Pursuing Balance & Joy

10 Difficult Miles

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Hi, friends!

Well, we are getting closer and closer to running the half marathon. I swear all I think about lately is my next run. It’s probably not that bad, but it’s not far from it. I heart running.

Saturday night, Tom and I ran 10 miles. It’s our longest run yet (until next weekend anyway). It was pretty awful. It was cold. It rained. Tom was hurting (but wouldn’t stop because he’s STUBBORN). I really didn’t mind the rain until about mile 7. It was just too cold. Wow.

All in all, I think we did pretty great. It was miserable for him because his back was hurting. I felt okay physically, I guess. We went slow and took a lot of walking breaks. We took a couple potty breaks too. It felt like we were out there forever, but part of that was just the temperature and wind beating us down.

This weekend, our 12-mile run will be in Las Vegas! I don’t love to run when it’s hot, but seriously, I can’t wait this time. I’m tired of being cold and wet on every run. Of course, I also have tonight’s run planned in Louisiana. I’m less than looking forward to that because there aren’t sidewalks here much. I may hit the treadmill this time. I’m not sure I’m up to fighting cars. It’s just 4 miles; surely I can last 4 miles on the treadmill, right?

So why are we going to Las Vegas this weekend, you ask? Wedding planning!! We’re meeting with the catering people about the reception and getting our marriage license. I’m so excited. It will be great to just get away together too. It feels like we’ve been super busy lately. A couple days away sounds heavenly.

Posted in Exercise, Wedding | 1 Comment »

Training Series 15K

Monday, April 11th, 2011

Hi, friends!

Well, getting back into training for this half marathon so suddenly has definitely been interesting. I’ve done 4 runs so far. I did 3 miles, 7 miles, 4 miles and then 9.3 miles. Saturday was the training series 15K leading up to the mini marathon. I didn’t get to do the 5K or the 10K so 15K definitely sounded super scary in my brain!

Saturday morning was chilly…43 degrees when we left the hotel to walk over to the start. (We stayed downtown because otherwise we had to get up an hour earlier to drive down there and find parking…YICK.) I grabbed a cup of hot tea for the walk over to keep from freezing to death in my t-shirt and capris.

It was foggy and damp but not raining. There were probably about 2000 people or so running. It took us nearly 3 minutes to get across the start line. For the first two miles, I was COLD. I don’t mean a little chilly either. I mean it hurt to bend my fingers I was so cold. About 2.5 miles in, I finally started warming up.

I really don’t think I love running until about the 3rd mile. From mile 3-7, I was having a blast. I felt awesome. My legs felt good. The pace was good. We did pick it up a bit to pass some dude walking because seriously, people that walk faster than I run just rub me the wrong way…LOL. It was really going well for us both. Then at about 7 miles, it started sprinkling. The drops were super cold, but they felt pretty nice at first.

Yeah, at first…

At about 7.5 miles, it starting really raining. The last 2.3 miles were cold and wet. We still had a lot of fun, but we were drenched when we finished. Tom went ahead of me the last tenth of a mile and finished in 1:50:06. I was right behind him at 1:50:25. We immediately headed into the NCAA Hall of Champions to warm up a bit. There’s no gear check for the training series (I don’t think) so we didn’t have jackets or anything dry.

I wasn’t truly freezing until we had to go back outside to walk back to the hotel. OMGOSH! That walk back was torture. We even tried to run a little of it, but we were both exhausted. That was our longest run yet by 2.3 miles. Thank goodness the hotel wasn’t too far. I’ve never been happier to step indoors!

I’m super amazed at how consistent we were with our pace:

Thanks, RunKeeper!

Sunday, we were planning to rest, but it was 80-ish degrees and sunny. Neither one of us could stand staying inside. We rode our bikes 8 miles to one of our favorite restaurants, had dinner and then rode 8 miles back. I’m not sure I’ve ever been as tired as I was last night, but I also felt really great. I’m feeling totally blessed to be able to be so active and to share it with Tom. (I’m also uberthankful for the wonder calf massage he gave me before bed last night. OMGOSH, I needed that!)

Posted in Exercise | 3 Comments »