Almost... there....

Any excuse for a Star Wars reference

one week from today I will be running my first half marathon (I'd say a week from now I will have completed my first half marathon, but the jury's out on how truthful that statement is). As mentioned on every other occasion I have mentioned this race it is a decidedly tough race for a first effort. Whatever; I always tend to do things the hard way and this will be no exception. What makes this one a tough sled is the fact that I have not run nearly enough training miles to expect more than a goal of 'just finishing.'  I have an idea of how long the race will take me (about 2-1/2 hours, or twice as long as the guy who will win the race...) but all bets are off until the finish line is crossed.

I ran a solid six miler today, focused on maintaining a set pace for the whole run, which closes out my work and preparation. I'll run a couple short and speedy runs this week to keep my legs fresh and moving, but otherwise I've done all the preparing I can do. It's all down to race day now. I'll let you know how it goes (or doesn't go, as the case may be).

In other news, the school year is going well. I just finished a whirlwind week of parent conferences and feel like I'm starting to hit my stride instructionally. I still have a lot of developing and progressing to do as a teacher, but I think I'm on a good track so far. We also had a friend take some beautiful pics of the girls; here's a sample:

Sure there were more "sweet" pictures, but this was a far more accurate depiction of where they are as sisters right now!

the final countdown

I'm 4 weeks out from my first half marathon and the nerves are ratcheting up, for sure. I did 10 miles yesterday, but that only put my weekly miles to 20 and change. Not. Enough. Miles. I'm back to business this week with a full, normal running week that looks a little like this:

M	rest
T	4mi
W	3mi+crosstraining
TH	3mi hills
F	4mi*
Sa	rest
Su	11mi
total	25 miles

It still isn't enough miles, but if I factor total time on my feet, I'm working my legs overtime for sure. Out of my 8 hour day I sit maybe 1 to 1.5 hours. I am constantly walking around, squatting to talk to students, then back up again. Plus, my classroom is on the second floor, so I am up and down the stairs multiple times a day.

No; none of that replaces running miles. But, it's what I've got. I don't have the willpower to get up at 5 am to get doubles in and increase my mileage (yet. I'm a total slacker about getting up early, but I am trying to change my outlook. Day one was a superfail, though), so I have to accept the reality of where I am. I built a decent base during my summer relaypalooza training, and had a decent showing in Sunday's 10-mile trail run (meaning I didn't keel over halfway through). We'll see.

You rang?

About Sunday's run; I did 10 miles with (according to my shifty Garmin) 1800+ feet of elevation change. This closely mimicked my half marathon course and I averaged a mere 12 minute mile pace. I know my trail pace is slower than my road pace, but dang, man! I was hoping for 11's or better. But, this puts my projection for the half at  2:37.  I was hoping for better, and may just kill myself trying to beat that, but we'll see what November 2 holds.

*optional day. May cut if I'm a total wuss and add second day of crosstraining instead.