Picking up the Pace...for an Upcoming Race!

Since I decided that I needed to work my lungs harder, I started really pushing the pace on my runs instead of going out for leisurely jogs.  It was awesome to see my average paces go from over 8 min/mile to below 7:20 min/mile.  And it felt great, too.  My legs are strong, and it just feels really good to go out and run hard and fast.

This week:

M: 4.7 / 33:57 / 7:13

T: 3.85 / 27:24 / 7:07

W: 6.75 / 48:45 / 7:13 

R: off

F: 8.36 / 1:06:07 / 7:54 (the last 6+ w/Birch)

Sa: off

Su: 3.76 / 29:12 / 7:45 (middle 3.1 w/2 local race buddies)

week total : 27.42

Birch wanted to run on Friday, but I had a lot of adrenaline built up after a busy day of classes, so instead of driving back to school to meet him after I changed, I sprinted back to school, and then we jogged a 6+ mile loop. Saturday I ran to the start line of this coming weekend's 5k, and then ran the course with 2 guys who I often see at races.  They wanted to see the course before the race, and I had no problem running it with them.  If they lived in Lewisburg and schedules coordinated better, we'd be good training buddies.  

I'm not so sure that 2 weeks of running hard will be enough to prepare my lungs for the half marathon on Saturday.  Especially not since I found out it's supposed to be in the 30s that morning.  Brrrrr.  We had our first frost yesterday, and the second today.  I'm going to have to remember to get out the door 5 minutes earlier now that I have to deal with thickly iced car windows.  Yuck.  But hopefully these two weeks of running hard will at least get my lungs a little bit stronger than they were at Beckley!

In other news, my middle school students have been hard at work making inspirational posters and mile marker quotes for the half marathon this Saturday.  Here's a few of them:

and the best : these are both small parts of a bigger poster

I love this depiction of someone getting stuck in my dust

Also, the finisher medals arrived at my door in the middle of last week and they are awesome!

I like finisher medals that show something special about the race or race location, so I had ours designed with our "Coolest Small Town" logo. 

Our final committee meeting for this race is tomorrow!  I drove the course with Jim today to see approximately where the mile markers will go so he can paint markers on the road.  I originally didn't want to be on the planning committee because when it started up about a year ago I was ridiculously busy and stressed beyond belief.  But I wanted to help design the course, so I said I would come to a meeting or two to help with that.  Then it turned out that we were meeting for less than an hour a month, and I ended up going to every meeting and helping with all sorts of little details.  It's been fun, and I was happy to give advice and ideas based on my various race experiences in various places.  We weren't able to use my preferred course options due to law enforcement not wanting to close certain roads, but maybe if this year is successful enough they will let us have a better course next year.  This year's course is an out and back on a hilly road.  It will be a nice challenging course, but out and backs are rarely enjoyable.