My 2.5-mile Race Report (a.k.a. The Half That Didn't Happen)

Unfortunately, this isn't going to be the "I did it!" exciting race report I'd hoped. Just a forewarning.

As you can probably guess from my title, I did not run the half-marathon today. Thirteen weeks ago, I announced that I was going to run a comeback half, because I really felt ready to get back into running.

Training went really well for the first 10 weeks. I can honestly say that I enjoyed doing the long runs with Jerry. If not for him, it would have been a big struggle to get them done. We had a lot of fun together, and always felt so accomplished when we were done! (You can read my weekly reports here)

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm a bit of a mess right now. I am in a depressive episode of bipolar, and my anxiety has been acting up quite a bit as well. I've been stressed out and I feel a ton of pressure to turn things around, but I have such a hard time doing it. And the more time that passes, the more pressure I feel.

(Side note: Thank you SO MUCH, by the way, for all of the kind comments on my last post. I had full intentions of replying to each comment, but the irony is that I am lacking motivation to do anything right now. I hope to reply soon. But I really do appreciate all of the kindness. If not for you all, I don't know how I would get through things sometimes. You have been so helpful and so kind. Thank you.)

Anyway, I still planned to run today's half-marathon up until last night. The weather forecast had been looking bad for a while, but with Michigan weather, you never know until it's right on top of you. One day (yesterday) it can be sunny and 70, and the next day (today) it can be 35, pouring rain, with 20 mph winds.

This screen shot was two hours after the start of the race, so the weather wasn't even this good during the race itself.

When I signed up for this race, I had no intentions of setting a PR, or even hitting a certain time. I simply wanted to make running FUN again and enjoy it! My sister wanted someone to run this race with her, so I agreed that this would be my comeback race. Jerry signed up as well, and I could picture the three of us jogging the course, laughing, maybe taking some pictures, and just having fun.

As the weather forecast got worse (due to the midwest SNOW storm!) I started wondering how fun this was going to be. I had paid a lot of money for us to do the race (and the kids were signed up for the 5K), so I was pretty insistent that we were going to do it. My sister came into town yesterday, and as we talked about what to do, we looked at the forecast again and after a ton of deliberation, decided not to do the race.

It was a gamble. If it turned out to be a nice day, I was going to be bummed that we decided not to do it! When we got up this morning, though, I was very confident that we made the right decision. It's been raining all day, and not just drizzle, or scattered rain--it's raining pretty hard. There is a flood warning, and tonight we actually have a WINTER STORM WARNING... in April!

I know this sounds like a lot of excuses, and back in my running heyday, I would have rolled my eyes at the thought of a runner skipping a race due to weather. I ran a marathon when the heat index was over 100 degrees, for God's sake! But it wasn't fun. And since I want to have FUN running again, today's race would not have been the way to do that.

So, this is my long-winded way of explaining why I didn't do the race today. Instead, Jeanie (my sister) suggested that we do the "race" at the Rec center on the treadmills. I had to stop and think about what could possibly be worse--hypothermia while running outside? Or running for over two and a half hours on a treadmill?

However, I was somehow convinced that it might actually be enjoyable to have the three of us (Jeanie, Jerry, and me) running side by side at the gym. I figured that if I absolutely hated it, I could just quit early.

Last night, I downloaded a movie and a couple of TV shows to my iPad, as well as several podcast episodes that sounded interesting. The gym opened at 9:00 this morning. Jeanie was registered to run the 5K AND the half marathon (16.2 miles total), so she came over to my house to run 5K on my treadmill before we headed to the gym.

I read my race report of this race from 2013, and the breakfast I'd eaten that day looked SO good that I really wanted to eat it again today. So, I made it--oatmeal with strawberries and mini chocolate chips. (I was lucky that I had frozen strawberries on hand). (It was kind of eerie reading the race report--the same weather issues happened back then, too! The outcome was different, then, though.)

When we got to the Rec, I immediately didn't like the set up of the room or the treadmills themselves. At home, my treadmill has a nice holder for my iPad, so it's directly in my line of vision. The treadmills at the gym had a console that was very low, so I had to just set my iPad on that (which forced my head to look down while running, and that's not good running posture).

The room itself doesn't have any fans, and it's fairly small. I immediately worried about getting way too hot. The treadmill had a tiny little fan on it, but that is never enough (at home, I have a very strong floor fan that I use).

Side note:
Yesterday, I got another ear piercing--my tragus, which is that little nub in the front of your ear.

Eli wanted to get his ear lobes pierced, and I have been wanting to do my left tragus for a while; I was just waiting for the newer piercings in my right ear to heal first. So, after I picked him up from track practice yesterday, we had a mother-son bonding experience at the tattoo shop, hahahaha.

Anyway, the point of that is that I discovered I can't comfortably wear earbuds right now. Once my piercing heals, I think it'll be okay, but I didn't want to mess around with it too much and have my ear get inflamed. That was another bummer about running at the gym; at home, I can just turn the volume up loud and I don't need to wear earbuds.

I turned on a movie called Jungle, which was supposed to be pretty action packed and suspenseful--just what I needed for a 13.1 mile run on the treadmill! I had a hard time concentrating on it, though, because there were a bunch of high school guys on the machines behind me (I think it was a wrestling team or something). Their coach was yelling instructions for them to go faster, etc, and the room echoed his voice really loudly, so I couldn't hear my movie well.

I realized that I just wasn't having fun. And since my goal with getting back to running is making it fun, I wasn't accomplishing that at all. It seemed stupid for me to continue to run for 13.1 miles when I didn't enjoy it. So, I decided to run for 30 minutes for the cardio workout, and then I called it quits. I had been running at 5.0 mph, and only completed 2.5 miles total. Thankfully, we drove to the Rec center separately in case that happened, so I wished Jeanie and Jerry luck and then I headed home.

I felt like a failure, but again, my goal was to have fun. And that just wasn't happening. Jerry made it through 10 miles before his knee started bothering him and he quit. He was really disappointed, but I was super impressed with him for getting that far on a treadmill!

Jeanie simply blows my mind. She is a fucking ROCKSTAR when it comes to running on the 'mill! She did all 16.2 miles (as I knew she would--she regularly does her long runs on the treadmill).

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. On one hand, I know I made the right decision to skip the actual race (the rain + cold + wind would have been miserable). On the other hand, I am disappointed in myself for not getting in all 13.1 miles today as planned.

My goal was to have fun, so I failed at that--but most of that was out of my control. I'm sure if the weather had been nice and we ran the race together in Dearborn, I would have enjoyed it a lot! But the alternative option wasn't much better, so in that aspect, I feel like I made the right decision as well.

