Iron Girl Recap A few weeks ago, I ran the Iron Girl half marathon in Clearwater. This was the last "big" race I'd planned for the spring, so I wanted to do well, but I also hadn't been training to PR (I guess I never really do). And since my sister had planned to bring her family out to spectate, we decided we'd attempt to have my four-year-old niece, Evie, run across the finish line with me. (We tried this once before , but I was too close to a marathon PR to slow down, so I left her trailing behind me.) Because this was a smaller race and a women's-only race, I wasn't too worried about being a disruption to the race. So my focus during the race was on Evie--and it's a good thing I had a focus other than time, because, as it turned out, my watch wasn't charged, and it wasn't going to last my whole race. But in my experience, this lack of knowing, of constantly monitoring my pace, has served me well during races. (In fact, during last year...

Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 9/15 Regular Run 4 9:23 Tuesday, 9/16 Regular Run 7 9:37 Wednesday, 9/17 Yoga 0 -- Thursday, 9/18 Regular Run 6 9:31 Friday, 9/19 Rest 0 -- Saturday, 9/20 Long Run 12.45 9:56 Sunday, 9/21 Rest 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 29.45 Last week was my cautious comeback to training. I cut back my weekly runs by a few miles overall, and I only had a twelve-mile long run on the schedule, which was very timely. Because this was my week off in between old job and new job, I was tempted, each morning, to sleep in and gave in to that temptation, each morning. So I ran in the evenings, which is doable at this time of year with the ever so slight shift toward cooler temperatures.  I ran at the Upper Tampa Bay Trail on Monday, which I haven't run in probably a year. I enjoy this trail for shorter runs; it has several trailheads and is a little more than seven miles overall. Depending on where you start, it can feel like you're bouncing a...

How I thought my week would play out: Spending time with my already-born niece Getting ahead on work and school before my "vacation" Finishing up training with a few short and easy runs Taking extra care of my body with stretching, rolling, and relaxation Mentally preparing with messages of affirmation to myself How my week has played out: Anxiously awaiting the late birth of my niece, fearing she might not arrive before I left for Scranton Trying to be there for my older niece while my sister and brother-in-law prepared for their new baby, which inevitably meant Neglecting work and school and deciding to postpone my grad school application purely out of stress and anxiety Dreading my last few runs, which were a mixed bag of slow, a little less slow, and draining Getting too little sleep because my niece decided to arrive in the wee hours of the morning, mid-week, which meant taking care of the older niece during the labor and delivery (which I absolutely d...

For weeks and weeks I had been looking forward to doing my last long run of training before the Steamtown Marathon , just six days away now. It was only 12 miles, and compared to all the other runs I'd been through, it was sure to be a breeze. I was looking so much forward to it, in fact, that I slept right through it Saturday morning. Heard the alarms, but just didn't feel compelled to get up. So I didn't. By the time I actually arose, it was close to 9:00 a.m. Whoops. So I was left with the dilemma of whether to run the next morning, or to try for a long evening run (isn't that how everyone wants to spend their Saturday night?) I opted for the evening run, because I was afraid I'd have the same problem getting up the next morning, and I also just wanted to get the dang thing over with. It would mark a very significant point in training, or rather, the end of training. Plus, there was one more thing I wanted to do for this round of training that I hadn't do...

Yesterday I ran my final 20-miler of training for the Steamtown Marathon . I knew that if I could make it through that run without injury, I'd be good to go for the race. And I'm happy to report that I did! But the run wasn't without some folly.  Because my youngest niece was having a birthday party on the same day I was scheduled to do this training run, I'd planned ahead for Tim and I to spend the night at my dad's house in Longwood (which is close to where my niece lives). I knew my dad lived very close to the Seminole Wekiva Trail , so I planned the 20-miler on this route. Or so I thought. We knew my dad lived 2.5 miles from the trail, so we would just need 15 miles on the trail, or 7.5 out and back. I used someone's Map My Run route to get an idea of how many miles we'd be able to get at the entrance point from my dad's house. I even "enhanced" the map with my own notations, for Tim's benefit. The map I studied and enhance...

I've gone through quite a range of emotions over the past four days of rest from training (Thursday through Sunday). Thursday, the first rest day, was fine, as I usually have one day of rest in a week, anyway. But Friday was greatly frustrating. My leg wasn't feeling any better (I know, I know--I hadn't even given it two days of rest), and tiny seeds of doubt about running the marathon had planted themselves in my brain. To add to the frustration, I learned rather inconveniently that my gym membership on campus had ended and was in need of renewal. So when I arrived to take a Muscle Madness class and was told I needed to renew (which I hadn't been notified of), I lost my civility and started mouthing off to the desk attendants (who were, in fairness to me, pretty much the opposite of helpful). Instead of helping me, they told me I could renew over at a kiosk. I wasn't prepared to make the decision to renew, and I didn't want to pay the daily fee of $10. So ...