This week's wrap-up and the Saturday Sound-off

I haven't posted this week, so this may be a little long. Stick with me...the weekly miles are at the end.

Let's start with this week's runs.

I started the week with 3.5 miles (if I remember correctly, 3 running and .5 warming up/cooling down). Good way to start the week. I was looking forward to being on a normal week...meaning not the "easy" week of last week but back to easy/speedwork/easy/long. And then by Tuesday, I was not feeling good. Ok. That's an understatement. By Tuesday night, my allergies had flared up horribly. It was awful. So obviously, I skipped Wednesday morning's speedwork. And then I didn't think there'd be any way schedule-wise to fit a run in Thursday even though I was feeling better. But I did! My hubby was able to come home earlier than normal because he'd been umpiring baseball, so we had an early dinner and he took our daughter to dance (and took our son with him) because I had a team mom meeting that would have kept me from staying at dance the whole time. But that left me with just a little time to myself. And I could not pass up that chance. The weather called to me. The sun setting called to me. The road called to me. I got an easy 3 in with my new shoes, and it felt fabulous (even after a dinner at Taco Casa). I don't know if it was awesome because it was unexpected, or if it was because I was finally feeling better, or if it was because of the new shoes, or the faster speed, or what...but it was wonderful! That gave me the much-needed boost in confidence for the weekend's long run. I was doubting I could do 10 since I'd missed a long run two weeks ago (only ran 3 on a scheduled 10) and last week had been an easy week. But....

I did it! I ran 10 miles this morning! It wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard as I expected either.

Some things I learned:
-I need to figure out how to carry more water. I should have stashed some on my route, but I didn't really plan that far ahead.
-I do not like the Honey Stinger gels! Yuck. They gave me the boost I needed but I did not like the flavor.
-My energy chews do not like cold weather. They were really hard to get down.
-Running on biscuits, eggs and bacon isn't as bad as I thought it would be.
-I can do this!

So, 3 weeks from tomorrow, I will run my first half marathon! I'm excited, but now I'm realizing that I really, really, really have to get busy fundraising. I need at least $150 more, but would love to do more than the minimum. And thanks to my sister for donating after I mentioned it in last week's post! Just in case you missed that one, my website is: www.info-komen.org/goto/cmjohnson. Won't you consider donating?

This week's mileage:
Weekly: 16.5 miles
YTD: 137.1 miles