Where do I go from here? Well, I want to continue to run. What I don't want, though, is any pressure when it comes to running. I want to enjoy it! Just as last year was all about living my happiest life, I want to work on that again the best I can. I haven't figured out the details yet, but I'm thinking that I'd like to keep my running plan simple--maybe 30 minutes 4-5 times per week. I'd like to run at a very easy pace. It would be a great time to do heart rate training again (running at a low heart rate to improve my endurance). My most enjoyable runs are when I run at a low heart rate, so it would be a good solution.

The heart rate training was very helpful with my weight loss, too. So, maybe I can take off the 15 pounds that I've picked up, and actually enjoy myself while doing it. (Of course, it's going to take a dietary change to drop the weight, but the running does help me mentally as far as motivating me to eat better.)

Now that the race is over, I feel a giant sense of relief. I didn't finish it, obviously, but now it's not hanging over my head. Now I can return to focusing on what makes me happy. I've learned that I don't enjoy running more than about six miles at a time, so I'm thinking that I will stick with a 10K or shorter distance. I probably won't do any races (at least not in the foreseeable future). What sounds best to me right now is just no-pressure running for fitness and enjoyment (and feeling a sense of accomplishment, no matter what the distance or speed).

So, despite not finishing what I started 13 weeks ago, today wasn't a total bust. I learned what I want to get out of running, what I enjoy and don't enjoy, what makes me feel pressured and what makes me happy.

I hope I can use these discoveries to get back on the right track to physical (and mental!) wellness. Jerry is going to be starting his Insanity workouts on Monday, and the last time he did that, he got in the best shape of his life. It'd be nice to get back into shape with him, so I'm going to work on finding a FUN way to do so! :)

(Check out Jerry's pictures from when he did Insanity a few years ago. The picture on the left is at his goal weight, but on Day 1 of starting the Insanity workouts. The pic on the right is after completing the Insanity workout regimen. I believe his weight stayed the same, but you can clearly see that he built some serious definition in his muscles.)

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The Big Fat Mess That Is My Life Right Now

I honestly don't even know where to begin. And at the same time, I really don't even know what to say.

I've been struggling in so many ways lately that I feel like I'm too far gone to fix it.

I mostly just feel very overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with all the things keeping me busy right now, of course; but also at all the things that I've dropped the ball on, and how badly I want to get back to the good place I was in last year.

Last year, I felt fantastic. After my bipolar diagnosis, I started the correct medication, and it worked wonders for me. I had a major breakthrough in therapy, which helped me to stop caring what other people think of me and to do what makes me happy.

And I was! I felt very happy, even though I had made some huge changes--like taking an indefinite hiatus from running, for example. My weight dropped down to my goal weight almost effortlessly, even without counting calories. I had quit drinking almost entirely, having a drink about once a month, which made me feel healthier. I was super productive with everything--my blog overhaul, getting my house cleaned and organized, and putting my life in order.

I'm not sure how/when/why it happened, but things have been changing over the last several months, and I feel like a big old mess right now.

I haven't been blogging much at all (other than the vacation posts I just did). Every time I think about writing, I feel anxious and stressed, so I just avoid it altogether. I've gotten very good at avoidance, which is only making me feel worse.

I haven't been doing a good job with the eating habits I'd developed last year, and I've fallen back into some of the old (bad) habits that will inevitably lead me to gain all the weight back if I don't take control over it. For example, I started drinking coffee with cream and sugar. I had completely given up coffee in 2011, and on the rare occasion I did have it, I would add a tiny bit of cream, but no sugar. Now, drinking coffee adds a couple hundred calories to my day!

My weight is inching very closely to 150--I went on vacation last week and gained 5 pounds, and hoped it would come off when I got home. Well, that didn't happen. A week later, and it's still there. At 148 pounds, I am now 15 pounds over my comfortable weight of 133.

I haven't run in two and a half weeks. At all. My last run was the 11-miler that I did with Jerry a few days before we went on vacation. I had hoped to get in a couple of runs while on vacation, but that didn't happen. Then I planned to get right back to it when we got home; but that didn't happen, either.

I have no excuses not to do it; I just keep putting it off for "one more day". The half-marathon that I was training for (and hadn't missed a single training run for, until after the 11-miler!) is on Saturday, and I have no idea if I'm even going to do it. Considering I was having IT band issues before the 11-miler, it probably wouldn't be smart to run a half-marathon after three weeks of not running. But I feel like I should do it--I paid for it and I worked very hard at it for 10 weeks.

I've been in a depressed episode of bipolar for a while now, and the worst part about it currently is that it's so physically tiring. I feel drained all the time, and a complete lack of motivation to do anything. I never sleep well when I have depression (even though I'm extremely tired, I basically just toss and turn for several hours and call that "sleep").

My boys have started their spring sports (Noah is playing baseball, and Eli is running track) and it has kept me very busy--which I think is a good thing, because otherwise, I might be even less productive than I already am. But it still adds stress to my days.

Something I mentioned on my last series of posts about vacation is that I am dealing with poor body image right now. And that is a very nice, sugar-coated way of saying that I am disgusted with how I look. It sounds so vain, I know, but I can't help but pick apart my flaws and focus on them.

A few days ago, I decided to curl my hair (something I never do) and wear make-up (a rarity these days) in the hopes that I would feel better about myself. We were going out to lunch with a group of people, so it was a good time to put effort into my appearance.

While I was getting ready, I told Jerry that it felt like "polishing a turd" (one of our favorite expressions)... it was almost embarrassing to think that doing my hair and make-up was going to make me look nice. I just don't feel pretty right now, and I can't help but focus on the negative. And then when nobody noticed (or at least didn't say anything) about my appearance, I felt extremely insecure. It was the same feeling I always had when I was obese--are people looking at me with my hair and make-up done and thinking "Why does she even bother?"

(And please, I am not asking for compliments!)

I am also feeling a ton of pressure from something going on in my personal life right now, and it's not helping at all. As someone with bipolar disorder, feeling pressured (about anything) is extremely stressful. It's like my brain is incapable of making a decision (even something as simple as what I want to eat) and that just adds to the pressure.

I realize this is an extremely negative post, and I hate that I can't write something more positive right now, but I know that many of you appreciate my candor and honesty. Hopefully, I'll be writing some positive (and still honest!) posts soon.

I've been thinking about what I can do to make myself feel better right now, and there are a few things I've considered...

I think I'd like to count calories again, at least until I get used to the routine of smaller portions at specific times of the day. Because my eating has been so off lately, I don't feel like my body recognizes correct portions anymore. So, calorie counting will help me to get back to that point.

