This Week in Running

This will have to be quick as I have a 4:30am wake up call... Once again, I have been a negligent blogger and have to recap an entire week in one post. Whoops!

Monday was my last day at home and ended up being a father-daughter day. We went to an afternoon movie then went for another run. My legs felt pretty good after Saturday's race, but man was it HOT! The temps actually peaked in the 90s, and boy did we feel it out there! Besides the heat, the run was great. We did an out and back along an American River trail for a total of 4 miles. The scenery was beautiful, plus it was fun to run on an unpaved trail surrounded by trees. After a wonderful weekend at home, I headed back to Santa Barbara that night.

Tuesday night I met up with the Team for track. After our warm-up we did a pyramid workout - 1x400 at  5k pace, 1x800 at 10k pace, 1x1600 at marathon pace, 1x800 at 10k pace, and finally 1x400m at 5k pace. We ran it in groups which made the time go by fast and helped push everyone. It was nice to do actual speedwork again and run hard. That's what track is all about, right? The whole workout ended up being 6 miles.

Wednesday I decided to take off. I had a loooong day at work on my feet for 7 hours and my legs and my head were not having it. I figured I could just make it one of my rest days this week. Plus I had a paper due Thursday morning that desperately needed my attention...

Speaking of which, I wrote that paper Thursday morning. Hours before it was due. Smart? Absolutely not, but it got done and there's nothing I can do about it now. I'm just crossing my fingers it's not as horrible as I think it is : / After my hectic morning writing the paper followed by 3 straight hours of class, the last thing I wanted to do was run. I knew I should, but I had zero energy or will. In the end, I somehow managed to change and get out there. Maybe it had something to do with the package that came in the mail with...my new shoes! To clarify, not a new brand/style, just a new pair of my trusty Brooks. I tested them out on a 4 miler and holy cow do they feel different! Made me realize just how worn down my old pair are.

Old vs. New

I love new kicks!

So tomorrow is the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon. There's been a slight change of plans regarding the race as I will now be running it with my wonderful roommate Jackie! A friend of a friend could no longer run the race and was looking for someone to transfer her entry to, so I convinced her to run it with me : ) Jackie is training for the San Diego marathon with the Team and this will be her first official half marathon (although she's done that distance and more in training!). I'm excited to have someone to run it with, especially since I do not want to race it and having a friend will make it easier to just run for fun and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I drove up to the little town of Solvang after work to pick up our packets and the whole way I was in awe of how beautiful the mountains, hills, meadows, oceans, etc. looked. I was tempted to pull my car off the road and jump out and just run! Solvang was super cute, too. It's a little Dutch town and all the buildings make you feel like you were just dropped smack in the middle of Copenhagen : ) The expo was small, the shirts hideous, but I think the race itself will make up for everything else. As far as goals, I'm going into this one empty. I want it to be a wonderful first half for Jackie and an easy long run for me, with no pressure on time. In fact I'm more worried about finding parking in tiny Solvang in the morning than running a half marathon!