Tuesday

We finally had a nice morning without rain! I'm so excited that I got to run outside this morning. I even found a running friend! Her husband works super early so we've made the commitment to run at 5 A.M. twice a week. Crazy. We'll have to see how it goes. Today we ran a little later at 6 and the weather was perfect. Luckily she has a Garmin so I'm not just running blindly like I usually do. Hopefully I can save up and get my own in the next few months! Anyway, we ran about 2 miles and then she had to leave so I decided to run another mile or so before Jordan had to leave for work. I didn't have my ipod today and loved listening to all the morning sounds of spring. The birds seemed to be chirping extra loud today (probably shouting hosannas that it wasn't raining and freezing) and there are an insane number of roosters in this town. I like it. I hope this weather will stay nice and keep me up and moving in the mornings. My days are so much better and more productive when I get a good run in first thing!

Tremonton West Stake Half Marathon

Horray! Last Saturday, May 21st, I went back to Tremonton to run their semi-annual half-marathon. I honestly thought I might die since my longest run prior to this race was 7 miles. I went in with the goal to run at least the first 6 miles and then if I needed to, I'd walk a little every 3 miles until I finished. Prior to the race I talked to my sister-in-law, Jordan, and she told me to just have fun and forget about my time. I decided it was good advice. The weather was perfect, with just enough breeze to keep cool. There were only about 25 runners and I just hoped I wouldn't be the last one to finish! A few guys took the early lead and were soon out of sight. Quite a few of those who were behind me were no where to seen either! Basically, I felt like I was running this race on my own and I loved it! I didn't feel all competitive and I truly just enjoyed the race. I told myself I'd check my pace at about mile 8. When I got to that mile checkpoint, it was actually at 8.8 miles and I decided if I'd gone this far without knowing my time, I'd just finish off the race at my current pace because it was working for me. As I approached the last mile, I decided to speed it up a little and was so happy that I was able to run the entire race, and especially that it was so much fun. I remembered all over again why I love to run. The competitive races are fun, but I enjoy these kinds of races once in awhile. I crossed the finish line and checked my phone for my non-scientific time, which I knew would be slow but I didn't care. I finished in 1 hour 57 minutes, 5 minutes slower than my last half but it was by far my most enjoyable race. Instead of coming home, wondering if I ever wanted to attempt and half-marathon again, I came home even more optimistic of completing my next goal: a full marathon before age 30. I'm sure I'll run a few more halves before that, but this race game me a lot of confidence that I can keep getting better and better!

Thursday

Today's run wasn't the greatest. I ran 5 miles on the treadmill and I even had to stop in the middle. I really had to push myself to finish and it ended up taking almost 45 minutes! I was hoping to be closer to running 8 and a half minute miles. Oh well! During the run I thought, I really don't think I can do the half in 2 days but I hope by being outside and not being so aware of my time or how much farther I have to go, I'll do okay. I have to keep telling myself that I just want to finish. I'm not going to get my best time, I just need to finish. We'll see how it goes!

Running Blog

My awesome sister in law has a running blog, so I decided it would be a fun thing to do to help motivate myself this summer! Today is a super rainy day and Jordan has been out of town since Monday, so it's the perfect day NOT to run. This is how I work sometimes. Excuses, excuses, excuses. But...I have a half marathon in 2 days and haven't ran since Monday. I'm just headed over to my sis-in-laws to run on her treadmill while she watches my kids. I HATE THE TREADMILL but today, it's all I've got. I'll let you know how it goes!