17 days

I didn't get to do my 6 mile run last night as planned so I did it this morning, which means today's 2 mile run gets pushed to tomorrow, and bye bye rest day before long run.  Oh well.  My legs are actually feeling pretty good after today's mileage so I think I'll be feeling pretty good for my run tomorrow as well.  I have to say that my garmin is making my runs so much easier.  Being able to see my average pace per lap/mile is so much nicer than just seeing current pace.  I like being able to tell whether or not I'm on track for my target pace instead of just guessing based on how fast I ended up doing the mile. 

19 days

Today is a rest day.  Legs were still feeling a little spent for last night's 3. I need to lay off the soda and hydrate better so I don't keep getting a cramp in my side at mile 2.5.  It seems like it hits at the same place in my run every time.  Will try and do some cross training tonight to loosen up my legs. 

21 days left

Today was a rest day, which is good since my legs are still feeling a little spent after Saturday's 8 mile run.  Tomorrow is an easy 3, as long as I can take it easy it should be a good run.  I have a hard time going "easy" since I want to get faster.  It's like this incessant need to PR in every run.  I know realistically that every run won't be at a faster pace than the one before, but my legs forget that, or maybe it's my pride.  I'm not sure.  We'll see how it goes though.  I can't believe the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon is only 3 weeks away.  It seems like the home stretch is going by quickly.  I'm so excited and so nervous.

22 days left

Had an 8 mile run this morning.  Went pretty well.  Had some soreness in my knees but overall was really good.  After 8 miles I finally feel like I'm going to be prepared for this race.  I've got another 8 next weekend, but depending on how I feel, I may add an extra mile to that long run.  So glad I got this run done and didn't even walk any of it.

23 Days

I forgot to post last night's workout, so here it goes.  Last night was supposed to be an easy 2 at an 11 minute pace, although I only managed a 10 minute pace.  Hamstrings are feeling a little tight this morning, which means my rest day is now going to be filled with yoga to try and get me stretched out for tomorrow's 8 miles.  Little more than 3 weeks left.  I can hardly believe it.

25 days left

I am now 25 days away from the Half Marathon.  Yesterday was a rest day, which I enjoyed thoroughly by doing nothing, except work.  Tonight was a nice 5.14 mile run.  Maintained a 9:30 pace which I was pretty happy with. Legs felt pretty good except that I couldn't settle into a rythym.  Oh well.  Happy with the way things are going so far.

Day 27

Switched back to my Kinvaras today after having so much pain on Saturday and felt much better about my shoe choice.  I love my Kinvaras.  They're light and they almost force me to use better form when I run.  I had 3.1 on the schedule for tonight and felt pretty good.  The heat does get to me a little, but overall felt really good.  I really need to make sure that I hydrate better since I do tend to cramp up a little at about mile 2.5 or 3.  Breathing was a little labored as well, but think it had some to do with the heat.  Feel like training is going well again and was able to maintain a 9:15 pace.  I want to see if I can run negative splits on Wednesday night's 5 mile run.  I can never seem to start out slower than 9:30 though, so we'll see.  Will just have to keep an eye on my watch I think.

28 Days

Enjoying a much needed rest day today.  Will spend some more time with the foam roller to make sure I got all of the knots out and will spend some more time stretching to make sure I'm good for tomorrow.  The plan is also to hydrate better today to avoid any cramping.

29 days

Today was my long run for the week. I had 7 on the schedule, but because of my route, ran 7.12, which is fine.  I got off to a late start because I was tired, then decided to load a gps running app onto my phone to track my run that way as well.  Instead of running at 6:30, like I should have, I didn't leave until about 8am.  I had some pain after my 5 mile run on Wednesday so wore my older nikes on my 2 mile Thursday run and the legs felt great.  Thinking that this was the shoes, I wore the nikes again on my 7 mile and this might not have been a great idea.  I had knee soreness for the entire run, and was reminded why I retired those shoes to begin with.  They're fine for short runs, but not for my long run.  Because of the heat, and some dehydration, I walked more of the run than I would like to have, but finished with a 10:00 pace.  Tomorrow is a rest/cross training day, so we'll see how things go.  We are getting so close now to the Half that I can almost taste it.

30 Days!

We're in the home stretch now.  There are only 30 days left until the Half Marathon and I'm a mix of excited and nervous.  I'm hoping that the nervous energy and the training will push me to finish the whole thing without walking.  Missing 4 weeks in February really hurt me and I don't really feel like I've recovered from that.  My longest run before the race will only be 9 miles.  Part of me is tempted to accelerate my training a little and turn my second 8 mile run into 9 then have mile next two weeks be 10 then 11.  We'll see how I feel though on this weekend's 7 mile run.  Since it's my first Half I'll be in good shape as far as my time goes, but I set a goal to finish it in 2:10 and if I'm much slower than that I know that I'll be a little disappointed.  I've already commited to at least one more Half Marathon.  I'm also thinking of doing the Women's Half in November here, then possible doing the Full Marathon in Vegas the following year.  All of this I think will hinge on how I feel after the Half, but I've already got the racing bug and want to continue to get faster. So, welcome to the last 30 days of my journey to becoming a Marathoner. :)