Why Hill-o There

Walk with my co-worker on a nice and warm, sunny, upper 60s day for 1.0 miles around our office park.

After work I changed into my running clothes and then I looked at my Half Marathon training plan. And I was disappointed to see that today was a Rest day. My body is still tired and groggy from the 5K but I wanted to get a run in nonetheless. I milled around until Ryan came home and he actually said he planned on going on a light run. So that settled it -- I would go run today and take my Rest day tomorrow. He too was tired from the 5K and several hockey games and so it was a nice light run. We planned out a 2.5 mile course and we did it but paused for some walking breaks several times.

Near the end he said he was going to walk again and I said we had to run until at least the base of the hill. As we neared the hill he said "You know I can't not run up a hill." and so we kept running. I pushed out my run and went quickly up the hill -- and it actually felt a little more like how I used to feel when running up hills - that I had speed, power, and could do it. (Until now hills have left me feeling slow, powerless, and yes I could do them but not as quickly as I wanted.) So I felt good once I got to the top. Ryan started walking but I kept running since I wanted to finish out the run since we were so close. I got to our driveway and completed the 2.5 miles in 25:13 then I turned right around, went up the hill, and ran until I re-met up with Ryan. Then we walked home together. Total Workout: 2.5+ miles in 25:13+.

I am getting nervous, excited, anxious, worried, and optimistic about Saturday's Half Marathon! I want to do well. I would lik to reach my lifetime goal of having a sub-2:00 half marathon (or at most I'd like it to be no more than 2:00:59). I am hoping I can complete it and complete it with a good time. Based on past performance I think I can. But because past performance does not guarantee future success I am worried about how it will go. I am excited because I do have the opportunity to do well and I think I realistically could get a 2:00 time (if I can do all 13.1 in 9:13 mile pace!). I have trained well; or at least I think/hope I have. If I can get myself to push that extra bit during the race I think I could reach my goal. Though I am worried because I know I will walk some -- especially for water stations -- and so I know it will be tricky to keep my mile times balanced. But I hope that once I get into the groove I can just bang out the miles without worry - and if my past can influence my present then I will hopefully be running at an overall faster pace on race day than I do usually. Though then again I am nervous and worried that I tire myself out by trying to stay on pace early and that that will cost me in the later miles. So basically what I need to do is block myself out of my own head and just run.

New Miles: 1.0 + 2.5 = 3.5
Total Miles: 777.0
Miles Remaining: 723.0
Weight: 132.0