Next race, 1 week away

My next scheduled half marathon (not a full, just 13 miles) is next Sunday in St. Louis. I'm excited for race weekend because my cousin is coming with some friends and we have made plans for Saturday. I have had some serious training motivation issues lately. My hubby has been on spring break the last week and the week before spring break was very challenging for him. I got out of my normal schedule and just had a hard time getting over the big weeks! I have only skipped a couple of work outs but it's definitely been a mental challenge to get them in. I also wanted to put in some more mileage than the training plan called for which meant that I was running two more miles on the long run.

Today I went to run outside and it was sprinkling. It was only about 40 outside so I running in the rain was not very pleasant sounding. So I decided to go indoors - the thought of 8 miles on the treadmill is not really fun for me. We have a great rec center but I still get bored running inside. My husband suggested that I alternate treadmill and the 1/10mi track. I didn't quite do that, but I did do two miles on the track and the other 6 on the treadmill. It became a mind game to get through the run as best as possible so I tried increasing my speed the last 1/4 of every mile and doing fun stuff like that and I made it through!

This week I am looking forward to new shoes and a lighter running schedule and then race weekend!

Happy Easter

Easter is such a great time to reflect on our lives and realize what Jesus dying on the cross has meant to each of us! I hope that you can take some time to ponder that. I picked my first daffodils from the yard yesterday and it's a great reminder of new life! Now I hope that they don't all bloom while we are gone for the holiday!

My pondering time will be the 14 mile run that is on tap for this weekend. I want to push my body over the 13.1 mile mark so in two weeks I can finish strong. My motivation to run has been lacking the last few weeks but I only two weeks left until race weekend.

Spring on the horizon

Ah, spring is finally on the horizon. Today was the first outside day we have had in a really long time. Chalk drawings all over the driveway, bikes to get put away, really good stuff for a Saturday! I was brave today and planted some seeds - lettuce, radish, spinach and some cilantro. They were all seeds that I had from last year so we'll see if anything grows. I usually like to plant something around Valentine's Day and I've moved some snow to plant, but this year I couldn't move the slate of ice covering the entire ground!

There are daffodil little tips coming up in many different places in my yard too! So fun finding out what will spring look like in my yard...today is a good day to remember that it's coming! (and I'm blocking out the snow in the forecast for Monday)

Now, I really need to get to planning my garden space!