Me vs. the elements (aka-no more pretty shoes)

So today I woke up and decided that I needed to run the course of the 1/2 marathon that I am doing in 2 weeks. This will be the 4th time I have run this race. I usually do not drive or run a course before a race. My philosophy has been, it is what it is and unless I am going to back out, race day might as well be the first time that I actually see the course. I know that a lot of people have the opposite view and that is just fine :) Maybe I will change my ways. Any way since I have run this race 3 times before I thought it might be good to refresh my memory because I actually have a goal this time. I won my age group last year and would love to get a PR ( atleast for this race) and win my age group again. Did I really just reveal that?

So I usually am a very simple runner. Shoes on and go run, but this time I actually took a water bottle with 1/2 water and 1/2 G2 in it, I also had some GU Chomps in my back pocket, (decided I do not like GU Chomps and have already purchased some other fuel :). So with that I was off, of course with my Garmin which I just got in December. I held off for a long time thinking that I would not like knowing my pace all the time, but I love it!!!

About 1 1/2 miles into my run it started raining and of course I was on a dirt trail at that point, say good bye to the pretty shoes! I had mud dripping down my legs, it was all good though, it is all part of the experience. So the hills started about about mile 3.5 and everything was feeling good. Have i mentioned how much I dislike carrying anything when I run? Well I do so at about mile 5, I ditched the water bottle and my gloves. I knew to conquer the giant hills coming I needed to be able to run with good form so see ya water bottle. I was so happy to get over those hills and onto some less steep terrain. Ate a few Chomps at mile 7 or should I say choked them down, they were gross! Miles 10 and 11 were a little tough but then I decided to see what I had left in the tank and tried to kick it in to the end (similar to what I hope to do in the race). The last 3/4 of a mile I was running low about 7:08 and a guy thought I was racing him, it was pretty funny especially because I was beating him :) Any how it was a great training run and I really needed it. I train on the treadmill a lot so I always love the change of scenery.

It was a great day to run even with the little bit of rain :)

13.12 miles in 1:36:20 overall pace 7:21 Really happy with this and know that the race will bring adrenaline and hopefully faster running :)

We need to talk fuel, I need to get better about fueling and I will share some of my fueling disasters. I know you can't wait!

Pay no attention to the bulge on my bum, just those yummy Chomps in my back pocket :)