Getting Ready!

This summer has flown by and race weekend is finally upon us! I am breaking out the running skirt for the half this weekend! My mom happened to pick this one up for me and I used it on my 12 miler and 10 miler, so I decided to go with it for the race!


Now on to the race goals in the style of Marlene!!

A. (I hope I can) sub 1:45:00
B. (I think I can) 1:50:00
C. (I know I can) 2:00:00

Hopefully the weather is decent on Sunday (currently predicting rain)! Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!! Happy Friday!

**For a great giveaway, check out Racing with Babes!

Three Things Thursday

The pre-race edition!

1. I have been craving spaghetti for the last two weeks!! I can't wait until Saturday night when I can sit down with a big bowl and carbo load!

2. Yesterday may have been my last run before the race. I was feeling super tired last night so I decided to sleep in this morning. If I feel good after work, I may head out for a short 2 miles. Otherwise I am in total rest mode until Sunday which means lots of water and no high heels!

3. Uhh I am going to be running 13 miles on Sunday and the nerves are starting to creep in!!! This will be the first time I have raced a half, and only the second time I have run 13 miles in my life! Stay tuned for tomorrow's post when I share my time goals and race outfit!

Happy Thursday!!

Hiking up a Mountain

Thursday after work, Brian and I got into the car and drove to my aunt and uncle's house. We planned to go hiking with my uncle on Saturday.

Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn (5am) and packed up and headed to the mountain. The plan was to hike up the mountain then come back down the trail a little bit and take a side trail and hike a second mountain and then return to the bottom.

Brian all bundled up and ready to start the hike

At the base it was pretty cool and damp. The trail started out fairly easy and only slightly uphill. After about 30 minutes of walking/climbing the trail suddenly got very steep and stayed that way until the top. As we climbed, the landscape began to change. It transformed from a dense forest of hardwoods, to pine and birch trees. The temperature also started to decrease as we increased in elevation!

The start of the hilly climb.

Stopping to take a water break!

Before the final climb, which was on steep boulders, we put on our jackets as the temperature had dropped from 70F to 50F and the wind had picked up to almost 40mph. We scaled the top and could barely stand up because of the wind. It was actually pretty scary but the view was amazing!

A final stop to put on warm clothes before hiking to the top. You can see the rocky top in the background.

We climbed up the rocks to the top.

Brian and my Uncle sitting at the top trying to get out of the wind.

Very WINDY!!

We started to head down and took the side trail to the second mountain. This part added 1.4 miles to our trip. This trail was damp and slippery and made climbing hard and I was glad once we were done with that part. We reached the original trail and braked for lunch then headed back down.

The view from the second mountain. The mountain in the background is the one we had just climbed!

Total it took us about 5 hours to complete the whole hike with all the stops. We hiked two mountains with a total of 4000+ feet of elevation and a total of 6.2 miles! Sunday I woke up with slightly sore calves and hips.

Monday I went out for a shake out run and felt great! My legs are still a little sore but I am taking it super easy this week in preparation for the half!

Happy Labor Day!!

Three Things Thursday

1. Scheduling doctors appointments for 9am is the best idea ever. Instead of my usual wake up time of 5am, I got to sleep in until 6am and head out for a well lit morning run! I ran a pretty hilly route and my legs still felt tired from the tempo Tuesday workout. But 5 miles is 5 miles and it felt great to get it done!

2. This weekend Brian and I are going hiking! We plan to hike about 4.8 miles and over 4000ft of elevation! We also get to go and visit family, including Brian's adorable nephew!

3. One more week until my Half Marathon! Next Sunday, September 12th I will be toeing the line of my second half marathon. I ran this same half two years ago with my best friend Kaylie. Sadly this year I will be running solo but I am still very excited to see how it goes!

Have a great weekend!

August

It may be the first of September but it still feels like August here! All week we have been experiencing a heat wave!!

Last night I finished off August with another tough workout with the running club. After a warm up on the trails, we did 1000m at tempo pace as a group and then split up. I headed off with two other women to do 4x1 mile repeats. We decided to do the repeats on a loop at the park that is about 1200m long but has some rolling hills. Thankfully the other women had garmins otherwise I would not have known when we had reached a mile.

My legs felt dead after the first mile and I wondered how I was going to complete the whole workout. The rolling hills of the course did not help much in my pace and I was wishing we were at the track!

4x1 miles with 1 min rest in between
7:05, 7:15, 7:29, 7:41

With last nights workout I finished August with 119.7 miles!! That is the most mileage I have ever run in one month! I was surprised with myself that I was able to increase from 20 miles a week to 25-29 miles a week and not feel completely wiped out. With the extra mileage I feel fitter and faster!

How was your August?? Happy Wednesday!