13.1 Day 1

40 Weeks, 273 days to be exact!

That's how much time I have to train for my newest adventure.
On August 30th 2015 I will be doing my very first 1/2 marathon, 13.1 miles.

I'll be doing the Women Rock Minnesota 1/2 with at least one of my friends that ran the Hammer with me back in October. A 1/2 marathon has been on her before "a certain age' bucket list and she'll hit that number next year so it's kind of something we need to make happen in 2015.

I never think about how friggin' tall I am till I see pictures like this.

I found a 20 week, 1/2 marathon training program that I really liked and decided to take 1 week of training and stretch it out over 2 weeks. I know my body and do much better with a slow and steady pace. PLUS it'll allow for those inevitable days when things don't go according to schedule and I won't be stressing out over missing a day.

My week will begin on Sunday and look like this; Rest, Cross Train, Rest, Run, Rest, Cross Train, Run. Luckily, Zumba is cross training and already built into my week on Monday's and Fridays. I've been doing some beginning weight lifting after each Zumba class and plan on continuing with that. I'm also adding in a little yoga for runners, which has been awesome for my perpetually tight ham strings . Here's what my training day looked like today.

Pre-run yoga, run, weighted plank, post-run yoga

I have a treadmill we inherited from Blue Eye's folks so I don't have to go to the gym, or outside in the cold for running days. I'm not fast by any means, but I figure it's better than sitting on the couch. 5 mph is the pace I'm reaching to maintain by race day. I like to catch up on the latest episode of Scorpion or watch a movie from the library while I run. It's extra nice when Matt is home because we can visit while I run and he does his gaming from his computer. When he's not home the kids get some t.v. time while I run. Here's what my set up looks like.

Yep, those are t.v. trays AND my hammer right underneath my growing collection of race bling.

I'm really not THAT into running, unless I'm watching something interesting or running with friends. BUT I do like a good challenge and I guess if I'm going to do it, doing it with my gal pals to check of an item on a bucket list is certainly that way to go.