Running. I think the pressure of the upcoming half-marathon is causing me so much stress that I have just been avoiding thinking about it altogether. I have a plan for what I'm going to do after the half-marathon--I haven't written about it yet, but in a nutshell, I'm planning to do heart rate training to not only build a base, but to get back into good cardio shape as well. It's the long runs that I really dislike while training, so I think I'll max out my running at a 10K distance. And for the foreseeable future, I'm going to be totally fine staying at the mid- to back-of-the-pack. No PR's!

Get back into my daily cleaning routine. I never feel good when my house is messy, and even though I've been doing the necessary tasks, I miss how clean the house was when I was at my peak of happiness.

Take the time every day to do something I enjoy. Lately, I've been so busy taking care of everything/everybody else that I haven't been doing the pastimes that I find therapeutic, in a way--sewing, my bullet journal, reading books, etc.

Look for patterns in my emotions/activities/behaviors to see if I can find what makes me feel my best. I started using an app called Nomie 2 that I think will be helpful to track these things.

Anyways, I am sure I am missing things I could add, but I am so tired right now--it's after midnight, and I have to get up at 6:00 to get the kids ready for school. Again, I apologize for such a downer of a post. I am sure I will regret posting so many personal feelings in the morning, but if it's how I'm feeling this very moment, I might as well document it and get it over with. (Actually, writing and posting this will probably help me to feel better--lighter, in a way).

I keep nodding off as I write this, so I am not even going to check for spelling or grammar. Hopefully it all makes sense!

To end on a positive note, Luke (my nephew) got his first haircut today... how cute is he?!

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 10 of Half-Marathon Training

Thank you so much for the kind comments on my last post. My mood has been all over the place, and it sounds like a "mixed state" of bipolar--having symptoms of depression and hypomania at the same time (of course, it's only the bad hypomanic symptoms that I'm experiencing right now). Mine is depression dominant right now, which is basically meeting the criteria for depression while having some hypomanic symptoms as well.

It's not been fun! It's been difficult for me, but also difficult for those around me--not sure what my mood is going to be like. The hardest part right now is the insomnia. When I'm depressed, I have terrible insomnia. But when I'm hypomanic, I have no need for sleep. And there is a big difference! Insomnia makes me SO SO tired, but I cannot fall asleep for anything. And I'm constantly exhausted from the lack of sleep. To the contrary, having "no need" for sleep due to hypomania means I am wide awake and perky with just a few hours of sleep, and I don't feel the effects of not sleeping.

Over the past couple of days, I've started feeling a little better as far as the depression goes. I'm hoping that once we get home from vacation, I'll be able to relax because I'll stop worrying about everything having to do with the trip. (It seems like vacation is relaxing for everyone except the person who does all the planning!)

The weather is looking pretty "eh" for Boston. No snow, but lots of rain... it has rained EVERY single time I've gone to Boston! I've been to Portland, which is known for being rainy, five (six? five?) times in the last three years, and it has rained just ONCE. But for each of the three times I've gone to Boston, it has rained significantly. So, the rain part doesn't surprise me. Thursday looks decent--55 and cloudy--for the whale watching. That's the one thing that I really hope we'll have good weather for.

The kids and Jerry are very excited about going, and that's all that matters. Maybe once we get there, I'll relax a bit and enjoy it!

The kids are doing sports for school (Eli is running track and Noah is playing baseball) and I've had a trillion forms to get done with tomorrow as a deadline. I only received these papers on Wednesday! They had to have a physical (thankfully, my doctor was willing to see them on such short notice), and today I have to go get some forms notarized. Isn't that crazy? I have to sign a "consent to play" paper (saying that I give consent for my child to participate in that sport) in front of a notary public! So, it has been stressful trying to get all this done before we leave, on top of getting ready for vacation.

But, like I said, I am starting to feel better. I have some cool things to look forward to over the next couple of months, and I'm going to be staying super busy with the boys' sports schedules. They've never really done schools sports before (cross country is with a running club), and I was so surprised when I saw the schedule for their sports this spring. Practice or games/meets every single day. It's going to be a big change of pace for the whole household. Fun, though!

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I've had an exhausting weekend, so I put off writing this until today. We are officially done with 10 weeks of half-marathon training! 

Like I mentioned before, I ran into a little trouble with my IT band. It wasn't terrible--just a little nag that I noticed and was concerned with. The last thing I wanted was to get injured this far into training. I had been working on it with a foam roller, and Jerry "massaged" it (I put that in quotes because it was NOT a nice massage--it hurt like a bitch). I think the massage helped the most, actually.

I was worried all week about whether I'd be able to get in my 11 mile long run before going on vacation. I worked out our schedule so that we wouldn't have to do a long run on vacation (trying to run 12 miles while on a family vacation is crazy).

I knew if I could just get through the 11 miler, I would be able to get through the half-marathon, even if I don't get in another long run. It wouldn't be fun, but I could do it. (I do have a 12-miler scheduled for when we get back, though.) I was just very worried that I'd have to quit training altogether and/or drop out of the race.

Anyway...

Our training week looked like this:

Tuesday - Tempo Run (25 minutes + 5 min warm up and 5 min cool down)
Wednesday - 3 miles easy
Friday - 4.5 miles easy
Sunday - Long Run (11 miles)

Here is how it actually went...

Tuesday - Rest

My knee had been bothering me after our long run on Sunday, and then again on Monday. I decided to push this run to Wednesday, and hopefully squeeze in the rest during the week. I would rather be cautious than worry about getting it in on Tuesday.

Wednesday - 30 minute easy run

This run was the planned tempo from Tuesday, but once I started running, I just wanted to make sure I got through it without having any problems with my IT band. So, instead of doing the scheduled tempo run, I decided to run for 30 minutes. Toward the last few minutes, I started getting that nagging feeling in my knee. *Cue catastrophic thinking*

Thursday - 4.5 mile easy run

I ran outside. It was nice running weather, and I just couldn't stand the thought of the treadmill. I was supposed to do 4.5 miles, and I just hoped I could do it without IT band issues. I didn't pay any attention to my heart rate or pace (I didn't even look at my watch, actually) and I just ran easy. I couldn't stop focusing on my knee, but I didn't have any issues with it. I was so glad!

I managed to finish the run, and I was very surprised to see my pace under 11:00. My heart rate was high, though, because I hadn't been paying attention to it. Anyway, I was happy to have finished.

The next day, my knee was bothering me again. It was so frustrating! Jerry spent a long time massaging it, and I just hoped it would help me to be able to run on Saturday for our long run. (Jerry had to work on Sunday, so we decided to do our long run Saturday instead, in order to run together).

