But - I'm getting faster.
I ran a mile in 10 minutes and 30 seconds. Normally I run in the 12 minute range. I was thrilled. Let me start at the beginning.
My husband @scotbritton was going to run the San Jose Rock and Roll half marathon. I was not, I'm doing the LA half at the end of the month and I thought it was too close together for me. During my training for the half, I was scheduled to do an approximate 6 mile run that weekend. At first I thought I would just run around the area of the hotel or use the hotel gym. During the time I had these thoughts Rock and Roll started to promote their horribly named "mini marathon" it was approximately 5 miles and was at the same time as the half. I debated running it - I hate the name of it. There is nothing wrong calling it a 5 mile "fun run" or something similar. But, at the last minute I decided to run it, figured it would give me something to do during the time my husband was running. I started in corral 3 (our placement was based on our 5K time) and my husband was in corral 11, we decided to see how long it would take him to "catch" me. My first mile was 10:30, I imagine it was because I was with the faster runners, but it felt GREAT. I wasn't getting tired, I felt like I could go further at that pace, but decided that I needed to slow down. I didn't want to hurt myself. At about 2.5 miles when I was walking, my husband "caught" me and passed me and he was off. When I got to the 5K point my time was in the 37 minute range. I had a new PR for a 5K!!! I finished the mini. It was less then 5 miles....but just barely, but even with that my 5 mile time would have been my best time. I was happy. I felt confident and knew I can do it.
I've started to feel more confident with my running, I feel like I am finally seeing progress and feeling great about it.
This past weekend called for my longest distance so far. 10 miles. I normally wake up early, go to the beach and run on the bike path before it gets too crowded. I knew that there was construction one way on the bike path so decided to go the other way towards Marina Del Rey and towards Venice Beach Boardwalk - a route that I hadn't ran before. I had a GREAT pace going in the Marina and towards the board walk. I felt confident. I knew I could do it. I thought of turning around at 4 miles out, but decided I wanted to make it to the Boardwalk. I got to the Boardwalk, and then remembered WHY I DON'T GO TO THE BOARDWALK! There are a lot of homeless people wondering on it in the morning, there were cops, but I just didn't feel safe. After taking a quick picture I turned around and headed back. Did you see the part where I said I hadn't ran that route before? I missed the street I need to turn down. Ended up lost in the streets of the Marina, trying to get to the bike path. I asked 2 people for directions - neither were helpful. Tried to figure out the maps on my phones - I'm bad with directions. After about 30-45 minutes of wandering around seeing if the streets were going to get me out of my little adventure, I found people who were headed to the bike path and followed them. By the time I got to the bike path I was at 10 miles and running out of water. But I wasn't done, my directional mishap added almost 1.5 miles to my route. While back on the bike path, I encountered a triathlon Thankfully only the running portion, but I did all I could to stay out of their way. I got back to my car almost 3 hours after I started my adventurous morning, in a way it was good I went the different route because the triathlon running course was right along the path I normally run.
My run yesterday gave me confidence, even though I got lost, I am confident enough in my ability to run my upcoming half. I am hoping to finish in under 3 hours. I don't care if it's 2:59:59, I want to finish in under 3. The next 3 weekends are filling with running events - next weekend my husband and I are doing the Run For Your Lives Zombie 5K I'm a little scared, but know that I will have fun. I'm excited to see the people dressed as zombies. Then the following weekend is the Rock and Roll LA Half Marathon where I am dressing up as Batman. Then the first weekend in November, a few girls I went to high school with and I (and hopefully my sister in law) are doing the Dirty Girl Mud Run. It's a lot coming up, but I'm excited.
Normally I take a picture post training run - this was all I could do:
