Catch up!

As I'm looking back through my blog, I realize that it's been since October that I've written anything.  Between basketball season, 2 little ones, and a full time job, there is not a lot of time left over for me, which is the whole reason I get up at 3.45 every morning to pump and then run. I just don't have time for everything. I'd love to sit down with a good book and read more than a paragraph. Or even finishing my morning coffee before it's cold would be nice. I know every full-time working momma can relate, whether you work from home or at some place. Heck, right now I'm pumping and blogging. Talk about multitasking!

The last 2 months have not been overly busy running-wise. I ran two races - the St. Pete Women's Half in November and the Jingle Jog in December. The half was the antithesis of the first half I ran. Not only did I consistently run (unlike last time), which would set up me for more than a smidgeon of success, I stuck to my pace goal pretty consistently. My slowest split was a 9.27. I ended with a 2:04. My goal was around 2. I was hoping for a 1:55, but that will just be my new time goal for the Naples 1/2 in January. The day was breezy and cold. It wasn't bad until we hit the pier - being on the water like that was brutal. Luckily, it was just for a very short time. ABK and I ran the first

Sprint finish during a 1/2

10k together which was great for pace setting and motivation. The course was a great course. ABK had been warned about a bridge and cobblestones during our training leading up to the 1/2 and we had been worried. We ended up laughing as we ran through that first 10k because the bridge was basically a footbridge and the cobblestones were slightly uneven brick pavers. It was not nearly as bad as we had been lead to believe. I was able to come in strong at the end with a sprint. The bling was great, but I got emotional when we were given our medals. They had female military personnel dressed in their BDUs putting our medals around our necks. I started crying, thinking, "I should be putting this on her!" I gave the girl a huge impromptu hug and thanked her for her service.It made what I thought was a huge accomplishment seem a bit smaller once given some
perspective. It was a great race, huge improvement, and confidence builder after my first half marathon.

Bling!

Post-1/2 marathon, I had (have) been dealing with some burnout and struggled to get over an ear infection that had developed the week before the half, but never seemed to completely go away. I took a lot of time off between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I did complete a very small local race, the Jingle Jog 5k; the proceeds of which go to fund sunshades over school playgrounds. My school is a recipient of one of these shades which will be installed at the beginning of second semester. This race was totally a last minute entry (day of entry - something I'll never do again!) and was a grass course at Estero Park. This park has a major hill in one part of the course and soft sand/dirt through another section of the course that you have to run twice during the course layout. It was not an easy race. Plus, the volunteers directed me wrong, so I had to cut back to properly finish. They also entered my birth date wrong, placing me in an age group with 45 year olds! As my last race of my 20s, there was no way I was going to let that slide! I appealed and they corrected my age group.  I ended up winning my age group and receiving a medal, but my time was not great. Partially due to a rough, grassy course and bad course directions and also due to not having run very much prior to the race. A new running buddy, AKG ran this race as well. She placed 2nd overall.

Since right before Christmas and this past week, I've been dying to get out there again. It's been a struggle to get out of bed early since I've been on break, so there have been a few missed runs, but I've mostly made them up either later that day or the following day. There are only 18 days left before the Naples 1/2. I want to break 2 hours for this race, so I need to put in some serious training over the next 2 weeks to allow myself some taper time as well. I'm excited about how the race calendar is shaping up for the next several months. A couple more half marathons, a 10k, and a couple of undecided 5ks as well should make for a very nice close to the racing season.