Friday - Rest

Because of the IT band irritation from Thursday, and the impending long run on Saturday, I decided to rest on Friday instead of trying to squeeze in a fourth run this week.

Saturday - Long run (11 miles)

This was the moment of truth. If I could get through this run, my confidence would be very high that I would be able to finish training and run the half next month. My knee felt okay while I was getting ready to go, but I was still completely pessimistic.

I decided to park near the Metropark and we could do two out and back routes from the car--one through the park (7 miles) and one the opposite direction (4 miles). That way, if my knee started acting up, I would have a chance to quit. We chose the 4-miler first, because the 7-miler through the Metropark would have bathrooms and water at the turnaround point--when we'd likely need it most.

Again, I didn't watch my heart rate, but whenever Jerry noticed we were running too fast (under 11:00), I told him to slow us down. I wanted to make sure I got through this run!

I made it through the first out and back (four miles) no problem. We stopped at the car for a second to drink a little water, and then we headed toward the Metropark. This is where it got cool for me. I had run this route so many times with Jessica while marathon training, and I knew all the landmarks that were significant.

So, instead of focusing on running seven more miles, I just focused on the next landmark. (From the car to the traffic light; going from the woods to the fields; the random grassy hill; the wooden bridge (which was exactly one mile from the turnaround point); the marina (bathrooms/turnaround); then, all of it again in reverse).

Focusing on getting to the next landmark instead of on mileage and/or time made the run go by so much faster! We had good conversation, too, especially the last four miles or so. We made it back to the car, and I couldn't believe I'd actually done it--11 miles!

I didn't have any trouble with my knee (I'd worn a brace, just in case). It was a huge confidence booster as far as the race goes. That was definitely my favorite of our long runs together. Again, I was kind of shocked at our pace--sub 11:00! I had been planning on 11:15-11:30.

We each got a long run treat on the way home, and I picked out tiramisu. It was SO good!

So, I only got in three out of four runs this week, but I'm glad I skipped the one I did; if I hadn't, maybe I wouldn't have been able to finish the 11-miler. Yesterday, I woke up feeling slightly sore from the run, but no issues with my IT band at all. We're going to be doing a lot of walking in Boston, so I'm grateful that I won't be limping!

I penciled in a few short runs for our trip, so that we can use the hotel treadmills to run 3-4 miles on a few days. But even if we don't run at all while we're gone, we'll still have 11 days left of training before the race.

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We went to visit my nephew, Luke, yesterday, and he LOVES playing with Noah and Eli. Eli especially adores Luke, so he spent the whole afternoon letting Luke chase him around the house. (Luke is walking now!! It seems like just yesterday that he was born.) He is the cutest baby! I love watching him laugh with my boys.

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 9 of Half-Marathon Training

Nine weeks of training... done!

When I started this training for the Martian Invasion Half, I honestly didn't really have much confidence that I'd stick with it. I'd had a hard time getting back into running after taking so much time off, and considering that running was much more difficult than it was a year ago, I was a little worried that I'd bitten off more than I could chew.

However, I knew that I had to make a bold, public statement of my goal, and write/talk about it frequently so that I would feel embarrassed if I chose to quit. If I hadn't been so public about my goal, I can honestly tell you that I would have quit the first week. The power of saving one's pride is strong! haha

The training continues to get better and better, and the running has gotten easier. I still have good runs and bad runs, but that is true whether I'm in the best shape of my life or the worst.

Today was a big milestone--double digit miles! Jerry and I had our first 10-miler together. But, I'll write about that later. Here is the recap for the week of training...

Our schedule for the week looked like this:

Tuesday - Speed work (intervals)
Wednesday - Easy run (3 miles)
Friday - Easy run (4 miles)
Sunday - Long run (10 miles!)

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Tuesday - Intervals
5 minutes easy
5 x (3 minutes hard, 3 minutes walk)
5 minutes easy

I always dread intervals; and then afterward, I feel fantastic and I'm glad I did them. The last time I did intervals was February 20th, and I had 6 x 2 minutes hard. I had run the hard parts at 7.2 mph on the treadmill, and when I was done with that workout, I was COMPLETELY spent. I honestly felt like I couldn't have done anything more.

So, this workout was similar, but the hard intervals were 3 minutes each instead of 2. That's a pretty big difference when you're running really hard. But, I decided to try and do the intervals at the same speed as the 2-minute ones a few weeks ago. That meant 3 minutes at 7.2 mph, and repeat that for a total of 5 times.

Somehow, I managed to do it! It was very tough, but I stuck it out. And honestly, when I was done, I didn't feel as "spent" as I was last time. I don't think I couldn't have done it much faster, but I definitely had a little left in the tank. So, I'm certainly improving.

Here are the intervals stats. I completely forgot about this app on my phone, and I like it better than Garmin Connect. It shows my heart rate along with all the other stuff, which I liked a lot during heart rate training.

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Wednesday - Easy Run (3 miles)

This run was not as planned. I did not run 3 miles on Wednesday. Hell, I didn't even run on Wednesday at all! I had a rough day as far as my anxiety and even depression goes, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I knew that I couldn't skip it altogether (when I started my training plan, Thomas said that if I didn't skip any of my training runs, he would come visit--a huge incentive).

So, in the 11th hour, I decided that I'd just run on Thursday instead (which is usually a rest day).

On Thursday, I was feeling much better. The weather was gorgeous, and I really do enjoy running in the evenings (which I've been doing a lot lately). Almost as soon as I started running, I decided to do my 4-miler instead of my 3-miler. When I'm feeling good, I try to take advantage of it!

This was one of the best runs I've had in a long time. I ran at what felt to be a super easy pace, keeping my heart rate under 150 (ideally, it would be 144 or less, but recently, I'm happy to keep it under 150). I felt really happy to be outside and doing a nice, easy exercise.

It was exactly what I needed after the crappy day I'd had before!

Poor Phoebe loves being outside, but we don't let her wander. There are coyotes and foxes and eagles in the state land across the street that would love to get a hold of her. So, I bring her outside with me sometimes and let her sit on my lap. She (clearly) loves it.

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Friday - Easy Run (4 miles)

This run, as I mentioned, wasn't what was planned. Since I ran 4 miles on Thursday, I only had to run 3 miles on Friday. On this run, I decided to consciously try to keep my heart rate at or under 144 bpm. I like having a focus that has nothing to do with pace. I only looked at my watch every quarter mile or so, though. I didn't want to constantly check it.

