Just when things were going well

I was SO excited to really be back on track this week. I had to great outdoor runs - a tempo and an awesome interval workout. Then the stomach bug invaded my house. I might not have been working out for the later part of this week, but I've lost a nice amount of weight! HA Not what I intended.

I feel better enough to workout, but with two sick kiddos and an out of town hubby, it's not in the cards. It's days like this I really, really miss my treadmill.

My husband comes home tomorrow - I might even meet him at the door with a can of Lysol in my hand and my running shoes on my feet "tag, you're it!!"

There always seems to be a setback as a try to ramp up again. Ah well, the good news is I can still get out there on Sunday. I'll still meet my mileage goal for the week. But I wanted to get ahead and have a couple of cross training workouts under my belt.

I'm excited - there's always next week. I'm going on a girls weekend with 4 of my favorite ladies - to Lake Tahoe! Woohoo!! I cannot wait. The good news is that one of my favorite running buddies is one of the girls going! I am so looking forward to heading out for a long run in Incline Village with Alissa! It's going to be awesome - even if they don't have oxygen at that altitude!

To PR or not to PR......that is the question.....

Well, not really. Of course I want to PR this spring. The real question is.....by how much?

I ran a personal record time in the half marathon in November - a 1:58:26. That was a whopping 13 minutes of my previous best time and the result of about 5 months of kick butt training. I worked harder than I knew I could and I relished in it. The work paid off. It took a second attempt and other 2 months of training, but I was able to take my previous best time of 2:15 (Nashville 2010). My first attempt didn't go as I hoped and I ended up with a disappointing time of 2:11 (Air Force 2010). I worked hard for another 2 months and pulled out the PR I'd been hoping for - with another 90 seconds to spare!

A good friend (and running buddy) of mine suggested we shoot for a 1:50 in May. At the time it seemed like an awesome idea. Ever since running the Disney marathon in January, I've been tired. It has definately taken a while for me to get back on my game. Only in the last week or two have I felt like I can get back to really training, versus just running for fitness. There are 12 weeks until my target PR race - the Capital City Half Marathon in Columbus, OH. That 1:50 is a really, really lofty goal.

I just don't think I have that kind of pace in me - not for 13 miles. I'd have to aim for about an 8:20 per mile pace. I can barely maintain that pace for a 5k. I started playing around with some numbers in the Runner's World Smart Coach tool and I think I found a happy medium. I printed up a 12 week workout schedule for a 1:53 half. That's a 5 minute PR (should I pull it off) and brings me within range of a 1:50 half with further training. Little pieces at a time, right?

Time to get jogging....oops, I mean blogging.

After typing up many a running adventure on Dailymile, I figured it was time to start tracking my life as a runner with a blog. Please feel free to follow me and I'll do my best to keep up with this to track my successes and failures as I continue on this adventure.