong. About 2.5 miles in, I decided to take the lower level by the River Front. DUH, there is absolutely NO shade. So here I was in the blazing sun and struggling doesn't even begin to describe it. I ran/walked 5 miles in a little under 55 minutes. Not my goal by any means, but at that point I just wanted to make it back to the car. Oh well, these things happen... on to the next run I suppose ...

Well today was my 'long run' for my Half Marathon training. At this stage, 6 miles is a long run for me. I got up early and drove to the Greenbelt. I had my hydration belt with me. But sometimes I use that as an excuse to walk more than I should. I'll tell myself that I need water when the reality is I just want to walk. So on my drive to park and run, I decided I would take water half way at 3 miles and walk while drinking the water. At mile 4, I wanted to stop and have another water break. But I knew the reality was that I didn't need water, I just wanted to stop. So I pushed on through the mental hurdle. I won't lie, I had to mentally push through the last two miles. But I did it, and I'm proud of myself for the accomplishment.

Well, I took the plunge and registered for the Hershey Half Marathon. Hopefully my hip is going to hold out this time around, and I will be able to complete my first half. Last year I got injured 3 weeks before the race and was unable to run. This year I'm going to try not to be lazy and not do all of my long runs where I can run from home. Instead I'm going to have to drive into town where I can run where it is flat. My hip just can't handle all of the hill work all of the time. Currently my hip is still sore. So I am a little apprehensive about the longer distances, but I think my biggest challenge will be mental. My goal is to run the entire race (other than walking at the water stops). I'm not putting a time on myself for this one. I just want to run the distance and finish. I am NOT a long distance runner. The training and the race for me will be a very big challenge - one that I'm pretty excited about out. (Talk to me in 12 weeks and see how excited I am t...

It's been a little while since I've written anything. I've been struggling mentally with my runs. I've been giving up and just walking. This last week though I had a good 3 mile run - nice pace and I didn't stop. This weekend I had a nice 6 mile hilly run. I took water and walked a little more on the last mile than I had wanted to, but I was pleased with myself for the run. I walked not because I mentally quit but because physically I knew that I needed a break. My heart rate was very high and I was having difficulty breathing. I could feel myself starting to wheeze. Today I went for a short 2 mile run. It was extremely hot and humid in addition to an Air Quality alert. But I got a nice short run. Tomorrow we are under a heat advisory. I'm thinking my cardio tomorrow will be swimming!

Well my goal usually always to PR and I really really want to break 26:00. But the main goal for this race was to just run strong and not give up on myself. I once again started out too fast (8:00 for the first mile). So I'm seriously going to have to work on that. And I allowed myself to slow down a little too much during the middle of the run, but overall I didn't give up and I kept going. My official time was 27:29 with a chip time for 27:25. At first I didn't think it was that humid. But the farther I ran, the more humid it felt. Overall I feel pretty good. Since the race, I've looked over my training schedule. I'm going to try to tweak a few things and see if that makes any difference. I'm frustrated that I'm getting farther from my goal instead of closer. So I'm going to change up a few things this week and run another 5K this weekend to see if there is any difference. But I'm looking forward to a 4 Mile run before work in the am.

Not my best run. First of all I wasn't mentally into it today. I knew it was going to be hot and humid. But I changed clothes, strapped on the belt with the water bottles and took off. I was barely a half mile into it and wanted to stop already. In fact, I think I did stop for water. But I trudged on. I stopped several times for water which also stopped the clock. So the 4 miles in 39:11 is misleading. Oh well, I suppose I got a decent work out in. I plan to get one more run in this week, and then I will run the 5K this weekend. Taking off last week has sort of unnerved me a little. I don't feel very prepared. I do plan to swim a couple of times this week along with strength training and some yoga. I'm glad I got out there today. Even though my run was 'blah' I still did it.