Also, I had to stop at my parents' house to feed their cat, so I chose the 3-mile route that includes going past their house a mile in. Again, I felt really good during this run--the evening runs are fantastic for my mentality!

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Sunday - Long Run (10 miles!)

This was the big milestone--10 miles. Double digits!

I definitely wanted to do this run with Jerry. We've done all of our long runs together so far, and will continue to do so when we can. (Although, we only have a couple left before the race.) He slept until 12:30, and we planned on leaving at around 1:00. I was shocked when I looked at the weather--it was 62 degrees outside!!

I dressed in my Heat Gear capris and a performance t-shirt. With as cold as it's been, I was super skeptical that I wouldn't freeze to death, but I'm starting to learn to trust the weather app. I'm always so cold on a regular basis that it's hard to trust when it's supposed to be warmer.

We wanted to go to a park that is about 30 minutes away, but Noah had to be at his piano lesson at 4:45, so I wasn't sure we'd have enough time. Ultimately, we decided against it, and played it safe--we planned to do two of the 5-mile loops at the State Park, which is less than 10 minutes away. In retrospect, I really wish we'd chosen differently.

The State Park has some really gorgeous scenery, and it would be the perfect place to run--if not for the paved path itself. It REALLY needs to be repaved--there are tree roots that have pushed the asphalt up and caused it to crack and crumble. It has a slant throughout the entire path, which is not good when it comes to causing injuries. (That's actually how I developed a stress fracture in my fibula.)

We did our 7-mile run at the State Park a few weeks ago, but only 5 miles of it was on the rough path (2 miles were on the newly paved path), so I didn't have any problems then. Today, doing all 10 on the bad path was a different story.

Halfway through the run today, my ankles were really feeling all the bumps, cracks, and slopes of the path. I stopped and stretched twice in the last couple of miles. My left IT band was bothering me, too, especially on the very sloped parts of the path. I told Jerry that if it started to feel like it might be injured, I was going to walk the rest of the way to the car. The last thing I want is to get injured going into week 10 of training!

We finished the run, and our legs were definitely feeling it. We stretched, and we had to get home to take Noah to his lesson, so I planned to use the foam roller on my IT bands later. By the time I got home, I wasn't hurting, but I definitely feel like my legs will be sore tomorrow. My hamstrings feel tight, so I'm going to stretch those really well, too.

Anyway, we did it! We hit our 10-mile long run, and I kept my heart rate at 145 bpm (so close to the ideal 144!). My cardio felt great today--if not for the bad pavement causing problems with my legs, it would have been a near-perfect run.

The good company and conversation made the run go by pretty quickly. I've said it several times, and I'll say it again: training with a parter has made such a big difference in my attitude. It's so much nicer than running those long runs by myself!

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And there we have it! Nine weeks of training. Now just four weeks until the race :)

I've been thinking quite a bit about what my next venture will be as far as running goes once the race is done, and I made a decision that I feel pretty excited about. I'll write about that soon!

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 8 of Half-Marathon Training

Hey, Friends! It's been a while. I have had a tough week mentally, and my anxiety has been kind of overwhelming. The thought of writing a blog post just made it worse, so I have been avoiding all blog things all week. But today, I wanted to do my weekly recap of my training. I'll write more about the mental stuff tomorrow.

This was week 8 of Martian Invasion half-marathon training. As you know, I'm following my "First-Timer's Half-Marathon Training Plan" (along with Jerry, because we are both running the race together).

This week was a step back week, meaning reduced mileage and intensity. There wasn't a huge difference compared with last week, but because this is a beginner plan, the "regular" weeks aren't very intense anyways. Here is what was on the schedule for the week:

Tuesday: Easy Run (35 minutes)
Wednesday: Easy Run (3 miles)
Friday: Easy Run (3 miles)
Sunday: Long Run (6 miles easy)

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Tuesday - Easy Run (35 minutes)

Tuesday is usually speed work, but because it was a step-back week, it was just an easy run. The speed work is usually measured in time instead of miles, so that stayed consistent.

This run was odd. Like I said, my anxiety has been bad all week--and my mood has been sad. Tuesday was the worst of it. Because of my mood, I procrastinated my run all day. I just wanted to skip it so badly!

It started to sprinkle outside, and it wasn't exactly warm, so I planned to just do the treadmill. But then the thought of running in the cold rain made me feel better--I thought it seemed appropriate for my mood, and getting outside for a little bit sounded good. It was evening, and with the overcast sky, it was a little dark. I wore my reflective vest, even though the sun hadn't gone down or anything. Better safe than sorry.

I dressed really warm, and I listened to a mental health podcast. I was really enjoying it! And then halfway through, my phone died because of the cold. I have an iPhone 6, and when my phone gets really cold, the battery dies. But then later, when I plug it in, the battery is magically back up to 40-50%. I don't get it.

But I was bummed, because I was interested in listening. I was irritated with the drivers that day, too. People don't pay any fucking attention to the road! Everyone is texting on their phones or otherwise occupied, and I can't count the number of times I nearly had to jump into a ditch to avoid getting hit by a car.

Then, I started getting chased by a dog... an ENORMOUS Great Dane. Seriously?! I've gotten so much better about what to do when approached by a dog, which I'll write about tomorrow, but I yelled at it to go home, and finally it retreated. That's a busy road, and the people who live in the house don't watch their dog very well (obviously).

But, I ended up finishing the run and, despite everything, I felt so much better. I was soaked and cold, but it felt good on my body. I took a hot shower and dressed in my pajamas for the evening.

Wednesday - Easy Run (3 miles)

This time, I chose the treadmill. It was too late to go outside (unless I wanted to run in the dark, and after Tuesday's encounter with drivers and the dog, I just decided it'd be better on the treadmill). Instead of watching The Shield, I listened to the rest of the podcast I'd missed out the day before. I thought I'd miss having a screen in front of me for something to watch, but I enjoyed the podcast and the time went by kind of quickly.

I was super sweaty after this run! Some days, I barely break a sweat, and others, I'm just dripping--even when doing the same workout. This was one of those days where I was soaked.

I noted to myself that I really shouldn't run that late in the evenings (6:45 pm). My back was killing me (the pain gets worse throughout the day) and I felt achey during the run. I really should try to start before 5:00-ish.

Friday - Easy Run (3 miles)

This was basically the exact same run the day before; only this time, I did it in the morning. I had errands to get done in the late morning, and I wanted to shower beforehand, so I might as well get the run done and shower. I listened to a podcast again. I like doing that! On my long runs, I'll probably still watch a show on my iPad, but the shorter runs are nice for podcasts.

