{A few questions/advice-needed at the end of the post; thanks for letting me count on you!}

Can we just have a moment of silence about the fact that this half-marathon is less than four weeks away? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a little jolt of panic last night at the thought. I’m not entirely sure I’ll be ready. Or if I even know what being ready means. Aaaah!

Thank goodness I have these in my pantry for some consolation.
A big stack of Trader Joe's containers of dark chocolate peanut butter cups.

After last week’s roller coaster of insane craziness, the runs this week happened with a bit less drama (thanks to lots of early morning running).

-Monday I ran four miles at 5:30 a.m. at the school track with some ladies from church who are deciding whether or not they want to run a half-marathon. We all went at our own pace and it was nice to have track companionship.

-Tuesday was a 40-minute toning DVD (little bit old school video I’ve had for years) in the early a.m. before the kids got up. My legs were shaky walking up and down stairs for a couple days after.

-Wednesday I ran three miles outside around 6 a.m. This was a brutal run for me, I have this place on the back of my knee that is killing me when I run. My limited anat/phys knowledge + some google searching tells me it’s some kind of inflammation on my hamstring tendon. All I really know is that it hurts. I’m not sure if it’s related to some of the hamstring soreness I’ve had on that leg for a few months but for the first time, I iced the back of my leg after running.

-Thursday was a three mile run on the treadmill in the early morning. My leg pain seemed to be a bit better, which I was grateful for – not sure if that’s because I generally run slower on the treadmill or because I iced it the day before, but for whatever reason, it didn’t hurt quite as bad.

-Friday was a rest day. I was going to do another non-running workout but the kids had school off for the day and we spent the morning weeding and cleaning out the garage so we could play in the afternoon and quite honestly, I was ready for a rest day (is that bad?).

-Saturday I was happy that all I had to fit in was four miles. I tackled it in the morning before soccer, grocery shopping and yard work took over my life. It had been a rainy few days and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to run outside (dreading the thought of the treadmill) but it was actually beautiful, cool weather (albeit lots of puddles) and the run was fine. I deliberately went slower than I usually do because of the pain in the back of my right leg and I think that helped. I iced it again and while it still feels painful, it’s not nearly as bad as it’s been the last couple of weeks.

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This Week

After a relatively easy week last week, I have three killer weeks ahead (long runs of 9, 11, 10). This week it will be 3 miles Monday, cross-train Tuesday, five miles Wednesday, three miles Thursday, rest or cross-train Friday and nine miles (hold me) Saturday.

Just like last week, I’m hoping to get all the running done in the morning since it’s the last week of school and after looking ahead to the week’s schedule, I kind of want to hide away forever and let someone else get through this week for me. Anyone, anyone?

A Correction + FitBit Randomness + Questions

-I take back what I said last week about running the Top of Utah half-marathon. I think instead I’m going to sign up for a local half at the end of September (probably this one) so my good friend, Deb, can run it with me (she just had a new baby and the less travel the better). Either way, though, hoping to run a 2nd half sometime this year.

-Do you have a FitBit? I got one for Christmas last year and wear it off and on. A couple friends here use theirs religiously and have started inviting me to their daily challenges. I’m not going to lie, I had this smug moment of “dude, I’m training for a half marathon, they don’t stand a chance” before I started accepting the challenges and then quickly had my pride taken down a notch when I saw how they all get between 15-20,000 steps every.single.stinking.day. I don’t even come close to that with my weekly running schedule and everything…which causes me to look like a weirdo as I walk in place while I brush my teeth and fold laundry and type up blog posts just to amp up my steps a bit. Pathetic. The only time I’ve crossed over the 20,000 threshold was the day I ran 8 miles and heaven knows I’m not doing that every day. I told my one friend the other day I think I better be done with the FitBit challenges – it’s hard on my self-confidence and usually I get so frustrated that I’m lagging behind in steps that I decide a late-night piece of chocolate cake is the only clear choice.

-I usually listen to an audiobook for the 1st half of the run (no matter the distance) and then pump up the music (Pandora stations) the last half. It’s a good motivator for me knowing that halfway I can get reenergized by switching from book to music. Having said that, I just finished my last audiobook and need some good recommendations. Help!

-Half-marathon training plans are as varied as chocolate chip cookie recipes. My particular training schedule had my longest run at 10 miles (two weeks in a row) but I’m nervous I won’t be prepared for the full 13 so I bumped one of those long runs up to 11 (or maybe 12). For those of you that have trained for and run a half-marathon – what’s the longest distance you ran while training? Everyone says the adrenaline and “race experience” will get me through to the finish but I’m not sure those “everyones” have the same mental block as I do. I’m afraid I’ll hit a wall at 10 miles in the race thinking “I’ve never run farther than this; I MUST QUIT NOW!” Advice?

-Ok, I think that’s it. If you don’t hear from me next week it’s because there’s a high likelihood I won’t be able to move any muscle in my body (not even my fingers) after running nine miles on Saturday.

I hope you had a great week last week! Let me know all the details…I love every single one.