My Saturday In Pictures And Words (and Half Marathon Training 10/23/2010)

Weeeeeeeee!!!!!

I had a lovely 2 mile run this morning.  Honestly, I thought about pushing for three, but the sun was beating on my face the way it was last week when I overheated and I freaked out and cut the run short.  I'm probably overreacting, but fears are fears.  I'll get over it!  I ran 2.00 miles in 20:03, averaging a 10:01 pace.  I'm happy with that as I continue to rethink my strategy and goals for the race and rework my schedule.

Speaking of that ...

I want to enjoy this race.  I want to enjoy the process of training for this race.  I don't want to dread my long runs and spend two days recovering after they are over.  I want to push myself but enjoy the day!

That being said ... I was telling a friend of mine on Friday that if I had to break the run into a series of 5Ks and give myself a mile of walking in between them, it wouldn't be the end of the world.  In fact, it would probably be a good way to approach my first half!  The friend I was talking to (also a runner) told me that she thought she could finish a half if she did it that way and is thinking of running it with me!  I'm not getting myself too excited, but it would be fun to have someone with me the entire time at my pace.

Also, when my friend Marissa and I were walking today, she was giving me some advice from her own arsenal of tools (she's a marathon runner).  She encouraged me to go with the run/walk and to just focus on continuing to slowly build my distances, but still maintain my endurance, in this last month.  I'm excited!

Okay, here's a question for runners - How in the world do you get hydrated for morning races?  I start drinking water as soon as I finish my last cup of coffee and usually drink about 64-72 ounces a day (I drink an extra 32 ounces of gatorade if I've been on a long run).  I'm definitely drinking enough in general, but I can't figure out how to wake up hydrated and ready to run.  Should I set "water" alarm an hour or two before I'm really supposed to wake up?  When I ran in college, I usually ran at night - fueling and hydration were never issues for me!  HELP!

***

Onto the rest of my day ...

I was craving sugary carbs for lunch, so I heated up a waffle.  Delicious!  I also downed 32 ounces of ice cold blue gatorade.  I was so thirsty at the end of my run, even though it was only 2 miles.  Dehydration = Lame.  The gatorade was much needed.

After lunch I attempted to tackle this beast.  You would be surprised with what I found.

My drum major whistle from high school ...

The plastic race car my mom gave me when I got a speeding ticket ...

No girl needs this many pens.

While I was rummaging through my workspace, Bruce was cleaning out his half of the closet ...

And trying on clothes that he literally has not worn since we've been together (umm, four years?).  He was annoyed I made him pose for a picture, but one day he'll be happy our life is recorded on my blog.

I took a break to pull out this beauty :) - when we move into the house, we'll have MUCH more space and I won't have to tuck her in her case and in my closet all the time!

Unrelated, but I bought reeds for the first time since college last week.  When did they start individually packaging them?  They look like those little Starbucks Via packs!

I can't wait to play tomorrow - perhaps I'll convince Bruce to sneak the flip camera into worship and take some video to share?

Marissa and I headed out walking around 3 - we thought we'd put about 4 miles in, but got so caught up talking that we ended up walking 5.57 miles!  We covered it in 1:25:17, averaging a 15:18 pace.  A beautiful reminder that giving myself lots of walking breaks during the half won't kill my time.  People driving past us must have thought we were nuts - the faster we talked, the faster we walked and visa versa!  Girlfriends rock.

I was starving when I left her apartment, so I stopped at the grocery store and got what I would need to cook this.  I started cooking as soon as I got home.

Soooooooo delicious.  After carbs and sweets all day, I needed vegetables!  Definitely hit the spot.

***

I have five more things to say ...

1. Apparently I've downloaded so many photos over the past three years that I ran out of storage on my blog!  Google gives you 1G and when I was working on this post, I hit my limit.  Luckily I could buy 20G for $5, so I should be good to go for awhile.  I know it seems silly to spend money on a hobby like a blog, but this really is my scrapbook through life.  Totally worth it!

2. My throat started hurting this afternoon and has been getting progressively worse all night.  Blech - I do not have time to get sick!  I'm currently drinking an extra-large mug of tea with honey and hoping this is just an allergy thing that will clear up overnight.

3. I am so over negative political campaign ads.  Is the election over yet?  I currently think both of the Gubernatorial candidates suck and I'm sure they're both very nice men.

4. Don't forget to give me hydration tips.

5. I'm sorry this is so long.  If you've managed to stay with me you deserve a medal.

Or maybe a handful of pens.

Goodnight.