Okay, so I am probably the worst blogger in the history of blogging. I have noticed I have really only been posting when I have a race recap, or once a month, whichever comes first. I started writing this blog so I could keep track of my training and I don’t know, maybe look back down the road in a few years and reflect on how my running obsession began. But, according the frequency of my entries, it doesn't look like I’ll have much to reflect on. I did the same thing when I tried to keep a journal when I was younger. I wrote in it about once a year and it was always about some new boy I had a crush on. I digress. I think one of my New Year’s Resolutions this coming year will be to blog weekly. Anyway, a lot has been going on in my little world of running. I scored another 5k PR in the Trick-or-Treat 5k on October 29^th. It was a little short of a full 5k (I think it was 3 miles on the dot), but I will take a PR anyway I can get it. So…my new PR is 25:19 (8:07/mi)! I can almost take the sub 25 minute 5k! I wont get a chance to try out another 5k for some time because 5k season in our area is definitely over.

I am only signed up for one more race this year, the Turkey Trot. It's one of the bigger races here in Reno with over 1,000 participants. It will be my first 10k ever and my longest race to date. Because it's my first 10k, I'm not taking it too seriously. I just want to get a feel for the race distance. Best part about this race, is I get a free sweatshirt, rather than a t-shirt, AND it was only $25 to sign up!!! This could potentially be my last race for a while. My hubby and I are looking to start a family pretty soon. I really hope to keep running throughout pregnancy, but I think racing will be out.

How many times can I change subjects in one post? Three. I'm changing subjects again (but that's what happens when I have a lot to say and don't post enough). I have started running with a new group last week. Northern Sierra Endurance Training, they are a free running/training group here. I love free! They typically meet on Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Saturdays and have 3 different distances you can run depending on what you're training for. I met up with them last Tuesday and Saturday. I ran with this group once before a few months ago and I was scared to go back. The group took off at a pace faster than I could keep up with. One of the guys in that group didn't want to leave me behind, so he ran with me the entire time. I felt bad because I knew I was holding him back. This time however, there were 2 newbies to the group who were running the same distance I was, so we agreed to stick together. They were a perfect pace for me! I decided to make Saturdays my long run day rather than Sunday, so I chose the 8mi distance. There was one other guy who was running that distance and he didn't want to run by himself, so he said he'd run at whatever pace I wanted to. He forgot his glasses, so I was appointed navigator. Bad idea!!! I have never ran a new course without getting lost! And true to form, I got us both lost. I missed a turn somewhere (there were over 16 turns to make total) and we had to backtrack. So our 8 mile run, turned into 9.25mi. Oh, well. He had good spirits about it. I felt good about this run because the last time I ran more than 6mi was over 3 months ago. We averaged 10:07/mi while talking, with hills. I know that may not be a fast pace for some, but it was a fast training pace for me to be able to talk all the way through.

All right, enough of the chatter.

Do you still have any races you are signed up for the rest of the year?

Last week was a very interesting week! I think I have been signing up for too many races lately and they are cutting into my training time as most races are on Sundays, and that is my current long run day. My schedule for this week was supposed to be

Day of Week	Scheduled	Actual
Sunday	9mi LR	7.79mi
Monday	Rest	Rest
Tuesday	5mi EZ	Absolutely nothing
Wednesday	Yoga	Nothing again!
Thursday	3x1mi repeats	5k race
Friday	Rest	Rest
Saturday	5mi EZ	3x1mi repeat
Mileage total	24	16.89

So, not very good at keeping with the schedule. Last training schedule I was so good at sticking to. I followed that plan to the tee. This week is already a little bit off. I am on, mileage wise, but pace wise is all over the place. I think I mentioned I found a running group to join, well on last Saturday I met up with them for 1 mile repeats at Virginia Lake.  Those people are crazy! They are all sub 3 hour marathoners! One of them was attempting to set the CR for Virginia Lake on Strava, which he killed by over 30 sec. The “coach” of the group was super nice and is letting me take his Garmin for a 2 week test drive. I wore it on Sunday for my ling run, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s a lot easier than carrying my phone around, but it is really big and bulky. It does make me feel like more of a runner though.  For my long run on Sunday, I met up with Reno Running Co for their weekly Sunday Store Runs. I ran with them last week as well, but that was a disaster. As you can see from the above table I was supposed to run 9 miles, but I quit right before 8 miles. I didn’t have the energy, I got lost twice, I ran out of water, and I was just hot. I called my husband to come pick me up. This week, however, was better. I ran the first 7 miles solo, and then met up with the group to run the final 3. I finished with an average pace of 10:37/mi (thanks to the final 3 I did with the group. I can’t help it, when everyone else is running fast, I don’t want to get left behind) which is crazy because before I started with the group, my 7 mile average pace was 11:20/mi.

