Haven't I been here before?

Well, here I am again, stuck in a rut. I finished the half marathon that I trained so hard for and what have I done since then? Not much at all. Why does this keep happening to me? I work so hard, race hard and then slack off. I do have another race coming up too...on May 19th that I need to be ready for.
So in attempt to get myself going again I did something that I have been thinking of doing for a while now....I joined my local running club! Last night I went to a track work out that they have every Wednesday night and I really liked it. I met some great people and did the beginner work out with a couple of other really nice ladies. I am hoping to make it frequently but we will have to see how it fits into my schedule. The thing that I really enjoyed is just having a group of people to talk about running...of course the Boston marathon was a big topic.
So if I combine these workouts with some running on my own, hopefully I will be back on track. Oh and we could use some nicer weather too!

Finish a 1/2 marathon...CHECK

Yesterday I completed my first half marathon!!! I have been training for this since January and I am glad that it is done. I am very glad that I did it, but it took up a lot of my time to properly train for it.
The weather was nice and sunny, but waiting around for the race to begin was brutal with the wind. Honestly after I began running, I don't really remember noticing the wind. I ran into a problem with my nike+ sportband a few days before the race, so it was not properly set up which meant I did not have it to gauge my pace or mileage between mile markers. The mile markers were very visible so I knew where I was in the race but sometimes the miles seemed to go on forever.
I really ran the race at my own pace....this meant that I had to watch a man much older then me run ahead of me which is an old running issue with me, but I knew if I worried about catching up and staying ahead of this man that it could ruin my race. I signed up to RUN this race and that is what I wanted to do the entire race...no walking for this chick! It was a hilly course....not so much the size of the hills (although some were pretty big) but the amount of them. Just when I was getting comfortable, a hill would appear ahead of me. I had to remind myself of my hill trick (see my post on hills) to conquer them.
The best part of the race, was my cheering section! My husband, two kids (who had made signs for me) and my parents came to the race to cheer me on. The first time I saw them was pretty early on in the race when I was still feeling nervous, so it really put a huge smile on my face to see them. That smile lasted for the next mile or so at least. At the end of the race they were near the finish line all waiting for high fives as a ran by. At the finish of the race there was a guy announcing names of racers as they ran by...so fun to hear my name...I let out a big yaaa hooo when I heard my name...I had done it!! I had run 13.1 miles and was feeling great! And then the leg soreness kicked in...oh well...it had to happen at some point.
So what's next you ask? I think I will stick to some local 5K races for a while...maybe another half in October? Maybe....
More photos to come....

Like a ton of bricks.....

Today we have a snow day here at my house....yes on April 1st mother nature got us good. We are all in our pajamas and have finished breakfast. We are all starting to do our own things and I am relaxing on the couch reading "Mile Markers" by Kristin Armstrong (great book by the way...more to come about that) when BAM it hit me like a ton of bricks what I am about to do....I am actually going to run a half marathon! When I started running back in 2005, all I really wanted to accomplish was a 5K. I never would have imagined running would have turned into this. Running has become such a big part of my life. I can honestly say that if I was told by a doctor that I could no longer run, I would be devestated! So as I continue on with my day and into the weekend, trying my best to rest up for Sunday, I am going to thank my lucky stars for my health, the support around me,and these legs of mine that are going to allow me to run 13.1 miles!!!!!!!