Sunday - Long Run (6 miles)

After running 9 miles last weekend, I was pretty excited that I "only" had 6 miles scheduled today. Even if I had to do them on the treadmill, I wouldn't have minded it so much. But, the day turned out to be gorgeous running weather!

I wanted to go somewhere away from home to run, and instead of one of the parks, Jerry and I decided to go park in downtown Monroe and run the path along the river. When we pulled up to the parking lot, I noticed a very interesting sight...

A dog, wearing snow goggles, standing on a fire hydrant.

Hahaha! When I got out of the car, I asked the owner if I could take a photo. Then Jerry and I chatted with him for a little bit, because I was so curious about--well, the dog standing on the fire hydrant. He explained that he's a dog trainer for Sit Means Sit, and he demonstrated with Shadow (his dog) lots of her amazing obedience training. I was in awe.

He gave me his business card, and I think we're going to check it out for Joey. Joey is a fantastic dog, and I really can't complain. But there are a couple of things he could improve on. For example, when someone comes to the door, I tell him to go lie down on his bed--and he does. I tell him to stay--and he does. But as soon as I turn my back to greet the person at the door, or if I get otherwise distracted, he sneaks off his bed and rushes the guests before I tell him he can get up.

Anyway, that was fun. Jerry and I headed off on our run, and it felt really good for the first couple of miles. When we got to the park (the lollipop part of a lollipop route), the path was all mud. We kept going, running on the grass, hoping that the path would clear up. But we finally ended up turning around and doing a different route because the mud was just too bad. It was definitely our slowest mile.

My heart rate stayed pretty low overall (146 bpm--ideal would have been 144), and our pace was 11:11/mile. It was a good run!

Overall, this week was pretty decent. My favorite run was the one I ran in the freezing rain. It just felt "right", and I enjoyed it. None of the runs were terrible, so that's a win!

Next week is a big milestone for us--double digits for our long run. We are both pretty nervous, which is kind of ridiculous. But it'll be a fun one to knock off our schedule.

On to Week 9!

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 7 of Half-Marathon Training

I could not be more exhausted right now. The whole week kind of wore me out, but today especially makes me feel like I could just fall asleep for hours and hours.

Jerry and I have officially finished our training for week 7--this was a big milestone, because now we only have 6 weeks to go! We are more than halfway done. Unless you count the actual mileage--haha, then we've got a long way to go.

Our schedule for the week looked like this:

Tuesday - Speed work (tempo run)
Wednesday - Easy run (3 miles)
Friday - Easy run (4 miles)
Sunday - Long run (9 miles)

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Tuesday - Tempo run (30 minutes total)
(5 minutes easy running, 20 minutes at tempo pace, 5 minutes easy run)

This was the first speed work I'd been able to do outside. The streets were clear of ice and snow, and running outside sounded much more appealing than doing it on the treadmill. (Believe it or not, sometimes the treadmill sounds better to me.)

Usually, I get nervous for tempo runs. They're hard! And because I'm only doing speed work once a week, I wanted to try to have a good pace for the tempo portion--faster than what a tempo typically would feel like. On this day, however, I wasn't nervous. I was just curious as to what my actual hard pace would be.

I started with the five minute warm-up at a nice, slow pace; then I started running hard enough to where it was uncomfortable, but not so hard that I didn't think I'd be able to finish the run. I started to second guess myself after about five minutes of that pace, though, haha. I tried not to look at my pace too much, and just run by feel.

I couldn't wait to hit the 20 minute mark and then jog the rest of the way home. My Garmin was set so that each portion was a lap of its own, so I wasn't sure what my actual mile splits were. I just had to wait until I got home to check it out.

First, I had to let Joey come outside and check out my breath so he could see that I wasn't eating all sorts of good things while I was away (he's so weird--he's not a licker, but he likes to smell people's breath).

I was really surprised and excited to see my pace for the tempo portion!

My tempo pace was 9:17/mile for 2.15 miles. That may be nowhere near what I was running before, but now that I'm considering myself a "beginner" again, I'm pretty psyched about it! Remember my first run when I started to get back to running, and I had to push really hard to hit a sub-11:00 mile? So, this half-marathon training is definitely helping me get some fitness back. It feels good.

And I am super proud of the 9:17 pace I ran on Tuesday!

Wednesday - 3 miles easy

Again, I ran this one outside--the weather was perfect for a run! Jerry came with me. I decided to actually make this run about my heart rate--I wanted to keep it at or below 144 bpm (180 minus my age). The first mile felt really difficult for some reason, and I was having a hard time talking. But my heart rate was good, so I just hoped to tough it out.

I was very chatty, and I told Jerry a long story about something or another, and the run went by really quickly! I glanced at my heart rate every so often, and was surprised to see that it was staying low--especially with all the talking I was doing. It was a true "conversational" pace, which is what an easy run should be.

I felt great during the run, and very happy to see that I kept my heart rate low for the entire three miles. My average heart rate was 142 bpm (maximum of 148, which was when we had to dart across the street quickly). And my pace happened to be 11:14/mile at that heart rate. Very surprising!

Friday - Easy run (4 miles)

We had a terrible snow storm on Thursday night. It was just warm enough for the snow to be the heaviest, wettest snow possible. In other words, slush--everywhere. It was the texture of a Slurpee. And there was flooding all over the place.

Overnight, it got really cold. Our power went out from 10 pm until 3 am, and the house was freezing! All the slush outside turned to ice, so there was no way I was going to run outside. I did my four miles on the treadmill while watching an episode of The Shield.

I was SO HOT running inside the house, even with a big fan blowing on me. I couldn't keep my heart rate down for anything, and I had to get done with my run in time to pick up the kids for school. So, I just ran the slowest I could while still having enough time to take a two-minute shower and head to the school.

Sunday - Long run (9 miles)

I can't believe our long runs are almost in the double digits! Today's long run was the final one before next week's "step back" week (less mileage). I was thrilled that Jerry was able to run it with me, and make the time go by faster.

We haven't run any long runs together until training for this half-marathon. Running today was certainly the longest run we've done together. Jerry had never done one of my favorite routes that starts in the city where I grew up, and it goes right past the neighborhood where Jerry lived in high school, so I wanted to show him that route. (Jessica and I did that route a lot when we were training for the Cleveland Marathon.)

Jerry was our "mule"--wearing the CamelBack and carrying all of our random stuff.

The time goes by so quickly when I run with Jerry! We talk the entire time. This particular route has several milestones that I look forward to hitting, which also makes it go by fast. I wasn't even going to bother with my heart rate today, because I just wanted to enjoy the run and chat. I just tried to keep the pace "conversational".

