Running Update!

The half marathon is next Saturday so by this time next week, I'll be done (probably in more ways than one). But I think I am actually getting a little excited.

The training plan I have been following had my longest run at 10 miles. But I have found that for me, half the battle in running is mental. I know some people say "if you can run 10 miles, you can run 13." But for me, I feel like 'if I can run 10, then I can run 10.' So I was hoping to try and do a 10-mile and a 12-mile run before the race.

A couple of weeks ago I did a 10-miler and it went better than I thought it would. Last week, I did my first 12-miler! I just decided to take it one mile at a time, trying not to think about how much farther I had to go. It went pretty good for the majority of it - but I did feel like I was slowing down on the 11th mile and then the 12th mile really hurt - pain in muscles that had never hurt before. I decided to just listen to my music and take it slow - my goal was just to keep going without stopping.

I finally made it and was sooo glad to walk again. I walked it out some and then got in the car to head home - then I found out really quickly that I hadn't walked it out enough! My calves started just burning like fire and my calves had never ever hurt after running before. I called Kim when I got home and she told me to ice them so I did the ice bath thing and popped motrin and that helped tremendously.

I'm sure I will get sore at the end next weekend but I feel better just mentally knowing that I have run 12 miles before and just have to go a little bit further this time. Hopefully adrenalin and the sight of the finish line will help me do that last mile!