Saturday, March 24, 2012

half-marathon training [week 11]

I cannot believe that my half is a week from tomorrow. I'm not at all nervous. Okay, that's a lie. I'm so nervous that I might simultaneously throw up and pee my pants (which, after two kids, is not far outside of the realm of things that now go hand in hand, ahem). I know I've trained for it, but I also know that sometimes I just have inexplicably bad runs and what if this is one? At least I'll be running on a pretty route and I have lunch plans with friends afterward. Heck, even if I have to crawl across the finish line, I'll still have a sense of accomplishment.

This week was weird because I only ran three days instead of four. It was a hard adjustment to go from running three days to four back in January, but I've definitely gotten used to it. After nearly passing out in the heat last week, I decided to avoid the unseasonably high temps (seriously, we had NINE straight days of record breaking temps!) by running before work. I have a love/hate relationship with early morning runs. On one hand, it's quiet and peaceful. It's so nice to have my run done before my day really starts. On the other hand, I am generally a big chicken and totally mistrust people, so I don't really like running alone in the dark. It messes up my pace because there are some DARK areas in my neighborhood, in between street lights, and I end up going way too fast to get to the main road (which is well-lit and heavily trafficked). At any rate, I'd say my Monday and Tuesday early morning runs were successful.

And then I did nothing Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, which was nice in a bizarre way. This morning, I intended on running as soon as it got light out, but I woke up feeling headachy and under the weather, so I stayed in bed until a little after 8. Shane took Tommy and I just kind of stayed in that dreamy, half-asleep state. This rarely happens and to illustrate why it rarely happens, Tommy slipped past Shane, came running in, and jumped on my head, thus ending my rest. I took this as my cue to leave and headed out the door. Today was an 8 mile run and I decided to do hilly country roads as a change of scenery and a bit of a challenge. It was not as flawless as I would've liked. My legs felt weirdly heavy and my hip flexor started acting up, but I finished with a 10:16 pace in spite of how I felt. Could I have done five more miles today? NO WAY.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go spend the next eight days obsessively refreshing weather.com.

14 comments:

Sarah said...

I am TERRIBLE with leaving blog comments lately, but I have really been enjoying your half marathon training updates. You're inspiring, and I've been (mentally!) rooting for you the whole time. You're doing awesome.

Bari said...

I am so excited for you - you are going to own this half!!!!

Unknown said...

That is so exciting! You will do great and I highly doubt that you will have a bad run that day, race day is always so much different than your training and you will do awesome!

Thea @ It's Me Vs. Me said...

You? Are going to do awesome. And I totally understand about weather.com.

Unknown said...

Ha ha! I laughed at your last line, since well, we all know how the weather for my first half went! ;-P

No worries girl, you're going to do great no matter what! Just do the best you can and enjoy! Can't wait to hear how it goes. xo

Barb Ruess said...

As a fellow weather-obsessor before race day I feel your pain. Here's hoping it's just the right mix of temps and clouds and sun for you - but it doesn't matter because you're going to be great!

Foursons said...

Take a point and shoot camera with you and take pictures along the way!!! I can't wait to hear how it all goes.

Momma@Live. Laugh. Pull your hair out said...

Impressive! A 5k is on my bucket list.....a 1/2 marathon.....that is just wishful thinking!

Mommy Mo said...

Your training is already done and now, you just execute what all those training runs taught you. I have a feeling that you will nail this, with an awesome pace because you know, YOU are awesome. Good luck!

InTheFastLane said...

You are totally going to rock this.
And, no matter the time, the place, the whatever, you have already won.

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans said...

You will do great! Kick ass, Erin!

The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans said...

Oops, that's me -Lissa. ;p

Jail Break said...

That was really cool, thanks for sharing this to us and looking forward always for more updates. Great marathon training you had, good luck ! Great job well done indeed.

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