I did it!

Training for a half marathon is hard!


Duh, Michelle. That's what you're probably thinking.

Each week I have to run more and more and I find myself almost dreading it, wondering what I got myself into. Doubt sets in. Can I really finish a half marathon? Not just finish, but finish with very very minimal walking. I'm talking no walking unless I absolutely HAVE to. I hate having to take walk breaks.



Today I ran 8.1 miles in 1 hour and 21 min. I'm pretty proud of that. Never ran that far before. Never ran for that amount of time before.

The thing I'm mad about is the walk break I had to take when I had less than a mile left. LESS THAN A MILE! What the hell happened? I got this twisting pinching in my lower right abdomen at around 7.15 miles. It turned into a stabbing pain and I had to walk. It hurt to breathe and I almost panicked. I got upset which made it worse! It felt a little better with walking but once I tried to run it immediately came back.

At about 7.45 miles I decided to suck it up and run. At 7.7ish miles it got better and I was feeling great again. SO mad though! That messed up my time! That stabbing pain hits me once in a while and I really wish I knew why. Sometimes it hits me at 2 miles, sometimes at 5. Thankfully, it doesn't happen during ever run.



Anyway, I ran a nice 4 mile loop so that I was able to stop at my house for a drink of water halfway through. My legs felt great, which is why I was so mad about the pain in my side.

I had mixed feelings about this run. I was excited to try out my new shoes, but I was worried about running longer than I ever had before.

Yes, its a pretty much a no-no to just go out and run that far in brand new shoes. BUT I realized that my other shoes were a big mistake. Looking at them, I'm not even sure what type of shoes they are, but they are definitely NOT made for running. They kill my feet. On runs longer than 3 or 4 miles, they leave giant blisters on my pinkie toes, and they rub the backs of my ankles raw. My feet just don't feel good at all after running in them.


My new shoes are definitely for RUNNING. I made sure of it. And I got them on sale! And they're so pretty! And I felt like I was running on clouds!


Well, not really. But my feet feel great right now!

Here's a link if you're interested in the shoes. I bought mine at Shopko yesterday.



Until next time everyone! I'll let you know how 9 miles goes next week.... Yikes...

Back on Track

I'm back!


I've been fairly busy lately and that's my only excuse for not writing lately. Finding a routine with my new job has been tricky, but I think I've gotten it figured out.

Having a job where I work during mealtimes has been an adjustment. I can't very well take a lunch break in the middle of the lunch shift. Coming home at 9pm and trying to cook dinner at that time doesn't work very well either. I've adjusted to eating just before work in the morning and trying not to order food after my shift more than once a week. If I work the dinner shift, I've entrusted the cooking of dinner to my crock pot.

Going out to eat is such a treat for me, its hard to say no, but I feel a million times better when I cook something healthy. So hopefully now that I'm back to eating like normal and not eating out all the time, these few lbs I've gained back will fall off...

In other news, I finally got a bike! I live so close to places like the gym, my work, and the bank that it seems silly to drive sometimes. I took it for a test run to the gym the other day and it works just fine. Haven't been able to take it to work just yet- too hot yesterday and it's going to be rainy today. Only problem with it so far is the kickstand is broken off.







I've been busy training for an upcoming race. I signed up for my first half marathon coming up on November 2nd. A race like this requires a good training plan. I've heard good things about Hal Higdon Training plans, so I've been following this plan.

This is the first race I'm nervous about. I've only run at most 7 miles at a time, and a half marathon is almost twice that length. Sometimes while I'm running I wonder what I was thinking, signing up for this race?!?! But I'm signed up and I'm going to do it.


That's it for me! Time to get ready for work :)