Week Five -- Training for the Shamrock Half Marathon

This is week five of my training for the half marathon.  My monday run was a 3 mile run around my neighborhood.  I do love this run, as there's a stretch of it through a street of beautiful big homes and there are only a few cars that pass by.  It was 39 degrees when I ran and I've gotten used to running in that temperature. I marked in my journal that it was a "great run."  I work from home on Mondays, so I'm able to start my run right at 5pm and run while it's still daylight.  The rest of the week I work in my office and arrive home a dusk, so I end up running on the treadmill.  I'm looking forward to daylight savings time switch on March 13th so that I can run outside more.  I know...I know...why don't I run in the morning?  That snooze button is just too tempting.


On Wednesday I ran 4 miles on the treadmill, but almost stopped at 35 minutes.  At that point, I walked for about a minute and convinced myself to keep going.  I made it to 4 miles.  My next run would have been a 3 miler, but on Thursday evening, I was in a I'm just too tired or too sore sort of mood and Friday was a I'm running my long run tomorrow anyway mood.


Which takes us to today, Saturday.  I didn't sleep as well as I would like to, but I don't seem to sleep well before my group runs or for any of the events I've run in.  I've done some googling on that and I'm not the only one and I read not to worry about it, so I don't.  Since I stopped worrying about not sleeping before a race, I do tend to sleep better.  Regardless of the lack of sleep, today's run was a really good run.  Again, it was about 39 degrees and I needed to shed my windbreaker halfway through. We did six miles and I was running the same pace as two other runners so I wasn't running alone this time.  There was some black ice sections of the trail, but I was able to not slip and fall.  The last 2 miles seemed faster, as one of the other runners and I chatted.  Teaming will be especially beneficial for all of us as the miles increase.   Around mile 4, though, I felt my back rib area tweak out a little.  I kept running though and I'm hoping that it readjusts itself.  I hurts a little bit when I breath in, but it's not at all like what happened on one of my morning runs last summer. That morning, about a mile into a 3 mile run, my upper back, left side, started to spasm.  I couldn't breath in without it hurting badly.  I walked home that morning in a great deal of pain.  Chiropractic and rest fixed it within a week, but it really made me weary of running in the morning.  I started to think that my body really ready to run so soon after I get up.  Well...this being week 5 of my group runs at 7:30am, I'm reconsidering this thought.  I'll keep you posted on that idea.


Why do I run?  I run to keep myself young.  I don't feel my age...my age will not define who I am...who I am will define me...I used to say age is just a number, but now I say my age is how I feel.  There are days I feel older and there are days that I feel younger.  I will not dress or act my age...ever....