I'm back!

The past few days, I have been seriously freaking out about whether or not I would even be able to do the race. Sunday's run went horribly and I was really worried that I was going to be out of commission. But, I spoke with my best friend from home, who is a seasoned half-marathoner, and she said to just take a couple rest days and to see how I felt after that. She also said that when she trained for her half, she never ran more than 10 miles. So I took Monday and Tuesday off from any form of exercise and I've decided to eliminate my 13 mile training run that I had planned for this weekend and run 8 miles instead.

Taking 2 days off was not easy, I was pretty antsy and really wanted to move! But, it was worth it. I realized that while I thought I was okay after the 12 mile run, my IT band was really acting up. It was just a different kind of pain than before. Before, it was sharp and kind of felt like it was on the "surface". The pain I felt after the 12 mile run was deeper and duller, but still constant. I think that's why I thought I was fine. I'm sure those descriptions don't make a ton of sense, but instead of pain, it's more like an intense tightness now.

The 2 day rest definitely helped though, because my legs felt fresh and ready to run this morning! I decided to take it easy and planned on only running 4 miles. When I got up this morning the sun was shining and I knew it was going to be a beautiful day for a run!

Since it was so nice out I decided to take my new running shorts and singlet for a spin. When I was home before my trip to DC, I went to Target to get some running clothes for warm weather since I only have cold weather gear. I got 1 pair of shorts and 1 singlet (tank top). I actually prefer wearing Target work out clothes compared to my Underarmor or Nike stuff for some reason. And it's much cheaper, so that's kind of awesome. When I put on my new shorts this morning I almost screamed with delight...my shorts have a little pocket for a key!!! It's the little things in life, right?!

I left for my run, (with my key in the little pocket!) and decided to start with a warm up mile just to loosen up my legs a bit. I headed down to the trail and set out to do my 4 miles. I could tell as soon as I started running that this would be different than Sunday's sucky six (I have a thing for alliterations...) It felt SO good to run! I think those days off really, really helped. Which, when you think about it makes perfect sense. I mean I ran 10, 11, and 12 miles in consecutive weeks with only 1 day of rest BEFORE the long run, not after. What was I thinking?! Sometimes I need some sense knocked into me, unfortunately it's usually after I suffer some sort of injury.

I

I need to do more of this

As I was running, and hitting fantastic splits (for me), I thought why not push for 5 miles? I know I should be taking it easy, but I felt so good and it was so nice outside I just couldn't help it! So 5 miles it was! And then I cooled down with a 1 mile walk home. Here are today's splits:

Mile 1: 16:38 (warm up)
Mile 2: 9:09
Mile 3: 9:08
Mile 4: 9:25
Mile 5: 9:11
Mile 6: 9:07
Mile 7: 18:07 (cool down)
.09: 1:40 (cool down)
Total time: 1:22:30

I ended up doing the exact same distance as my run on Sunday (by accident, because I took a different route). Only on Sunday I ran 6 and walked 1.09, whereas today I ran 5 and walked 2.09, but the crazy thing is that I finished today's run FASTER than Sunday's! I don't know if there was ever a bigger sign that I needed those rest days! When I got home I had to hustle off to work because I was running late, so I didn't have time to stretch or ice. But I think I also really need to step that up in the last few weeks of training, in addition to maybe taking it slightly easier on myself.

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful spring day!

--Melissa