Five is Fabulous!

Since we've hit July in Texas, and the first double-digit long run was on the schedule this week, from here on out we're starting even earlier to beat the heat - at 5 a.m., no less.  And as terrible as it was to wake up before 4 a.m. so I could be there on time, I have to admit - running when it's (relatively) cooler because of the lack of sun for most of the run is pretty fabulous!

Running in the pitch black of the early morning is a new thing for me, but a few of the group members had headlamps, and almost all of the rest of us had blinky lights (I had one on the bill of my visor, and one on the back of my fuelbelt), so we were ok.

It was very warm - 86 degrees (and humid) at 5am - this morning, so we scaled back our pace again, which made for a slower/longer run, but we got it done!  And the best news???  I didn't have to cut short any of the run intervals, even the later ones!!!  I was able to keep up the group's 2:1 intervals the whole time - wuhooo!  (However, to be honest, the slower overall pace, and mostly overcast conditions toward the end of the run probably had more to do with this than any extra effort on my part...)

Came home, showered, and put on compression sleeves to aid in recovery.  Three more weeks until San Francisco!!!

Today's group run:

• 10.70 miles; 2:30:07; 14:02 avg pace

Counting Down and Adding Up

Counting down - today is officially 4 weeks 'til the San Francisco 1st Half Marathon!!!  This is when it starts feeling real for me, and when I usually start getting nervous.  Don't get me wrong, the nerves are there, but are currently being overridden by excitement, and, dare I even say it - confidence?!?!  My training's on track, and that's a great feeling.

Speaking of training, I'm slowly adding up the miles - yesterday's run put me over the 250 mile mark for the year!  And as the weeks keep flying by, that number's just going to keep going up and up - some weeks faster than others - but always in the right direction!  I reported in my challenge stats at the end of June, and that puts me at 36.3% of my goal mileage reached.  Halfway through the year and just over 1/3 of the way there.  I feel pretty good about it.

Since it's a holiday weekend, my running group didn't meet yesterday.  I had initially signed up for a race - the Independence Day 10K - but I decided against running it because even though race registration was free, the gas to get down there and back wasn't.  Cementing the decision were the facts that the race didn't start until 8am (just too hot), and that I'd still need to get in some additional miles afterward.  So I bailed on the race and hit the nearby trails bright and early - just me and my ipod.  I found myself missing the camaraderie of the group as well as that extra bit of motivation they provide, but I realized that a long run by myself was a good thing at this point.  After all, the group won't be there in San Francisco, will they?  About halfway through the run, I found myself tiring and recognized that I'd probably started out too fast.  So I ended up walking more of the last 2-3 miles than I'd like, but I'm still happy with the average pace.  Now I just need to keep it up for another 3.5 miles!

Yesterday's Run:

• 10 minute warm-up walk
• 9.56 mi run; 2:06:52; 13:16 min/mi avg. pace