To Half, or not to Half

There is a half marathon here this weekend, it's the race I did last year. Not the most exciting course, but for the $40 price tag, it's not too bad, basically running around Downtown Orlando.

I can't decide if I should run it or not. I have not signed up yet, honestly, I have been logging small mileage lately, so I just hadn't thought about it much. My average runs have been around 3-6 miles for the past month or two, have not done many "big" mileage runs lately.

This morning, I did 10 miles, and felt good, it was the longest run I have done in quite some time. It got me to thinking about the half, and wondering if maybe I should go for it? I don't feel confident that I'll do better than last year (2:11), but I also hope that if I finish in more than that, that I'm not bummed about it. So, I just can't decide what to do, I don't want to struggle out there, I want to enjoy it, if I think I'm going to struggle, I'll just do some more longer runs and do a half in a month or two down the road.

But, I keep thinking about this darn race, as it's been a year since my last half, and I'm itching to do one. I figure, if I felt good after running 10 today, that hopefully I can handle 13 without it being too hard? This is the race that I signed up for on a whim last year. I went out for a run on Thanksgiving morning, and when I realized I had run 12, I went home and signed up for the race, which was a week away.

Oh, what to do, what to do!

Oh, Yay !!

I have been wanting a Garmin forever, just haven't wanted to spend the money. I just ordered a 305, it'll be my Christmas present from my mother, I told her about it and she told me to go ahead and order it. $150 through Amazon, I never thought I'd get one for that price!

Just had to share - I am so excited! I think running will be a bit more fun now...

A New PR......

Well, sort of. I have run only two 10K's, and I am very, very happy with the way this last one turned out!

I'm too lazy to do a full report of the race, it was a standard race. Run last Sunday, in a town near Disney World that I used to live in, so it was nice being back there, such a pretty place for a run. The goal I had going into this race was to hopefully finish it in under 1 hour, because the only other 10K I have done (2 years ago) I finished in just over 1 hour.

Weather was perfect the morning of the race, low 50's, sunny, just perfect for running. I passed by the 3 mile mark at 27 minutes, and realized that maybe I could make a new goal to finish this thing in under 55 minutes. Wasn't sure it would happen, but I was just thinking as I ran along.

As I neared the finish line, I could see the clock said 54 something. I thought to myself that I need to get in under 55, so I sprinted to the finish, and I did it! Finishing time was 54:25. Awesome race, so glad I did it. Here's some stats, I am thrilled about them, because typically when I race, my pace is around 9:30-10:00 miles:

Finishing time: 54:25
Placed 357 out of 905 runners
Placed 15 out of 66 for my age group
Pace: 8:45 per mile!

Yay, yay, yay!! I am so happy about this race!

Rough Week

I've run twice this week, yesterday and today. Yesterday, did a 6 miler that was a lot more challenging than usual. Then today, did 3, and that felt even harder than yesterday's 6! I have been sleeping terribly all week, so I'm assuming that's the reason for the tough runs. About a week ago, my daughter suddenly started waking up in the middle of the night, then getting up very early in the morning. Something seems to be scaring her, we're still trying to figure out why this is suddenly happening. She's almost 5, and this is the first time we've gone through something like this with her for so many nights in a row. So, needless to say, mommy has been missing sleep every single night for the past week.

During this morning's 3 miler, something happened that has only happened twice (that I can remember) in the 12 or so years that I've been running. I tripped and fell. The first time it happened was almost 2 years ago, approaching the finish line of a race at Disney. That was fun, since there were lots of spectators to watch my face plant. Today, of course it had to happen on a somewhat busy road, cars were going by. I was on the sidewalk, but how embarrassing, I'm sure some of those people had stories to tell of the silly runner falling flat on her face.

I am doing a 10K on Sunday, and after today's run, I am no longer looking forward to it. 6 miles is typically pretty easy for me, but with today's 3 feeling so difficult and tiring, I am starting to wonder if I can even handle a 10K right now. If I don't start getting some sleep, I can't see how I'll do well at all. For example, I was up at 4am for the day this morning, this was after going to bed at 11pm and being up with the little one at 12:30 for a bit. This has been the routine for a week, and I'm not liking it much!

I no longer have any goals for this race, if I do it, I'll just be happy to finish the darn thing at this point. The other 10K I did I finished in 1 hour, so I would like to finish this in a few minutes less than that, but I'm not listing that as a goal. We'll just have to see if I can handle it, can I finish this strong at all, and hopefully there won't be any falls for me this time!