10 down, 13.1 to go!

Today I finished my much-dreaded pre-half marathon 10miler. This is the last "long run" before race day (although I'm still walking...haven't yet gotten the "all clear" from the ankle doctor). All in all, it went pretty well - I finished in 2hrs, 26 min & 10 seconds for an average mile of 14:41. The last 2 miles were the hardest for me...I think for 2 reasons. #1 is that I skipped last week's 8miler. So the distance was killing me. #2 is that my iPod died! I never used to walk or run with music (the band geek in me forced me to always stay "in step" with the music, which didn't work very well when it came to keeping a good pace with a variety of music.) Anyway, when I did the Alafia X-country halfer in November, I knew I'd be alone on the course so I took the iPod to keep my mind occupied. I've been hooked since! I find that walking with the music now keeps my mind occupied - and I've finally gotten myself out of the habit of "marching" along with the music. But this is a bad thing for me when I either forget to bring the iPod with me, or if it dies while I'm out on the course. Anyway, I made it through the last 2 miles by singing Kanye West in my head! It was starting to get pretty warm (71) for the last few miles so I really had to push myself. "Shoulders back!" "Head up!" "You can do this" "Arms!" I actually started telling myself this stuff out loud to get through the rest of the course. I probably looked like an idiot, but I got through the 10 miles & now I can relax the rest of the day!

Next week is the Sarasota Half Marathon. I can't believe it's only 1 week away! This week will be my "taper" week in preparation for the race. I'll spin on Monday, 4 miles Tuesday, spin Wednesday, 2 miles Thursday, OFF Friday & Saturday. (I know...I don't quite think 4 days of workouts quite counts as a "taper"...) Then it's race day! My only goal is to get through the Sarasota halfer. I'm not worried about my time for this one - although I'm sure that I'll feel differently on race day - I think anything between 3:15:00 and 3:30:00 will be fine. My goal is not speed in this one - it's just finishing the darn thing! I've got to save some energy & not beat my legs up too much because of what's coming next...

After Sarasota, I'll have a few days of rest, then have two easy training weeks before before the Gasparilla Half Marathon on Sunday March 1!!!! This is the one I'm the most excited about - both for the medal & to say that I finished 4 half marathons in 5 months. That'll be a feat for me! My goald time for Gasparilla is 3:10:00 - to beat my time at Disney. As long as I stay on track between now and then, I'm sure I'll be able to do it. So here's to more self-motivation!