Let the countdown begin

August 13-19               Total Miles – 19.2       

Things returned to normal (somewhat) this week and I did not dread putting the running shoes on.  I had a super hectic schedule this week (with a crazy weekend to follow) so I had to juggle some things around.  I ran 4 straight days (which is generally not a good idea) but my last run of the week went very well. I started the week with a 9 miler followed by 4 the next day and then two 5k runs to end out the week.  My best average time was my last 5k.  I held my own on the nine miler averaging under 11 minutes.  I hope to run the half at an 11 min/mile pace overall (and hopefully run the marathon at a 12:30 pace).  This would shave about 4 minutes off my last half marathon.  Not super lofty goals, but for a running newbie, I think that those goals are in line.  Truthfully if they aren’t, who cares?  They are my goals anyway.

Less than a month to go before the SF Half.  I have 10, 11 and 12 mile runs staring me down over the next few weeks.  I don’t want to run too cautious since this is merely the halfway point, but I also want to be sure that I do not DNF the half.  I probably won’t push it too hard on any of the long runs in the next few weeks, but run the 5k’s as tempos in an attempt to keep lung capacity used to the stress.  Let the countdown to SF begin.