Thursday, October 01, 2009

Mostly in Training

Trying to train for the half-marathon has been a challenge. Both in terms of motivation and opportunity, I have been somewhat lacking.

Last week, I missed my mid-week runs because I had some kind of food poisoning or other stomach ailment, and I was not fit for rolling out of bed at 5am to run. I did, however, manage to finish my 10-mile run over the weekend, and I was happy about that.

Then yesterday, I was determined to get back on the horse and get out first thing in the morning, so I didn't fall out of the habit. I did drag myself out of bed not too long after the alarm first went off. I was only halfway through getting dressed, however, when I heard rain beating against the windows and bolstered by a cold, brisk wind.

I immediately scurried back to the bedroom, threw off my running clothes and slipped back into my pajamas and still-warm side of the bed. And then I worked until 7 o'clock in the evening yesterday, followed by errands, and didn't get home until 8:30. So running in the evening wasn't an option.

I just don't know what to think about this upcoming race. And it's coming up sooner than I think—just a month away. Am I going to be prepared for it? Am I going to be happy with my time? I'd like to think that I'll be happy just to finish .... or even just to get to the starting line ..... but I'm not convinced. I tend to be a rather competitive person; I'm not sure if I'm capable of just being happy to be there.

Hopefully I can do my tempo run tomorrow morning and my 8-mile run goes well this weekend, and I'll feel like I'm back on track. In 2 weeks, I am doing my longest run of the training—12 miles—and if I can do that, I will feel confident that finishing the race is within my grasp. But is that enough?

3 comments:

Stacey said...

You finished your 10-mile training run...you've got the half in the bag! I have the date pencilled in on my calendar; I may still consider it.

Go get your twelve done!

Jonathan Beckett said...

It sounds like you're in a similar situation to me.

I would love to go out running, but making the time to do so requires such effort that I end up not doing it.

At the moment I don't even have running shoes, and can't really warrant the money to spend on them :(

M. Lubbers said...

Stacey: Have you done your marathon yet? Let me know if you decide you do want to do the half, too! I ran 10 again this past weekend, and my 12 is coming up this coming weekend .... if I make it through that, I'll sign up for the race!

Jonathan: I find that my attitude about running is a bit off. In that, I feel like I should get faster because it takes so much effort to run at all. Irregardless of how much running I do--I should improve because of the effort! Too bad it doesn't work that way :/