The time is going to pass regardless... [23M]

I ran in the Komen Dallas Race for the Cure this weekend and was thoroughly impressed by Luke's Locker, Humana, and New Balance for their contributions and support for the elite group that participated. I felt very uneasy about about being in this "elite" group knowing how out of shape I am right now, but I was so honored and humbled, and could not be more appreciative. It was wonderful to have our own port-o-potties, easy access to the start line, and a safe place to leave our bags during the race. Humana also provided us with free entries (thank you!) and New Balance gave us some sweet racing flats, shorts, and a jersey (thank you!). Very neat to see how all these groups worked together to build support and excitement for the breast cancer awareness event.

After the race, my friend Jeff, (whom I actually met this summer while running on a treadmill at the gym!) reminded me to be patient with my training because the time is going to pass regardless. He basically said that I should not rush progress or be discouraged by small improvements. This year is going to pass just like all the rest and a new one will come. I have more than enough time to get where I want to be. It's better to make small improvements and continue building and progressing than to try making major jumps and end up on the couch again.

This week marks the start of my new plan that Jake has made me so I can run a half marathon this spring. The first couple days are off so that I can go into the training fresh and without all my current aches. After this weekend, I am even more excited to get after this. I am competitive at heart and it's difficult knowing how far back I've fallen. I understand it's all part of coming back from injuries and I also understand the need for patience, so no worries. I just am VERY ready to be back in the grind and feeling fit and fast on race days again! :)

Sunday, October 20th
Rest and recovery. Feels like I've pulled something on the front outer side of my right lower leg. So weird! Glad these are my off days anyways! :)

Monday, October 21st
Rest and recovery. Solid core and cross training session during lunch!

Tuesday, October 22nd (it's go time!!)
3M moderate effort, drills, 16 diagonals while timing Dawn. I was supposed to do 5M with the last 2M being 100m hard, 100m easy, but I was timing Jake's athlete this morning and ran short on time. So I did the three miles and then ran my surges from the start to the 200 (across the field) during her workout. Very chilly out which made me feel quick and I had half an e+ shot before I left so I was really awake and ready to roll from the first step. No wasted miles today!

Wednesday, October 23rd
5M; drills. I got in at least five miles this morning (probably quite a bit more) at a very solid pace. Definitely a good run. My hamstring has been really hurting the past two days though, so I held off on the drills. 
Drills, upper body strength during lunch. I put some Ageless Pain Relief Cream on mid-morning, stretched gently, and massaged it a lot and it felt good enough to go through drills by lunchtime. I still skipped lower body strength though as I did not want to push that muscle today. Just keep it loose! :)

Thursday, October 24th
5M + strides. I'm pretty sure I've run too hard in every single one of my runs this week! I have felt like I've been really working (almost harder than tempo effort) for almost all of my runs this week. I think the cooler weather, lower mileage, and my e+ shots have been part of this, but I definitely need to cool it! I've been BEAT after my runs! Arms and legs both! Today I ran to the gravel trail at DBU, stayed on there until around 30 minutes, then switched to the grass track. I stretched my calves when I got to the grass, so I happened to check the time on my watch when I started there... my first mile was 6:5x... Yikes! After I saw that I really eased up until I finished out the full 40 minutes. No strides today and no drills either; really wanting to baby this hamstring by not doing any quick movements with it.

Friday, October 25th
5M with last 2M hard with Carolyn Kelly. Carolyn and I have been great training partners! We're at about the same fitness level, and we're somewhat opposite in workouts - She tends to start hard and maintain, I prefer to start easier and cut down. Works nicely because then we usually end up doing both, haha! Today was a rough one though! I think we underestimated the temps and didn't warm up quite enough. We never broke 8 minute pace during our first three miles, and we did absolutely nothing before starting the hard part... Like not even stop the run to do a few quick drills, strides, or stretches. I think next time we'll want to throw in some surges during our last two "warm up" miles. Regardless, we ran 6:52 and 6:38 for the two miles today. Hopefully next week we'll be better prepared for it because it felt awful today!! Haha!

Saturday, October 26th
3M shakeout before helping at the Heartland Conference Championship meet since my husband is the host team's coach! No time for real running when you leave that early in the morning!!!