fall running plans

Yup, the chill is really starting to hang in the air.  My asthma gets to battle a new enemy - over the summer it was the high humidity, now it's the low humidity!  Good times.

This fall I'm hoping to keep up the running as best I can.  Having a partner that is learning to run is actually a big help.  If I were on my own yesterday, I'm not sure I would have gotten off my butt, but he said "I can go for my usual, and you can do your long run".  Well, that pinched my ego.  I've been going for long runs on Sundays since we met - so it's what he expects. Can't wimp out on a nice day when we've got nothing else going on!

So, we changed into our gear and headed out.  We ran the first mile together and then I split off to a longer route and he kept going on the 3 mile loop.  I didn't really know what my plan was for the "long".  I didn't have water, GU or my inhaler, so it was going to be less than 6.  I whined in my head so much that I was going just do 3, but then I didn't like my whining, so I told myself I HAD to do 5 cuz I'm half-marathoner and it should be easy, even on a hard day. 

That's right, I had to yell at myself.  I called myself a whiney bitch.  What kind of role model would I be to my partner if I just said "eh, i didn't FEEL like it"?  So, 5 miles it was.  Around 4 miles I found my groove, too.  I may have found it just because I knew that I only had to do one more and my finish line was a pizza place where John was waiting for me.  Whatever, I did it, and I was glad.

Days like these are why I keep my racing calendar stocked up.  If I don't have a reason to keep it up, I might not.  That scares the crap out of me!  But having a race to prepare for - a new goal to reach, a new PR, a new distance - whatever it is, that really keeps me "honest" with my training.

On the horizon - perhaps a 5 miler on the 14th.  A 5k turkey trot on the 25th, and a 5K Jingle run on 12/5.  I believe we've also got a 5 miler on Jan 1.  John will probably not be ready to run 5 miles straight by the 14th, but New Years he should be ready.  Hopefully his 5K will be without stops on Thanksgiving too.  Right now his stops are mostly for stretching though... so you can't help those if you cramp. 

Our 2011 running goals are lofty, so I'm glad we've got some fun stuff planned to close out 2010.  We've even got ourselves a team name and logo.  I can't release the logo yet, but we are named Missile Toes - born out of our first "team" event, the Jingle 5K.  We may or may not have actual Mistle Toe for that run!