Plan B

This morning I had the best of intentions to get my run done early.  I laid my clothes out the night before and set my alarm for 4:45AM as usual.  But the baby was up a lot last night and I brought him into bed with me in the middle of the night (not an altogether unusual circumstance around here).  When my alarm started buzzing I quickly shut it off so as not to wake him, but the next thing I knew we were both waking up nearly an hour later.  So, scratch plans for hitting the track super early.  On to Plan B.

Plan B was to take everyone to the gym after Baby G’s morning nap.  My big kids were excited to go there and play with their friends, so it was a win-win.  I put the baby down around 8:30AM and expected he would take about a 45 minute nap.  Nope – it was 2 HOURS long!  I used the time to play with my big kids and to get tons of stuff done – massive amounts of laundry, pay bills, vacuum the main level of the house, all sorts of fun stuff.  As time ticked on though I was definitely wondering if my run was going to get pushed by the wayside.  If I would feel too overwhelmed to pack everyone in the car and slog out so many minutes on a treadmill in the gym so close to lunchtime.  But I kept reminding myself how much it meant to me and that I would not regret making the effort to GET IT DONE.  As soon as Baby G woke up I nursed him and changed his diaper and we were on our way to the gym.  We made it!  My workout was fantastic.  15 minutes warm up at an easy 10:00 pace followed by 60 minutes at race pace.  I decided to try my half marathon race pace since I have the VA Beach Rock n Roll half coming up this weekend (yay!!).  I’m not totally certain of my pace for that race so I played with it a little.  I did the first 30 minutes at an 8:00 pace, the next 20 minutes at a 7:47 pace and the last 10 minutes at a 7:30 pace.  I felt strong and excited.  I wrapped up the run with 10 minutes at an easy pace and in all covered 10.5 miles in 85 minutes of running.  Not bad for a Monday!  That’s the most I’ve run on a treadmill in a long time and also the most I’ve run on a weekday in a long time too.

I’m so excited about my race this weekend.  When I think about how hard I’ve been working over the past several months I get butterflies in my tummy knowing that the experience of this race is going to be such a sweet reward.  My current PR in the half marathon is 1:55:47, just under a 9:00 average pace.  There is no question in my mind or my heart that I am going to crush that.  I believe it with every inch of my being.  I can’t wait to run my heart out on Sunday and see what I am made of!