May 23

I decided today, since it was my day off, that I had 3 options.  Take nap, clean house, or go for a run.  I decided to go for a long run.  In the month I have been training for the half marathon, I haven't had a long run yet, partly due to being sick and partly due to trying to build up slowly.  I planned to go for about a 5 mile run.  I headed out and decided to go down towards the river and run to a couple nearby parks.  When I reached the first park, I had gone a little over a mile and decided to run up along the main road.  The main road has a bridge that goes over a river.  As I was running along the bridge, I saw a nice little path that went down along the river.  Looking at my watch, I had gone about 2 miles.  I decided to head towards the path, which to get to, I would have to go around and down to the river.  There was a path that headed towards the river but I decided to keep going and go through the park that goes by the river.  By the time I got down to under the bridge, I had gone about 3.5 miles.  I turned arund at that point, figuring I could either go back taking a couple shortcuts that would mean about a 6 mile total run or I could go back the way I came, turning it into 7 miles.  Well, I decided to go back the way I came, totaling 6.98 miles by the time I got home.  My average pace was 15.57, which I thought was pretty good, and I went over half the distance for the half marathon.  I feel pretty proud about myself right now.  There was a nice drizzle throughout my run, which helped keep me nice and cool.  I came house, took off my shoes and running clothes, and slipped into a comfortable sweatshirt, flip flops, and shorts and took my dog on a little cooldown walk.  Its so satisfying and encouraging to get that first long run out of the way!  Now I will probably take the next week easy since I have a 5K next weekend to do.  Now time to take my nap and hopefully clean house tommorrow.  I'm undecided about whether I would have been more productive if I had cleaned.  Probably less work, but not as much fun!

May 19

Went for a run this morning before work.  Since I had limited time before going to work, since I didn't get up too early, I only went about 2 miles.  At least it was something though! I think this will probably become my morning routine before going to work on Sundays.  It's the only day I go to work in the morning and it's so nice to run in the cool air.  Like last time it begsn to ran right at the end of my run.  A nice refreshing little cool off before coming into the stuffy house!  I decided today to go back and forth up the side streets, going gradually up the big hill by my house.  It worked well.  I enjoyed the refreshing air and it was fun to run by houses and see who was up at 5:30 in the morning, based on who had lights on.  Surprising how many people get up so early on Sundays.  When I returned I took my dog on her short walk, at which point it was raining pretty hard. It's such a nice way to begin a day, taking a short run to get the energy and endorphins going!

May 17

So been 5 days since I have gone for a run.  Aargh! A combination of being tired, slacking, and everyday busy life led to me not running all week.  Finally today, Friday, I went for a run.  I had to push myself throughout the whole thing.  So I was sick last week and have had a horrendous cough since.  I have used this as an excuse to not run.  So today, I was taking a nap this afternoon.  I was expecting a call from my sister sometime this evening and I had told her I was planning to go for a run today, since it's my day off.  I knew I would feel pretty bad if I told her I had slacked off and not gone for a run, so I pulled myself out of Bed and got ready. I grabbed my Ipod and realized it was completely dead from being left on play all night.  Aargh! So I plugged it in to the computer and got dressed, set my gps watch outside to load the satellites, and then played on my kindle while waiting for my Ipod to charge up.  Throughout the wait, I kept thinking about not going on the run, cause I really wasn't feeling it today.  My Ipod finally was charged enough for the run.  I headed out.

So I live in an area with a lot of hills.  My options are basically to go down steep short hill and have a relatively flat run, with a steep uphill at the end to get home or go up a long steep hill for about half the run and have an easy downhill home, or go back and forth on side streets and gradually go uphill and then have an easy downhill home.  I decided today to go flat, which I hardly ever do.  I really had to push myself every step of the run today.  After about a mile, I turned around, planning to head home.  When I got to a point where I could either turn to head up the hill to my house or continue on with my run, I decided to keep going.  I planned to go around the long way to my house which meant a long gradual uphill home.  When I was about halfway up the hill, I decided to extend the run and retrace my steps.  This would increase my run by about half a mile, making my run about 3 miles.  When I was almost home, someone said to me "Nice cool day for a run and at least its not raining, however sometimes a little sprinkle is nice for a run." I agreed with him.  Since it's Oregon, it is often raining.  Today was a nice over cast day with no rain, at least at that point.  A few minutes later, it started raining.  I thought "this feels nice." I was about 2 blocks from home and decided I would keep going on my run and try to go another mile.  Then suddenly, the skies opened and it began pouring.  By the time I went the 2 blocks to my house, I was completely soaked.  At this point I decided to end my run.  I felt awesome when I got home and so happy I decided to go for the run.  The rain at the end meant when I walked in my house I was cool instead of hot like usual.  I changed and took my dog for my cool down walk in the rain.  She hated the walk but I was on like a high from the run and the rain. It was great.  I need to force myself out for runs more often.

May 12 short run

Usually I try not to run two days in a row, however since I was kinda discouraged about my run yesterday, I decided to go for a short run before work this morning.  Pros about doing this was at 5:30 in the morning, it's nice and cool outside. Cons, on Sundays I work 14 hours so it was a rough day at work, wth the lack of sleep from getting up early combined with the run.  I only went a couple miles, since I needed to get home to get ready for work.  The nice cool air was so wonderful.  Usually I run in the late morning/early afternoon since I work swing shift so it's usually pretty warm when I run.  After I got home, I took my dog for a cool down walk, showered, and off to work.  Nice way to wake up when you have to get up early!

May 11 run. 1.5 miles

Only went for 1.5 miles today.  I have been sick for the past 4 days so just happy to get out for a run.  I was too tired to go any further.  Still feeling slightly under the weather.  It's been a week since I have gone for a run, however that week I went 3 times.  When I walked into my house afterwards, I could smell the sweat on my body and clothes.  Ick!!  Then, as I looked down at my shoulder, in the dimly lit house, I saw the sweat glistening down my arm.  I now understand why they say women glisten.  I walked into the bathroom and saw sweat glistening down my face. 

Even though the house was cooler than outside, it seemed so hot and stuffy.  It felt like the sweat was sticking to my body.  I wiped down my face and arms with a wet, cool washcloth and decided to walk to the park to write this.  Perched on my reading rock, feeling the coolish air against my skin, I feel so at peace.  It's so peaceful sitting here, watching a few kids run by on the path, looking at the river below, and seeing the sun in front of me tucking itself into the horizon for the night.  The smell of sweat still faintly wafting into my nostrils, a stinky reminder of what I have accomplished today.  No I didn't go very far.  No, I didn't go very far.  But today, after several days of being sick, I was able to get out, at least for a little bit.  1 step closer to the half marathon in August and that makes me smile!

Introduction to me

So I am training for a half marathon.  It's in august and my blog will primarily be journal about my runs.  I am doing a run walk method where I run and take lots of walk breaks.  I have done 2 half marathons in  past however I did little to no training for both.  The were both incredibly difficult, more difficult than they needed to be.  I hope this time I will be more in shape and prepared.  This blog will hopefully keep me more accountable to myself and help me stay on track.  I am a 27 year old female who weighs about 200 pounds.  Hopefully during this time I will also lose some weight.  If anyone is reading this, I hope you enjoy.  Remember this is primarily a journal so it may not be very interesting.