Hitting the wall?

On the edge of my first half marathon (next Saturday), I feel like my get up and go has gotten up and went. My milage this week is shaping up to be very sad indeed. Didn't do my long run the past two weeks in a row, both because of timing issues. This seems to be a crucial problem for me - go too early in the day and I'm still tired, too late in the morning and it gets too hot, too late in the evening and it gets dark on me. It's just so hard to fit it in with kids and dinner and other things I need to get done during the day. And I want to make running a priority because I enjoy it, but I have so many other priorities already, how can I really put anything else up at the top of my list? And I know another part of the problem is that I've been staying up much too late at night, waking up multiple times with the kids, and I'm just exhausted. No wonder I'm ready to throw in the towel after 3 miles, I'm just absolutely beat! My pace isn't suffering all that much, though, which is nice, but jeez, I need to figure out how to work things better so that I have time to run, time to sleep, and time to do everything else I need to do in my life.

5k number two under the belt

Well, I did indeed improve on my last 5k time - 32:20 - but didn't come close to breaking 28 minutes. Finished the Run Around the Square in 29 and short change (let's just say 29:00 since it took a little bit to get across the start). The first mile was super fast - 8:50 - but then the second mile and a quarter was ALL up hill and it totally sucked. I mean it sucked BAD. I had to stop and walk for a little bit right after the second mile marker because I was just beat. And the signs said there was going to be a water stop, but there wasn't! I might not have slowed down to a walk had I not thought there was going to be water (which I had to stop to drink, anyway, otherwise it just ended up on my face). The last bit was all downhill, and in retrospect I really could have floored it and probably finished at least 30 seconds faster, but hey, what did I know at the time? It'll be better next year, right?

With only two weeks until the Ikea Half Marathon, I'm in a little bit of a panic. 13.1 miles is a LONG way to run, way farther than I've ever run before. I probably should still do it, just to see if I can, but wow, it's not going to be pretty. Definitely there will be no records set at this one, at least not by me.

5K tomorrow

So, I've stopped putting my stats in every post (obviously, since I haven't posted in a while), but anyone who's curious can see them here, thanks to the good folks at Runner's World.

Since I smoked my first 10K a few weeks back with a finish time of 1:01:26, which is like 9:58/mile (also known, by me, as wicked fast), and some of the fastest splits I've ever run, I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow's Run Around the Square in Regent Square. I did the Race for the Cure back in May, my first 5k, with a finish time of 32:20, and I definitely run my regular runs at a faster pace than that, so I'm shooting for at least 28 minutes tomorrow. Haakan's shooting for under 20, but he's crazy like that. I like to keep my goals attainable. By me, anyway.

We're kicking around the idea of running a marathon in Harrisburg at the beginning of November. Can't decide if this is a good idea (sooner marathon, don't have to wait until May, not too far to drive, my aunt and uncle can probably watch the kids) or a bad one (it'll be November in central PA - not a time I usually think about going outside to run really long distances for fun in the snow vortex that is Amish Country). Either way, I'll at least be doing the Ikea Half Marathon next month, though I'm not sure how great of an idea that is. My longest run to date is 9 miles, and I failed miserably at my long run yesterday, barely slogging through 3 miles before I gave up and came home. I did much better today - a fast 4.7 miles - but having had such a bad run kind of freaks me out. Guess it's not worth dwelling on, though.