13.1

T-Minus 10 days and counting. 10 Days!! 10 Days until I run the longest race of my life. Am I nervous? For sure? Do I think I can make it? I sure do hope so. I must admit, I’ve really been slacking on my training lately. I have a ½ Marathon Training Schedule that started back in the beginning of January. I have it at my desk at work so every day I can see what’s on tap for that day, that week. I started off strongish… the schedule asked me to run 4 times a week, cross train 1 day and stretch and strengthen 1 day. Yeah, so I only have 1 day off?? I nixed that right away and stuck to a 3 day/week run w/ strengthening 1 of those days.

In the beginning, it wasn’t a problem. My weekday runs were short, starting at 3 miles and increasing ½ mile every 2 weeks. My weekend runs started at 4 miles, and increased by a mile every 2 weeks. Even though it was cold, and I was forced to run the treadmill a lot, I didn’t mind it much. Over the summer, while I was training for Ragnar, I would do the same, but even added in an extra evening run with my coworkers. So if I could do that, this shouldn't be a problem. I started going to the gym after work instead of before and although the gym was more crowded, and sometimes I had to wait for a treadmill, I found I had a lot more energy and it went by much faster.

As February came through, my mileage increased. My runs were getting longer and I was honestly just tired of running. I spent some time on the elliptical every other week instead of doing a run. It’s still strengthening my legs and cardio, so it counts, right? So where am I now? Slacking even more than ever, even though the race is less than 2 weeks away. I was supposed to run 9 miles last week – I didn’t. I told myself I would so it this past weekend, AFTER my 8k race. I didn’t. I was a little tired and although the weather was PERFECT, I couldn’t bring myself to spend 1.5 hours of my lazy afternoon running. I ran a race, that was good enough.

Last night, I was planning on running a short 4-5 mile run after work, foregoing the gym since we now have sunlight longer. Did that happen? Nope. It was a little rainy and kinda cold, so that was my excuse. I do plan on going to the gym tonight, but not to run. I just want to do strength. I plan on tackling a 10 mile run this weekend – I HAVE to. I have to prepare myself for this 13 mile run and having my longest distance only 8 miles, that hardly helps me out.

Part of me feels that since I’m this close to the race, anything I do now won’t really matter. It’s like cramming for an exam. If you don’t know the stuff by the night before, you aren’t going to know it. So what’s the point in running anymore before the race? I’m close enough, right? But the other part is telling me, “Stop being such a slacker!” I paid a lot of money for this race, and I don’t intend on running another. So this is my shot, I have to give it my all. I don’t necessarily have a finish time in mind, I just want to run the whole thing. But I know what I SHOULD finish the race in, and I’m worried that won’t happen because I didn’t train hard enough. I don’t want all this hard work to be all for naught… but I’ve literally run out. I’m so over this running right now that I can’t wait for this race to be done so I can take a break.

I know after the race I will feel an amazing sense of accomplishment, and I am really looking forward to it. But for now, the running isn’t fun for me – the training isn’t fun. And I’m ready to move on.