Back to my blog again... I am glad to be back in the routine.
I am in "week 15" and it will culminate with a l o n g 20 mile run.
I ran 5.25 miles on Tuesday, 6.25 miles on Wednesday and 6 miles today.
I will take a couple of days off before tackling the long training run.

My running partner and I had a rather challenging run today...
I reminded her "that every training run is different" and we persevered and averaged a 10 minute mile... 1 hour of our day dedicated to our goal. Because I can... I am grateful.

Had some good tunes while we ran - - the most memorable and one that I can always count on helping me to rejuvenate my run is Matchbox 20's. It is common that I will hit replay once or twice on a run and if I am on a treadmill, I will actually dance it out and air drum along.
Should be on every one's running playlist.

Today is the big X-mas holiday with the hope of a new year coming right behind it.
I am definitely looking forward to 2010!

Until next time - Kelly

Day 100 of 127 (countdown to 1/17/09)

Well it sure has been a long time that I have posted about my training...

YES - I have been training, but life got a little to busy for me and something had to give.

The documentation of my training was the "give" although I did not let the training go.

I have nearly run 300 miles in my training since September when I started and I have run a half marathon as well. I have been fortunate to escape any major injuries and have been enjoying my long training runs with Lindsay (running partner). My daughter, Hailey, is training down in Houston for the BIG event up here and will be flying up for the race.

Since my last blog, Lindsay and I have run a few very long runs with the longest being 19 miles. That was interesting, exhilarating, exhausting, exciting and FUN!?! This next weekend is the infamous week 15 and we run our L O N G 20 miler... This has been a real adventure and it is hard for me to believe that we are nearing the last month of training. Actually, I am ready for this training to be over as it is difficult to continually fit in the time to make it happen. On the other hand, the time would have passed whether I had been training or not and I would not have had the opportunity to push myself past the limits and boundaries I had put on myself in the past.

Pushing past what you thought you could do, setting a goal, making a plan and following it, realizing you can do more and endure more than you ever thought are all things that I have learned on this training journey.

The half marathon that Lindsay and I ran a couple of weeks ago was amazing... I ran my personal best for the half with just over a 9 min mile for the 13.1 miles.
You see, I ran my first half mar in Jan "08" at 2:30 min, the second half in Jan "09" at 2:14, and then this one in Dec 09 at 1:59 - WOW! I cut 1/2 hour from my time in 2 years. I have also taken off about 25+ lbs as well...

Regarding the weight.... During this training, I am eating like a horse. You would think that someone running 20-30 miles per week would be rail thin... but, not me : )
I am keeping my weight off and staying in great cardio shape... but, I am not bone thin.
After the race in January, I intend to mix it up a bit and actually shape body with some cross training and weight lifting and (of course) I will continue to run 3 to 4 days a week.

The music has continued to be a HUGE part of training for me. Last night I ran 5.25 miles at the gym on a treadmill and that is when I really blast the music and let it help me get through the boringness of running in place for that long. Last night, I enjoyed Paramore's EMERGENCY and remembered that Paramore has been on my playlist from the beginning (first & second marathon)... with MISERY and with BORN FOR THIS . That is good running music!

I will finish up this last training month with a renewed commitment to updating my BLOG while I finish up my training and run the big race on January 17th!

26.2 - I am narrowing in on you!