Crunch Time

I've heard great things about the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and Half Marathon, so back in February, I signed up for the half, which will take place on Saturday, June 26. I thought it would be a great way to get back into running after taking some time off since the Bellingham Bay Marathon. What I wasn't thinking about was our busy spring - including trips to Hawaii, Orlando, Palm Springs, Yakima, and Washington D.C. and a busy work schedule leading up to my Orlando work trip.

That said, I really haven't been getting the training in needed to meet my goal of PR'ing this race. I was originally looking to finish in under 1:50:00 using Hal Higdon's Intermediate Half Marathon Training; however, at this rate, I'll be lucky if I just finish the whole thing!

I'm not going to lie - now that we're back home and I can focus on running, it's been hard getting back into my early morning workout routine. I know that once I'm in a routine, I'll be fine just like during previous trainings, but it's been tough. The saving grace is that I really like the running routes around Ballard - we have access to a great mix of city, neighborhoods, beach, trails, steep hills (that kick my butt but keep me focused), stairs, flat areas and downhills.

Now with less than one month to go, I've gotta kick it into high gear so I started with running 20 miles, spread over the past three days. It may have been a bit ambitious, considering I haven't run more than 11 miles total in the last three weeks, but once the soreness wears off, I'm hoping I'll be ready for 4 weeks of intense training!

In case you're interested, you can track my progress (or lack thereof!), on Daily Mile.

Finishing my first half (Oct. 2004) and the time I was hoping to beat.