Still Kickin'

Whew! What a fall!  My vet clinic moved to a new location, I got married, and I ran a half marathon! (In that order chronologically, not by importance... ;) ).

The clinic move went great, the wedding was the best day of my life (!), but since this is my running blog, I'm mostly going to focus on the half marathon.  I ran it 10/23/10, and it was on Mackinac Island.  I'll do the full run down on my next post (I want to upload my pics and what not from it), but I'll give you the lead in to it.

So, it's probably pretty easy to tell that I've been ridiculously busy this fall- no updates on blogger, no posts on the WW website...yeah.  Between the wedding and the clinic move, I've had zero time for extra things...which unfortunately included running for the most part.  Since my last post, I've ran about 8 times- and that's including the half marathon.  Yep, you read that right...from August to October, I ran about 8 times.  Only three of those runs were over 4 miles long- one of which included the half marathon.  The other two that were over 4 miles?  Oh, those were done in the two weeks before the half.  Yep.

Lemme break it down for you a little more- I ran an average of lets say 2 miles a week for the two months leading up to the half.  Then, after the wedding, I freaked out and tried to "cram it in" in the end.  Sadly, running is not as forgiving as your average math test.  Instead of tapering, I ran a 8 mile run two weeks before the half, and an 11 (!) mile run the week before.  Picture of brilliance?  No.  Would I do a large run the week before again if I didn't adequately prepare?  Yes.  Why?  I proved to myself mentally that I would be able to get through a half marathon.  That was important to me, and I honestly think I would have been a large bundle of nerves if I hadn't have done that.


So how did it go?  Again, I'll post a blow by blow analysis next post, but for now lets just say I have mixed feelings about it.  I have decided that I'm going to sign up for the Green Bay Half Marathon in May though, and I even have a time goal in mind and everything.  I also am probably going to do a full marathon (thinking Chicago) next fall.  Oh, the Green Bay one- you get to run through Lambeau Field!  Woo!!

Related to my mixed feelings about the half- I was looking over my race results today (as I was jotting them into my nifty new 2011 running log), and it's obvious how much training makes a difference.  In June, when I was really running and cross training religiously (and running up and down stairs like a maniac)- I ran a 5K with a 10:48 min/mile split- easily the fastest I've ever been as an adult.  Keep that number in mind when I tell you the results of the half.  Ugh- I have to stop thinking about the differences there- it's depressing.

Watch for my run down in the next few days!