Let's be honest...

I really suck at blogging!!!! I am a runner who occasionally blogs, not a blogger who runs :) Now that we have that straight, I do have a new goal. I would love to keep my new goal of blogging once a week. So we will see how it goes :)

This weeks workouts looked like this:

Monday- 8 miles on the waterfront w/Nicole 8 min pace

pm-3 treadmill miles 8:30 pace

Tuesday-9.5 speedwork on the treadmill

Wed- 9 miles with lots of hills

Thurs- 9 recovery miles around 8:15 pace

Fri- 11 miles (Ran all 3 courses of the Turkey Trot that I am putting together) 7:30 average pace

Sat- 11 miles 7:25 pace

Total miles-60.5

I am having a really hard time planning my racing schedule for next year. After a lot of self reflection I feel that this is pretty reflective of my whole life right now. I feel like for so many years my life was pretty much planned and I followed the plan. For the 1st time in my married life I have no plans to get pregnant, I am not pregnant, nursing, or taking care of lots of little kids. My 3 oldest are pretty self sufficient and I find myself with more free time. I could easily fill that but I want to fill it with things that are going to help me accomplish my goals. I have been trying to figure out what my goals are in this new phase of my life. What do I want to accomplish in life? in my running?

Midlife crisis? I would not call it a crisis, just a crossroads. My goal is to find balance between all of the things that I love and are most important to me. So as I figure out who I want to be and what I want to do I am giving myself a break and have decided not to choose any races right now. Instead I am to do some research and deciding what it is I would like to accomplish next year in my running life, then I will be able to decide what races will help me reach my goals. I also would really like to get back to the fun of it all :)

Most of all I want these guys

to know that they are the most important things in my life.

Hopefully this next week brings more clarity of mind and lots of running fun!!

Runaway Pumpkin 1/2 marathon

My racing this year has exceeded my expectations! I have accomplished more that I thought I was capable of doing so I did not expect this race to be what it was. What is it you ask? The race that would test my mental and physical strength. I had not planned on racing again this year but when Nicole suggested that I come run this race with her of course I had a hard time saying no. I am glad that I did this race, it was fun to run with Nicole and I do love races. My life has been really crazy lately. We just moved and October is already the craziest month for me as a Mom, lots of birthdays and activities. My running has not suffered, I always seem to find time to fit it in, it keeps me sane. So what the heck happened yesterday? From the time I registered I just could not wrap my head around this race. I think that I have been so physically and mentally tired over the past month that the thought of racing hard was not appealing but I really thought that at race time I would be able to get my head in the game.

Well...

I got up at 4:45am after about 5 hours of sleep, not the greatest but that is usually how it is, right? Anyway I got all my stuff together and left to meet Nicole and then head down to Lebanon, Oregon. We had to make several potty stops but that is always better than having to stop in the race :) We got there with plenty of time to spare.

All smiles waiting for the bus to take us to the start line :) We picked up our packets, dropped our bags, did a little 1 mile warmup, decided we were overdressed, picked our bags back up, changed clothes, used the potty again, then we were standing at the start line :) I still was not feeling it, not a good sign. Still hopeful that once the race started that the adrenaline would kick in and I would love every mile.

Mile 1- Actually felt good and easy. I was hopeful that it would just get better.

6:49 pace (Maybe too fast but I figured I would atleast try and PR and if I was going to do that my average pace needed to be sub 6:40)

Mile 2-Still feeling pretty good but things were starting to roll. Toward the end of the mile, my legs were starting to ache a little. I started to worry a little.

6:51 pace

Mile 3- I really started to question what I was doing, it was getting harder to hold my pace and so I slowed a little.

6:56 pace

Mile 4-I remember Nicole told me that between miles 4-8 there was a small elevation gain. There were more rolling hills than I expected and the thought of 9 more miles seemed inpossible to me.

7:01 pace

When my watch beeped at 4 miles I came to a complete stop, I really did not want to go on. I was not going to quit but I wanted to sit down and have a time out. What the heck , who does that in a race? I guess I do.

Mile 5- I decided to keep on moving but it was still tough. I just kept plugging along. I thought about listening to my ipod but decided against it. (I wish I had!!) My tantrum cost me some time. :)

7:22 pace

Miles 6-8 All about digging deep, knew that if I could male it through the half way point that mentally this would give me a boost mentally. I was finally able to pass the one woman that I could see if front of me. That felt good :)

7:10

7:07

7:11

Mile 9- I felt good during this mile, I was starting to remember why I loved running :)

6:53

Mile 10-Only a 5K left :) I started passing some more guys and that was encouraging.

6:58

Mile 11-I needed a kick so I decided to plug in. Why did I not turn my music on sooner? I usually do not listen to my ipod during races but I needed it! Nothing a little "Push It" can't fix :)

7:02

Mile 12 & 13 were tough but I knew I was almost done and I was passing a few more guys :) I could see the finish area and I had a little bit left in the tank. I crossed the finish line and they announced my name and that I was 3rd female. I was happy about that!

7:15

6:52

1:31:53 3rd female, 1st in my age group

As soon as I got my medal, I knew that Nicole was not far behind me and I started to jog so that I could cheer her on. Sure enough I saw her coming. I yelled for her to push it. She was flying, that girl has a fierce kick!

After the race :) Do you like my halloween arm warmers?

This was an awesome race, especially for it's first year. They had quite the spread of goodies after the race and great door prizes and gift baskets for the top three finishers.

Nicole and I both took 1st in our age groups and got these lovely glasses

I have had plenty of time to think about this race and while initially I was not happy that I had such a hard time it has made me realize that I needed this race. It has made me realize I am not superwoman, I can not be on everyday and that is okay. We all have runs where things just feel hard and sometimes it happens on race day! I am happy with my time, it was not my fastest half but I fought harder for this one than any other that I have run. I am happy that I did not give up, and believe me I wanted to.