Good Morning!

I have officially started training for my Half Marathon. My mileage is low, but I'm mixing it up with some cardio classes for right now. Don't worry, I'm going to start bumping up the mileage when I return from a backpacking trip next week.

This morning, I ran a couple of miles then I took my first pilates class. This was my first time taking pilates and it was AMAZING!!! It was like meditating and exercising at the same time. It was challenging, but since my focus was on my form and breathing, I didn't think too much about anything else. When I did lose focus, I would think about how it was my first time and would start negative self-talk, such as "I have no idea what I'm doing" and "This teacher probably thinks I'm an idiot". That voice came and went a couple of times throughout the hour, but I think I did a good job refocusing on my breathing and form. When I was fully focused in the class, the voice would go away. Realizing this now is going to benefit me greatly when I start getting into my longer runs and other difficult parts of my training. In addition to my physical training, I need to be just as dedicated to my mental training. This means finding a focus/refocus plan that works for me and practicing it every time I exercise.

New Goals

I was feeling pretty impulsive this past Sunday and made it my goal to find a 1/2 Marathon to run before the end of the year. I started my search in Northern California, but there was nowhere that I was interested in running...not as my first 1/2 anyway. My options were Livermore (NO THANK YOU), Petaluma (I'll be out of town for that one), and Lake Tahoe (beautiful, but I think adding altitude to my first 1/2 would be a bit much). I was getting discouraged, but still determined to find a run before 2012. Searching...searching...searching...Las Vegas Rock N' Roll 1/2 Marathon on Dec 4, 2011!!! I couldn't think of a better race for my first 1/2. I looked into the details of the run and I got even more excited. The race starts at 5:30pm and the course runs along Las Vegas Blvd. From Mandalay Bay down to the Golden Nugget and back. This means I will be running under the lights on the strip! Oh, and live music every mile...talk about some motivation.

I took about 30 minutes to decide if this was something I was ready to commit to and before I knew it, I was paying for my registration! It took me even less time to book flights, which I'm a little less excited about...Spirit Airlines? Really?

I have wanted to run a Marathon for years, but have always been too scared to commit to it. A couple of months ago, a friend of mine was going through a difficult time in her life and I told her I would run a Marathon with her in October...well, we never signed up and we both ended up slacking off on the training and wouldn't you know it, October is just around the corner. I started thinking about how to set myself up to succeed rather than to fail. This is when I decided that it would be more beneficial for me to start out running a 1/2 Marathon before I double that mileage. With that, I believe I've set myself up for a physical and mental challenge that will make me stronger. These next 3 months are going to be difficult with training, but I'm ready for it. I started this week and have slowly been getting myself back in shape (I haven't ran since I left Boston...2 months ago!). I've done incline walking intervals, light jogs, and a spin class this morning. So far, so good. I'm taking this week to get my body used to moving again and next week I start racking up the mileage. I will be posting as often as I can to document my training process.

Stay tuned...