I am meeting up with another group, NSET, today for a 5 mile run. I met 2 of the NSET runners on Sunday and they convinced me to stop by and run with them. If I keep up with all of these group runs, I will only have to run one day solo, which would be incredible. I would much rather run with others.

In other news, I ran the Tahoe Firecrakcer Trail Trek on the 4^th. I was really excited about this race for some reason. I had this great idea in my mind that I was going to kill it. I would finally get one of those age group medals (judging by previous year’s results). Not so. This was the absolute toughest race I have ever done (even though I haven’t done that many). I know the title of the race includes the word “trail” but don’t ask me why, I had convinced myself, that it was mostly a road race. Wrong again! ¾ of the run was on trails…the soft (like running on sand), extremely narrow (two people aren’t gonna fit on here at the same time), and hilly. It was also the longest 5k of my life. I felt like I was running for hours. I looked down at my phone at one point and I was already at 26 mins (so much for a PR or an age group placement) and I still had half a mile to go! I really wanted to just give up! I had already stopped and walked during parts of the race (with my head hanging low), but instead I thought I would just enjoy the scenery and not try and push my already slow steady pace. I finished in 30:11. This was a short course according to my GPS of 3.02mi, so that puts me at exactly a 10:00/mi pace. I have to say I was a little surprised, seeing as I had walked at three different times, that this wasn’t my worst 5k…just my second worst. All in all, though, I had a good time. I loved the foresty trail we got to run on and just like the last race, I learn a lot from (what I consider at least) my failures. It’s only going to make me a better, stronger runner!

Today marks the first official day of my half marathon training journey. Having never run more than 10 miles consecutively, I’m a little nervous about running 15 miles as my longest run. But I’m sure just like Gloria Gaynor, I will survive.

 I recently joined a running group I found on meetup.com. I was a little shy to start running with a bunch of people I've never met before, but then I remembered how much I love the running community and how accepting most of them are. Yesterday, I went to my first group run. This “group” run turned out to be me and one other guy named Dale. Dale has been a runner since before my mother even had the twinkle in her eye. He has run over 52 marathons, his fastest being 2:34. To say I was intimidated would be an understatement. However, he is now 60 years old, so that gave me a bit of a handicap. We ran a 2 mile loop 3 times and did strides for the last 0.5mi on the last 2 loops. He let me set the pace. Which was nice, but I felt like I was holding him back. I thought about pretending to have contracted some strange new virus that left me weak and unable to run as fast as I normally was capable of, but I decided to save him the theatrics and just run.

For my training plans, I use an app called Runkeeper. It has a plethora of training plans from 5k to a full marathon. It even has a training plan for just losing weight. When you choose a plan it automatically loads it for you when you run and tells you when to speed up, or slow down, etc. It even tells you the pace you should be maintaining during each run. The best part, it’s a free app for the iPhone!

 Ok, enough of the Runkeeper commercial. For the past 4 months I was using the sub 60 min 10k training plan. I loved it; it helped me go from a 10:00/mi 5k to 8:30/mi. So I am putting my faith in this program for my half marathon. I signed up for the sub 2:15 half marathon training plan. Although, my goal is actually a sub 2:05, they didn’t have a plan for that, so I will just run the suggested paces a little bit faster. Now, before I go completely off track, Dale said if I sent him my training plan, he would tweak it to my fitness level and goals. He has been a running coach for 16 years and has coached some really elite athletes. So I am very much looking forward to his input. I am excited to be part of this new running group. He told me about some of the other runners, they all sound like the American equivalents of Kenyans, but I’m looking forward to the challenge I think I can learn a lot from them. I will have to channel my inner “little engine that could” to get through some of their planned workouts, but all I've got to say (at least for right now while I’m feeling brave) is “BRING IT ON!”

Is anyone part of a running group?

How have you liked it?