My affair with 13.1.......

Dear Marathon (26.2) I cheated on you with your friend, the Half Marathon (13.1)

It has been quite awhile since I have written. I guess I have been too busy to write, which is a good thing. I LOVE busy!

On Saturday I ran the Bidwell Classic Half Marathon. I had a really big goal for myself, which I did not reach. Halfway through the race I realized I wouldn't hit my goal time, so I decided that I should at least try to run the whole thing, rather than walk part of it. I met that goal!!!!

2 hours 15 minutes and 49 seconds was my final time. This time put me at a pace of 10:22!!!

In Febuary my training slacked off a lot. I only ran 8 days in February and none of those days consisted of a long run. In February was when I decided not to continue training for the Oz Marathon in Olathe Kansas, so I lost some motivation. After Saturdays run I am re-motivated, I have fallen madly in love with the half marathon!!!! When I say love, I mean love, 13.1 is amazing!!!

The 13.1 love affair started out nice and ended amazing!!

The weather in Chico on Sunday was PERFECT. The course was almost as perfect as the weather, no hills, and the creek running through the center of course the whole way. There were times during the race when I was running all alone. There would be a small pack in front of me and a small pack behind me, it felt like my old college days when I would go out for an afternoon run at bidwell! OH CHICO HOW I MISS YOU!!! Running and seeing high school friends was another amazing part of the race! Shaun, Jaylee and my parents were also there to cheer me on.....oh, half, I love you even more as I am writing about you!!

Recovery from a half is so much nicer than recovery from a full. I was able to function the rest of the day Saturday and function on Sunday. I am a little sore, but not the flu like feeling I get after running a full.

I guess I better update other portions of "I Run My Life" while I am here.

The reason I am not running in Kansas next month is because Shaun and I decided to get a house. We are very excited, we move in 19 days and cannot wait!

Jaylee has been excelling in gymnastics. Her team placed 4th at their first meet in early February and 2nd at their meet last weekend. Jacob is playing t-ball, he is on the Dodgers, yuk, but very excited to be playing. His first game is on Saturday, we can't wait! Marina is getting closer to graduation, and has us all on the edge of our seats waiting to see what she decides to do after high school.

Next run is April 3rd, in Rocklin. It is a 5k and I am hoping for a fantastic PR!

I found this website last night that lists different runs a person has completed. The site listed all the races I have run in except Saturday's run and the Hog Jog I ran in 2004.

So Many Things To Blog About, and So Little Time......

During the day, I think about different things I want to blog about, but by the time I get home, get dinner ready, do the whole night time routine for the kids including homework, I am out of time and ready to relax.
Things I hope to write about this week.
I run my life...the children portion. Jaylee has been going through some stuff the last few weeks, and maybe if I put it into words, I will understand it a little better, and be able to help her.
I run my life...the running portion. I want to write about a race I am thinking about running and my new compression leg sleeves :).
I run my life...the social side. My new friends and my old ones, I love them all, and love them more and more everyday.
I run my life...the Shaun side. Love that's all I have to say. Guess I got that portion out of the way :).
I hope to write about all of these, this week. We will see.......
Oh, and I almost forgot, we are going to Tahoe on Sunday, I will have to write about that. The Tahoe trip will be filed under the I run my life, the Shaun Baland Photography portion.

I Finished Week 2.....well sort of!!!!

In order to get my 4 runs in this week, I had to change my week start and end date. My weeks will now start on Monday's and end on Sundays.
My first run this week was 3 miles on Monday night. I ran outside, it was 39 degrees! Shaun ran with me that night, so I set my pace a little slower than usual, I didn't want to run alone, so I made the sacrifice to go slow. We ran it in 29:36, which isn't too bad. It was so cold that the inside of my nose froze, it made breathing a little rough. :) During our run we talked about committing to each other to keep in shape no matter how old we are.
Tuesday and Wednesday I didn't run. I had a stomach bug and felt awful.
Thursday night I ran alone. Once again it was 39 degrees. I was so cold and it was pretty late at night, so my goal was to finish the run and finish it quick! A Rocklin police officer drove by me 4 times during the run, guessing he was making sure I was safe....or maybe checking me out hahahah!!! My ponytail did look pretty good that night, so maybe :) Anyway, I finished that run in 26:15, which I think is the best outside time I have run, I was pretty happy about that.
Saturday night, I forced myself to get my long run in. Since my Saturday nights tend to be non-event filled, I thought I might as well get this run in. Shaun ran the first 3 miles with me, and picked me up in the car after I did the second 3. The first loop was completed in 28:30 and the second was done in 27:21, so I did the 6 in 55:51. It was still super cold that night, but I am getting used to it.
Today I had to adjust my week start and end date, so I could get this forth run of the week in.
My forth run was 4 miles, and I was dragging, I think I may have walked more than ran, but I got it done. We did our run at 1pm, and after running at night all week, the daylight hurt, it hurt bad.

I started typing this blog last night, but my computer freaked out on me so I was unable to finish it. Today is already week 3, but I will keep today's run a secret until the end of the week.

As a reward for getting all my runs in this week, I bought Compression Leg Sleeves!!! I am so excited and can't wait for them to get here!!! They are PINK!!!!

Yeah for me and completing week 2!!!!!!

Marathon Training Week 1!!!

I failed this week, and it is only the first week!
My running schedule this week was 3miles, 4miles, 3miles and long run was 5miles.
I started off decent, I ran my 3 mile run in about 30 minutes. The 4 was completed in 36 minutes and my 5 miles run was 49 minutes 1 second....if you are paying attention you will notice, i am missing a 3 mile run. Dang me!!!
This coming week will have to have 5 days of running instead of 4 so I can catch up. This week will be three 3mile runs, one 4mile and a 6 mile run. I will complete this week!!
This week even though I missed a run, I did get 3 days of weight in. I plan to have a lot more weight training mixed in, than I have in my past marathon preps. I am hoping to the weights will help with the fatigue while running the marathon.
These running posts are going to be boring, but they are going to help keep me accountable. I have to train correctly for this marathon, I must get a sub 5 hour marathon!!!!