End of half marathon training

Well it's here.  The end of my training.  20 weeks ago I started this journey to get to 13.1 miles and run my way through the parks of Disney World.  20 weeks seemed like forever when I started, who knew it would go by so quickly.  It's crazy looking at my first week of half marathon training and reading the posts leading up to this one.  What an incredible journey and fantastic ride of self discovery this whole process has been!

I leave for Orlando tomorrow night and will be spending time in the Happiest Parks on Earth and finally be adorned with the Princess Half Marathon medal this weekend.  My first, ever.  It seems surreal to think that the race is in only a few days, not weeks.  That I can see the weather forecast for race weekend without having to look at the month or 10 day outlook.  It is surreal that all this preparation, weeks of logging miles, weeks of cross training, hundreds of hours planning is culminating to this weekend.  And this weekend will go by like the blink of an eye.  So fast and furious that I will most likely be suffering from a race hangover, or going through major training withdrawls. 

It's like planning a wedding.  You spend months planning and anticipating, coordinating with people, arranging plans and schedules.  Then the weekend comes and it's a flash and blur of events and faces.  Laughs and meet-ups.  Anticipation and the race.  Then the day after, everyone has left and gone their separate ways, the main event is over and you are saddened because the event you were planning and building up to is over.  You have an event hangover and start to look for something else to look forward to and start the planning process all over again.  It becomes a cycle, a vicious, vicious cycle.  But one that we just can't help feeding in to.

This past weeks training went as such:

Tuesday: 30 minutes run/walk
Thursday: 30 minutes run/walk
Saturday: Long run - 3 miles 6 miles 7 miles

Tuesdays run, like all the weeks before in my training, never happened.  I just don't know why that day is always so tough to get out on the road and run.  I need to start running during my lunch hour on that day, maybe a run earlier in the day will help.

Thursday I met with my friends Danielle and Erica for an easy three.  I was super sluggish and my legs were tired.  I stand at work so my legs tend to feel more tired in the afternoon because of that, so it doesn't help with my running in the evenings.  Even though I was feeling sluggish, my pace wasn't.  I was ahead of the group for almost the entire run, keeping an 11:30/mm pace.  I tried several times to slow down to run with the ladies, but I felt that if I slowed down I would be much slower than them and end up being behind them.  So I trudged on and knocked out the three miles in decent time.

Saturday's run had 3 miles scheduled, but going from 3 miles to 13.1 in one week seemed like too large of a jump for me, so I decided to run 6 miles.  However my friend Danielle, who is ramping up her mileage for a half in May, was running 7 miles.  I know how it feels to run those extra miles alone, so I scraped the plans to run just 6 joined her for the last mile. 

I also decided to wear most of my race costume for my run to test it out.  I haven't run in shorts for many months, so I wanted to see how I did with that and my Team Sparkle skirt.  I like to "run it before I race it" when it comes to costumes or a change in clothing for a race.  If you can't stand it during a regular run, it will just be worse during the race!

It was great, I was about two miles into the run when a guy running came around from behind us and remarked to me "nice skirt!", as he was running by.  It made me smile.  Then another girl along the lake said, "I like your skirt!".  It was just so much fun.  It's great to take my Team Sparkle skirts out on regular runs.  Everyone needs a little sparkle on their runs!

The day was overcast and breezy, but it was perfect for running, the rain held off too which was nice.

You can't see it in this picture, but my hair was in a bun, gotta try out my Princess hair style too.  The bun did not move the entire run, it was pretty awesome. 

It was a good run and I felt solid for the whole run.  It was nice to be able to knock off some miles and not feel completely drained or ridiculously sore afterward.  It's actually pretty cool to see my endurance build and be able to take on these longer miles without the ill effects afterwards that I experienced when I was first starting out. 

I felt then and feel now that I'm ready for this race.  I have run the 13 miles, I have wrapped my head around the distance and I know I can do it.  Now it is all about getting dressed up, taking character pictures and enjoying all 13.1 of those miles to the fullest!  I was nervous about the race and how I would perform, but now I'm just excited.  This will be a great race and I can't wait to run with the rest of the Princesses!