Catching Up

Sorry it's been awhile. Is there ever enough time in the day? If I could function on less than 7 hours of sleep and not be in the middle of flight prep perhaps I could keep up...I'm tryin. Training for the half is going well, did I ever say I was training for the Houston half marathon in January? Probably not because it wasn't "official" until last week when I "officially" signed up. A bit intimidating but what the heck! It gives meeting to the training that I have been doing for the past two months. Yesterday was my 8 miler (1:29:27). The longest mileage I've ever ran, knowingly. Honestly, I don't think I've ran 8 miles unknowingly...one would know this. I was pretty happy with the run. I managed to beat the rain and take advantage of some cooler temps. I had my GU, water and body glide at the 3 and 6 mile mark and I managed to stay hydrated, energized and chafless. When I finished and commenced with my 45 minute commute to pick up the boy I called hubby, I always call and share the news with hubby when I complete a new mileage milestone. He was happy but a bit distracted, family from Cali are coming in for Thanksgiving and causing a bit of panick to get the "to do" list completed and his work is C-R-A-Z-Y. Anyway...I called Jojo, my inspirator, my motivator, my torturor to share my good news but of course she didn't answer her phone. YOU NEVER ANSWER YOUR PHONE! She did call back to check on me, make sure I wasn't rutted by a mating buck and congratulated me on my run. I am rearranging my schedule this week to move my long runs from Monday to Friday...I'm going to DIE. We are starting hill training in a couple of weeks and the only hill in a 150 mile radius is the Kemah bridge which happens to be a one mile worth of bridge. I'm really going to DIE. I took today off and my knees are thanking me. I plan on 5 tomorrow, Thursday off and another 8 on Friday. I pray for a cool front since it is forcasted to be up in the mid 80's tomorrow. Still better than the 95+ temps I was running in a month or so ago but still hot nonetheless. Jojo will tell you I don't sweat. Whatever...

Here are my times from days past:

Nov 2: 4m: 43:23
Nov 1: 3m: 30:20
Oct 30: 6m: 1:06:40
Oct 25: 3m: 31:01
Oct 23: 7m: 1:16:49
Oct 19: 3m: 31:20
Oct 18: 2m: 20:58
Oct 17: 6m: 1:15:58
Oct 12: 3m: 30:59
Oct 11: 2m: 21:05
Oct 9: 5m: 54:49

So...this morning on my way to work about 6a I was flipping through morning radio and stopped when I heard a DJ talking about the Houston half marathon in January and that she was going to run in the race. My interest was peaked so I listened. She proceeded to admit she flaked on a 5K this past weekend and she then asked for people to email training schedules to her because she hasn't begun her training. WHAT!!! Can you just hear the race committee saying thanks for the $50-60 donation? I actually know people that have ran a marathon, twice...prolly four times by now and not trained for two of them and they completed the race in under 4:30. I know people that could run the 1/2 and not train and finish with a respectable time. With all due respect...she would not be able to run a respectable half and not train. I'm not really sure why I care, it doesn't really affect me personally it just struck me as irresponsible. I shouldn't, but for some reason I care...I guess because this woman has an opportunity to promote running as a sport, how to do it safely and the joys of training and celebrating a personally accomplishment. But...as I am not privy to her personal accomplishment I will stop talking about it. I wish her the best of luck and hope she finds that training program to get her up to speed in 9 weeks.