I'm back!

It's been over a year since I wrote a post. I thought that I would be able to keep up and continue but I just didn't have the time and energy this past year. By the time the kids were in bed, I was exhausted and couldn't think straight anymore. A little over a year ago (christmas eve actually), we brought our daughter home from China. She was 1 1/2 years old at the time. It was a huge transition for her and us and especially our son. So with that and just having a 2 and 4 year old, I've been quite busy.
Looking back into previous posts, I wrote about training for a half marathon. I'll give an update on that.

Just to add to the crazy last year, I also started training for a half marathon in january (so over a year ago now). Like I didn't have enough to do. The only reason I did it at that time is that I won a free entry into the Indy Mini-Marathon. I know, it's a crazy thing to win and I never win anything. So I took it as a sign that I needed to do it and I started training in january of last year. It was actually good for me. If I didn't have it scheduled and had a deadline of the race, I doubt I would have taken the time out for myself for exercise. (My daughter was glued to my hip for most of the year, which is a good thing!) The training was hard. Although it's a faint memory now! I was doing the training on my own. I would do the shorter runs on a treadmill and then I tried to get outside on a trail for anything over 5 miles. It was actually nice to get out by myself. I followed my running schedule pretty well. I knew that I needed to keep all my runs if I wanted to make my goal in the race. I couldn't believe I was running this race again after the previous year when I said that I wasn't ever running a race again... ever. I even told my husband to not let me be talked into it again. I don't enjoy running like he does. My husband runs anywhere from 30 to 50 miles a week. And he likes it! For me, it's ok sometimes, but on the long runs (7+ miles) my knees start to really hurt me and it's just not that fun.

For the race my first goal was to finish. My second was to finish without walking. My third goal was to keep an 11 minute pace. In the end, since I kept my training schedule, I was able to meet all my goals. I finished in 2:24. I think this is about 5 minutes faster than the previous year. Although, there was a small part that I walked in the last half mile or so. I know, it killed me to have to walk at that point. But the reason I had to is that I couldn't get a breath in. I really thought I was going to pass out. I walked and tried to control my breathing and I started to breathe easier. I am fairly certain that I have a vocal cord dysfunction and that is the reason. When I push myself beyond what I normally do, it's harder for me to control it. But I made it ok and finished it!

I don't think I’ll be running a half marathon again but I said that the year before. I guess never say never! I do know that I probably won't run another one by myself. It's always a little easier to run with someone (at least for me).