I'm Ready!

One week to go before my very first half marathon! I am getting pretty excited, I must admit. I had a decent week of training, and now it's time to taper. This week I only plan to run once, and ride my bike twice. I am taking Thursday through Saturday off so that my legs will be well rested for Sunday. The weather forecast has changed a few times already in the last few days. Right now it is supposed to be in the 50s with a 60% chance of rain. I HATE running in the rain, so needless to say I am keeping my fingers crossed that it changes. I've run in some nasty weather though, so I feel like I can handle whatever comes at me. I just want to finish and feel that I can do that no matter what. I have some soreness in my foot, but I think if I keep taking my motrin, icing and resting up that I will be just fine. After Sunday is over I plan to take a good week or two off to recover completely. I still have to tweak my music playlist- I need to have some slowish songs in the beginning. My tendency in races is to go out fast, but I know I can't do that if I am going to maintain or speed up my pace as I go on. I really intend to start slow and finish strong. I have my outfit all planned out- purple running skirt from Athleta, black underarmour short-sleeve top, arm warmers (too cold not too I think but I get too hot in long sleeve shirts), and pink calf sleeves. My bluetooth headphones will be all charged and ready to go, along with my Garmin and my ipod. I plan to carry my Camelback for water, as well as a package of Gu Chomps. I know there are plenty of water stops, but I really like to have water whenever I want it, which is usually often. I also hate dealing with all the people that bunch up at water stops and then I also would have to walk. I don't want to encourage myself to do that and plus I have done all of my long runs with the Camelback and it was fine. As far as the Chomps, I will try to eat some at the beginning and then maybe around miles 5 and 10. The only concern I have is that in the past, they didn't sit too well early in the morning. But I am hoping that since I will have already eaten breakfast and been up for several hours that my body will be confused and will tolerate it fine. Nothing else really works for me energy-wise- gels are gross and I don't care for Gatorade-type drinks. I feel like I am ready for this and I have trained hard. I definitely had some setbacks and didn't get in all of the mileage that I had planned to, but I worked hard. My goal is simple- finish on my feet, with a smile on my face. Oh, and if the clock reads anything less than 2 1/2 hours, that would be even better.

Absentee Blogger

Bad blogger, bad! Well, today is two weeks from the big half marathon. I haven't had a great month of training, unfortunately. I was sidelined by injury, then went away on vacation, came back and was still hurting. Stupid feet and shins. Last weekend I had a great 9 mile run, which did a lot for my confidence, but made my legs very tired for the week. I had planned to do two 3 mile runs and a 10 miler this week. Sadly, I cut the two short runs even shorter and didn't do the 10 mile run. I got a new pair of sneakers (Saucony Kinvara) in hopes that I can avoid further stress fractures in my feet. I was hoping to get the 10 miles in this weekend, but the weather did not cooperate and my legs really weren't ready. So I have a couple of possible plans. I am planning to run 3 miles after work tomorrow at the gym. Then on Wednesday, I am either going to run 10 miles after work or 6. If I run 6, I will run another 6 over the weekend. If I run 10, I will probably just do a short run on the weekend. Mentally, I think I am ready for 13.1. I am more worried about my shins and feet holding up if I do another long run beforehand. So we will see what happens. Hoping for good weather and healthy legs and feet for May 1st!