4 Weeks To Go!

There are only four weeks left until the Monster Dash Half Marathon. And things are starting to get scary. For some reason I'm starting to really psyche myself out. I'm afraid of the cold. I'm afraid of the distance. I'm afraid of getting stuck out someplace with the stroller. 

All of these things are ridiculous. It is not cold. It's PERFECT running weather.  The distances are doable. I have run a half marathon before, I'm doing the miles each week, my body is not going to spontaneously stop working. Getting stuck with the stroller is a reasonable fear, but I don't have to go run the super long ones with Lily. 

I really don't know why I'm freaking out so much. But it's not good. I missed my long run this weekend because of other things that were going on, but that's no excuse not to run today. Sometimes I feel like if I'm not doing eight miles, then it's not even worth it. That's so dumb! A short four mile run is better than no run at all. 

I just need to remember that I never regret going out for a run. I think I may have found the sweet spot interval that will get me through the half marathon. If I run 1.5 miles and then walk for 2 minutes I can go forever. Seriously, it feels great. And that roughly coincides with the water stations along the course, so that's great. 

I've also been experimenting with adding some Gatorade in along with water. I've read that if you're an average person, you only need water for the first hour of exercise but that after that you should add in something with some electrolytes. The problem is I'm allergic to Splenda and just about everything out there has Splenda in it. I can tolerate it in small amounts, so I'm trying to build up a tolerance. I would just drink some apple juice or something, but I absolutely cannot run while holding anything. I've tried several different kinds of water waist bands and backpacks and it just does not work for me so I'll need to rely on whatever is available on the course, which will mostly likely be Gatorade. So far so good. 

As for losing weight, I've been stuck at 161 for three weeks in a row. Part of the problem has been having Joe around for essentially four day weekends. That's two more days each week of eating lots of food than I'm used to. Now that school's back in session that should be less of a problem. The other problem is that as the weather gets colder all I want to eat is warm cheesy food. If I'm REALLY good for the next four weeks and throw in a couple of extra workouts in the evenings, I should be able to still reach my goal of being under 150 by the race. So, here's to running more, eating less cheese, lifting more, and not being afraid!