Half Marathon = Suicide

I decided to do the half much later than everyone else, and I'm hoping the lack of training won't hurt me too much. Like I keep saying, I'm not entirely sure how sane I am after I decided to do the half. I've never been a runner, and I'm still not! A couple days ago I ran for an entire hour-- and I was so proud of myself! Until I realized that I had only gone 4 miles. That's more than I've ever run on purpose in my whole life, but it's nowhere near how much or how fast I should be able to run!

My biggest problem with running: I get bored really, really fast. I can only go about a mile without wanting to quit out of boredom, and then I start thinking about running, and it's downhill from there. 
My solution: The treadmill is right next to a TV upstairs, so I've been watching movies as I run. The other day I watched Batman Begins while I ran, and I barely even thought about the fact that I'd been running for so long. It's too bad the the half isn't equipped with TVs along the route.

Weekly Check-in

I'm getting back on track, and now that I don't have taxes any more, I two more free afternoons/evenings. Neil and I love to take walks in the spring and admire the gardens, so I bet we'll get out more now. Here's the summary:

Total miles for the week: 6.0
Total cumulative miles: 64.82

   Workouts:

      4/13: Pilates + 2.0 elliptical

      4/14: 1.9 walk

      4/18: 2.1 walk

Making progress!

10 miles on the Snail Trail

Dad and I did our 10 miles today.  We have been walking/linear-hiking the Banks-Vernonia Trail for the past few months. It is 21 miles long so we have been tackling it in Saturday morning chunks. As of today we have walked every inch of those 21 miles, some portions several times.

Today's adventure took us through the usual amazing old-growth forest and a very recent rock slide complete with huge downed trees & boulders across the trail. We came across the original Snail Trail: dozens of little snails with their shells on their backs crossing the path! And we saw beautiful little white and even pink trillium. We did see a handful of other folks, mostly bikers.

Good times were had by all but Dad's favorite part was the Dairy Queen at the end. (And I didn't hate the Midnight Chocolate Truffle Blizzard.) Interesting tidbit: my pedometer says I walked 22025 steps.

PS: It didn't rain! Just a few sprinkles, but a very pleasant day in the woods.

Week Something ... Oh boy.

For obvious reasons, I'm not doing the Halfer. But I'm still committed to doing one hundred miles. And I've been working on it, though not very quickly. Here's my report for the last few weeks:

Total miles for the (few) week(s): 13.69
Total cumulative miles: 58.82

   Workouts:

      3/16: Pilates + 3.19 elliptical

      3/19: 3.16 elliptical

      3/24: canoeing

      3/27: 3.4 walk

      3/30: Pilates + 2.44 elliptical

      4/7: 1.5 walk

I still wish I had a workout buddy, but it's just not to be. I noticed after my workout today, though, that I feel great when I'm done, but I need to work out a routine for when I get home that includes getting food and a shower, otherwise I just end up feeling crappy and exhausted.

Goals and bellies

"I run so my goals in life will continue to get bigger instead of my belly."
--Bill Kirby

Why do I run? Okay, I haven't run in two whole weeks (thanks tendinitis) but when I DO run there's too many reasons why I do...

• I sleep better
• I have more energy during the day
• Sense of accomplishment might be one of the best feelings ever
• I don't feel so guilty when I eat junk food
• Running + music turned up + thinking = solace
• No pain no gain (or loss in this case)

i
CAN'T WAIT
to start running again

Why do YOU run? (or walk or ride or jump or hop or skip or move)