It was an out-and-back route, so we turned around at mile 4.5, and from there, it was just a matter of getting back to the car. That's one thing I love about out-and-back routes!

I glanced down at my watch at one point and saw that we were at mile 6.95, and our pace was 11:06. I asked Jerry, "Hey, do you want to make this one sub-11? We just have to sprint for a super short distance." And he said sure, so we took off for the last 0.05 of the mile. We hit the mile mark with a 10:57 pace. And then spent the next quarter mile catching our breaths, hahaha.

We were both so excited to get back to the car and stretch. I've gotten to the point where I really look forward to stretching after a run--it felt so good! Then, we were planning to take an "after" pic, and Jerry saw the perfect backdrop:

And yes, yes we are. But we have fun, and that's all we care about! :)

Our splits for our long run:

I was surprised to see we had a second sub-11 mile in there, because we weren't trying for it. But I always tend to start running faster as I get closer to the end, so I'm sure that's what I did; we also had a tailwind.

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Overall, our week went great! I can't say that I was miserable during any of the runs. I was thrilled with Tuesday's tempo, the easy run with Jerry on Wednesday was fun, Thursday's wasn't much to speak of, but it wasn't bad; and today's run was a huge accomplishment in that we ran nine miles. The last time I ran this far was in March 2016!! Two full years ago.

Next week, we have a step back week, which is nice. Our long run will be six miles.

Today, I planned to get another cannoli from Monica's for my "long run treat"; but they closed before we got there :(  I forgot that they close early on Sundays. So, I ended up going to Kroger and getting a piece of lemon cake.

I took a tiny bite when I got home, and it's delicious. I'm actually kind of glad that I didn't get the cannoli, because lemon cake is my favorite kind of cake, and I don't get to eat it very often. I'm mentally and physically exhausted, and relaxing with a movie and my cake sounds amazing.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

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Weekend Wrap-Up: Week 6 of Half-Marathon Training

Almost halfway through half-marathon training! It's actually gone by so quickly, aside from the first week. The first week was the worst but, thankfully, the training has gotten much better. Jerry and I are now done with week 6 of my 13 week plan, and it's been going really well for both of us.

This week, I focused more on my heart rate and trying to keep it low during my easy runs. Ideally, I would keep my heart rate at or under 144 bpm (180 minus my age) for the duration of my easy runs.

I'm not entirely committed to heart rate training right now, because I care more about developing the habit of running four times a week than I do anything else; but sometime soon, I'd like to really take the heart rate training seriously like I did for my 10K training. I've been slowly trying to migrate into it, though.

My schedule for the week looked like this:

Tuesday - Speed work (intervals)
Wednesday - Easy run (3 miles)
Friday - Easy run (3.5 miles)
Sunday - Long run (8 miles!)

So, here's the rundown of the week's training...

Tuesday - Speed work

My intervals were:
5 minutes easy
6 x (2 minutes hard; 3 minutes walk)
5 minutes easy

The last time I did intervals, I only had to do 60 seconds at a time--so I did them at 7.6 mph. Since this time, I was doing 2 minutes at a hard pace, I decided to try 7.2 mph (an 8:20/mile pace). Let me tell you, two minutes is a LONG time when you're running at a hard pace! I literally didn't think I was going to be able to finish the workout, but I wanted to try. Jerry had done his intervals at 8.0 mph, and I was frustrated that I couldn't keep up with him!

I managed to do all six intervals at 7.2 mph. I was completely spent after that. It took everything out of me! It's so hard to believe that used to be a fairly easy pace for me. I did a half-marathon at at 8:30-ish pace, and now I can barely do two minutes at a time? I'm not complaining... I just find it unbelievable.

Anyway, I was thrilled to have finished this workout without dropping the pace. I really felt like I gave it my all.

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Wednesday - Easy run (3 miles)

This was an interesting run for me. Since the foot pod was SO accurate when compared to the treadmill, I was curious to see if it was actually accurate by using it outside on a known course. So, I turned off the GPS on my watch, and the only thing that was measuring my distance was my foot pod. I decided to run a familiar route that I run all the time, so I would know if the foot pod showed the same distance as the GPS did on previous runs.

Well, I kind of screwed it up. I got distracted by a dog that ran up to me, and I waited for the owner to come get the dog. Then I started running again, and I forgot to turn right instead of left. I realized it a couple of minutes later, and I was bummed. So, I just did a different route, and when I got home, I measured the route that I ran onto my Footpath app (you can trace roads and measure routes).

Using the foot pod, my Garmin showed a distance of 3.12 miles. And measuring the same route with the Footpath app? 3.12 miles. I couldn't believe it! The foot pod is just a little plastic thing the size of a quarter that hooks onto my shoe. I can use it on the treadmill, on the indoor track, etc, and now I know just how accurate it is. Pretty cool!

I felt fantastic on this run, too. Just very energized and the run felt very easy. My pace was 11:10 and my heart rate was 146, so that's really good compared to the usual.

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Friday - (Easy run - 3.5 miles)

I did this run outside with Jerry, because he was off work. The weather app showed the temp at 43 degrees, but it felt SO COLD. I focused on keeping my heart rate low again, trying to aim for 144. I actually managed to finish with a 144 bpm heart rate. My average pace was 12:12/mile, and it just kept getting slower and slower through the run. The last half mile, I had to run at 12:37 to keep my heart rate at 144! My legs felt very tired and heavy, though.

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Sunday - (Long run - 8 miles)

I was nervous for this run. Eight miles feels so long right now! When I first started this training, running eight miles again seemed impossible. The last time I ran this far was over a year ago when I was in San Diego. The weather app showed winds of 20 mph, so I knew today would be challenging.

Thankfully, Jerry was able to run with me! It's much more fun than running alone. I planned out a route for us at the State Park, and considering the park is right on the lake, I figured it would be crazy cold with all the wind. I wore the really warm pants I'd bought at Salvation Army, and a long-sleeved top (actually, the same top I'm wearing with the pants on the post I just linked to) with a wind breaking jacket over it. I wore a Buff over my ears, and warm gloves. I was prepared for the cold!

Once we got there and started running, I immediately realized that I dressed too warm. The sun was out and the trees were blocking the wind for the first few miles of the run. I was super whiny (poor Jerry). I took off my jacket, but with everything in my pockets (cell phone, key fob, chapstick, and a little tub of Aquaphor) my pockets were heavy and flopping around. I just hoped that when we got out into the open, instead of in the trees, it would get much colder and I'd need the jacket.

That's exactly what happened. When we hit the three-mile mark, we got a headwind, and it was COLD. I was very glad I didn't ditch my jacket somewhere (which I'd thought about doing). One we hit the halfway mark, I felt much better.

