Getting Excited!!!!

So I haven't blogged in forever, but I'm getting really excited for my training and the upcoming race!!! I got a bunch of running stuff for Christmas this year; new shoes, an amazing new training watch, 2 books (Runner's World Complete Book of Women's Running and The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women), and then bought some new running clothes with my mall gift card from my dad. Yesterday I did my longest run in training so far, 4 miles. I've run further before but it has been a while. The first mile felt great, the second mile my mind wanted to play games with me but I let it walk for a little bit and then worked the last 2 miles. I think my mind was still in Christmas mode because my body could clearly do it being that my mile splits were 10:14, 14:30, 10:53, and 10:20 (I'll put the precise splits in later). After I got home I went to the track with my dad so he could calibrate his new nike+ watch and walked 1 1/4 miles with him so I could start breaking in my new shoes. I was so hungry I ate my entire omelet and coffee cake at Hobee's during our annual family get together. By the end of last night I was really sore but it felt good.

Today I wanted to do a recovery run to stretch out and to break in my new shoes so I went on a walk run. The first half I walked 3 minutes and ran 1 and then on the way back I ran 2 minutes and walked 2. It felt good, I was going pretty easy and I averaged a little under 12:30 miles. I'll probably update more detailed later but this is it for now.

Thanksgiving Coffee Run (literally)

Brayden had a great idea of us running to Peet's for a coffee. At first we tried to get our dad to pick us up from Peet's, but with all of the food stuff to do we decided we could walk back. So after running 2.21 miles in under 24 minutes (10:46 pace) we sat and had our coffee and then walked 2.31 miles back home. We were gone for 1 hour and 23 minutes but we sat in Peet's for probably about 10-15 minutes so our workout time was around a little over an hour. Now we are sore and tired and excited for Thanksgiving dinner! Brayden is excited he gets to eat a lot more food now. I'm excited because I burned over 700 calories (thanks to my nifty heart rate watch). We decided this is going to be our new Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve tradition. Maybe in the years to come Eric will be joining us as well! :)
Well I'm off to go shower and see if there is any help needed in the kitchen, it is already starting to smell amazing!

Run with my Bro : ))

So today Brayden and I went running which was fun....we didn't run the WHOLE thing but the majority of it was run. My knee was in a lot of pain from all of the sitting I have done the past couple days. We went 2.11 miles in 23:47, which averages to about 11:27 min/mile pace....not too bad, a little slower than my last run, but there was definitely more walking this time around. He said he wants to run with me the rest of Thanksgiving break so that will be fun and good bonding time since I miss him!

Feeling Good

Today I feel GREAT!!! I was a bit nervous for my run today because I haven't run in almost 3 weeks but it felt really good! I only had 2 short stopping breaks, one after the first mile for about 30 seconds and the other for a minute as I walked towards Ambler and crossed the street. Instead of thinking I had to run 2 whole miles (which used to not be so big a deal, but after such a long break and inconsistent running, it seems forever) I just broke it down into half mile increments which actually worked well with my route. Half a mile from the Grove to campus, half a mile from the point on campus to N Judge Ely, half a mile back around to Ambler and then half a mile back home. Each half mile I completed I congratulated myself and then encouraged to do another half mile before I walked. When I did walk, I did just short enough to be able to feel like I rested then started running again.
I'm really encouraged to keep at this and not give up. My goal this year was to do a half marathon before my birthday and I'm not giving up this time. January 30 is really the last chance I have to get one in before February 2, plus I think the fact that it is something Eric and I get to do together really pushes me to train for this.
TEXAS HALF HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Plans

So Robyn and I had difficulty with our crazy schedules, so we won't be racing this year. However, there is a race at the beginning of January that we wanted to run, so we'll see if that works out (I sure hope so : ) )
While Robyn and I aren't running, Eric and I have decided to run a half marathon in Dallas on January 30. It's the weekend before my birthday and I'm really excited, my goal last year was to run in a half marathon before my birthday so this is kind of the last shot!
I ran this morning for the first time in weeks. It was painful and a little more difficult than I thought. I ran 1.5 miles in about 18 minutes, so still on my 12 min/mile pace, but I want that to be much faster. I know it will take a little time to get back into shape so I just have to be patient (something I'm not very good at) and just keep working hard.

Wow!

14 more runs till our race!!!!

Running, Starbucks and God....

So Robyn and I both had super crazy weeks this week and didn't run at all this past week. oops. so we were kind of expecting the worst for today. The trail we ran around Red Bud Park supposedly is 2.5 miles but for some reason we only went 1.5, we have to figure out how it is 2.5. Our scheduled run was 3 miles but we were planning on just doing the 2.5 if we did really well, since we didn't do anything the past week but we ended up doing just the 1.5 which is ok. I have a problem with pushing myself too hard so it's good to have someone else run with me to keep me in check.
Our pace was faster than our fastest run so far. We went 18 minutes for the mile and a half which is a 12 min pace with is about 15 seconds faster than our previous fastest pace so that was pretty exciting and we only stopped once!!!! I was so proud of us!!!
After our really good run we went to Starbucks and had "quiet time" with God, the two of us together is never quiet and shared what we read. It was pretty much amazing. I love pumpkin spice lattes!!!
This next week of running will be interesting as Robyn will be leaving me for the majority of the week so we'll run Monday and Tuesday and then we'll be on our own till Saturday.

Week 1 Recap

So Robyn and I started training this past Monday for The Speedway Run, which is a 10k in November which benefits Young Life. I'm really excited to continue the training and that I have a partner! I have been wanting to run a race for a while now but having a person that I can run with and keep me accountable is awesome!

Monday-was our first run and I know for sure I was out of shape but we only had 3 walking breaks in our 2 mile run and we were under 13 min mile pace which I think is pretty darn good! Plus it was great to talk to someone on the run : )

Wednesday-we went faster! We went a 12:13 pace! That's roughly a 40 second faster pace! We had shorter walking breaks and I think we were just feeling a lot better! Plus I loved our time afterward and praying for our training and each other. I feel so blessed to have her as a friend and training partner.

Friday-was our first walking day. It was great to walk with Robyn and talk but also feel like we were getting something accomplished. We are going to incorporate more more walking days next week but this week we worked out 4 days out of the week which was pretty good from the 0 I had been doing almost consistently since grad school started.

Saturday-this brings us to today. Our walking breaks were a little longer but that's cause we got new shoes Thursday night : )

Well that's enough for now! I'm watching Twilight with Robyn and Shannon and enjoying the fact that I finished a whole week of training!!!