The run was harder because of the headwind, but knowing we were more than halfway done helped. We talked non-stop, and the last four miles went by very quickly. The whole run did, actually!

When we got back to the car, we stretched (which felt SO good) and we were both really proud of ourselves for running eight miles. We were thrilled to have gotten it done!

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Overall, this week went really well! I still can't really believe I'm up to running eight miles already (again). It feels good :)

At Jerry's suggestion, I decided to start doing a "long run treat" again. On the days that I do my long run, I'll get a special dessert or something that I don't get to eat often. Today, I decided to get a cannoli from Monica's Bakery. I am going to eat it when I'm done with this post. It looks delicious!

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Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 5 of Half Marathon Training

Let me start by saying that this week was everything that last week was not. Last week, I was bitter and dreaded running like you wouldn't believe. Thankfully, this week was much better!

I've made it through five whole weeks of training, and I haven't strayed from the schedule even once :)

My schedule for this week was as follows:

Tuesday - Speed work (Tempo Run)
Wednesday - 3 miles easy
Friday - 3 miles easy
Sunday - 7 mile long run

The roads were still very icy at the beginning of the week, and I was just praying that they would clear up before my long run today.

Tuesday - Tempo Run

10 minutes easy pace
15 minutes at tempo pace (hard enough to want to slow down, but not so hard that I want to die)
10 minutes easy pace

I always get a little nervous for tempo runs, because they are uncomfortable. They are the most helpful runs as far as training goes, though (at least for me), so they are necessary.

I started with 10 minutes at 5.0 mph (12:00/mi pace). Then I switched to my tempo pace--last time, I ran at 6.0 mph (10:00/mi) but I felt like I probably should have gone a little faster. So, I decided to run at 6.2 mph (9:40/mile) and see how I felt.

Surprisingly, I felt pretty good! It was tough enough that I was slightly uncomfortable, but I knew that I would be able to finish it. My heart rate was in the low 160's, which was right where I would like it to be for that run. Next time, I may try 6.3 mph.

After the tempo portion, I switched back to 12:00/mile. Finished!

Wednesday - Easy Run

3 miles at an easy pace

This run, I got fed up with the heart rate monitor. It was giving me erratic readings, probably because the battery was low. And I still have no idea how the HR monitor affects the pace on the watch (I remember reading about it a long time ago, and never really got an answer). But the pace was off as well, so while I was running, I just took off the monitor completely.

I ran at 5.5 mph (11:00/mile) for most of the run, until the end when I bumped it up just a little to get it done faster. When I was done with my run, I started looking online for a new heart rate monitor for my Garmin. I had looked before, but they are so expensive to replace! After lots of reading, I decided to go back to the old school monitor that I wore when I had the Garmin Forerunner 305.

It arrived in the mail in time for my next run! There is no monitor to snap on and off from the strap. It stays in one whole piece.

The front half (the part that goes under your boobs) of it is a rubbery/plastic material, which I find more comfortable than the newer version.

The clasp is nice--instead of sliding the elastic into a hook, you clip this in place...

The difference between the two (as far as the features go) is just that the newer model (it's commonly called the "soft strap" version) gives you readings such as ground contact time (how long your foot touches the ground when running), vertical oscillation (how high your body goes up in the air as you run), and it supposedly has an accelerometer in it so that you don't need a foot pod when running indoors.

Those features mean nothing to me--even though I absolutely love numbers and data, the ground contact time and vertical oscillation just don't turn me on. I never, ever look at those numbers. I also remembered the old school strap being more comfortable--I didn't get any chafing from it. And the battery is ten thousand times easier to change out.

As I mentioned last week, the soft strap HR monitor has four TINY screws to open the battery compartment, and it is nearly impossible to unscrew them without stripping the screws. I've "ruined" three of them that way. The old school strap is super easy--you just use a coin to turn the backing and it pops right off.

After using this again, I am so glad I made the switch! It's MUCH cheaper to buy, too--I got this Garmin strap for $16, versus $43 for the premium version I was using before. From the reviews I've read, these old school ones are better quality and last much longer than the newer ones, too. Sometimes old school is just the way to go ;)

Anyway, onward with my training...

Friday - Easy Run

3 miles at an easy pace

The ice melted!! I finally, finally got to run outside. This was the only run that I was procrastinating this week. I just didn't feel like running. I was super tired (I hadn't slept well at all) and I wanted to be lazy. I nearly talked myself into waiting until Saturday to do it, but I don't want to get into that habit of pushing my runs to the next day for no real reason.

I headed outside, and running outside was SO nice. I was absolutely freezing, though--the wind was strong, and it was really cold out. I should have dressed warmer, but it was only three miles. I stopped at my mom's house about a mile in because she asked me to feed her cat, and then finished the run.

I hadn't looked at my watch the entire time I ran, because I was truly curious to see what my outdoor pace was compared to the treadmill. I ran at a pace that felt similar to what I typically run on the treadmill. Nothing feels SUPER easy these days, treadmill or not, but I certainly didn't feel like I was pushing the pace too hard.

I was shocked, then, when I saw that my average pace was 10:01 for the three miles! I was thrilled that the treadmill at least wasn't making me get slower (not that it would, but it's hard to know how it will affect my outdoor running when I don't run outdoors for a while).

Anyway, it was a good run!

Sunday - Long Run

7 miles at an easy pace

This was my best (and favorite) run of the week! Last night, we got snow--and I was so bummed when I looked outside and saw the roads were covered. I thought I'd be doing my long run on the treadmill, and that was totally disheartening. The temps were supposed to warm to the mid-30's, so I hoped it would be enough to melt the snow by the afternoon.

I was in luck! I headed out at 1:30 pm, and the roads were clear. I really focused on running an easy pace, so that I didn't end up going too fast and hating it. I listened to a podcast while I ran, instead of music, so that I would be more likely to run slowly.

I also ran a route that I don't do very often, because I thought the change would help the mileage go by quickly. And it worked! I felt like the whole run went by so fast. I really enjoyed the run itself, which is rare for me. It felt amazing to be running outside again!

This run was a big confidence builder for me, too. When I first started training again, the thought of running even five miles was daunting. Running seven today means I ran more than half the distance I'll run on race day--exciting!

Next week's long run is eight miles, and that has always been an infamous distance for me. When I was a beginner running, it took me three tries to finish my eight-miler. When I finally did it, I was thrilled! And I have a fondness for that distance now ;)

So, the recap of the week in general is that I got in all my runs and my attitude was much better than last week. I'm going into next week with enthusiasm.

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