Half Marathon goals

Today's workout:  10.5 miles on a treadmill -  The hardest mile was from mile 4 to 5...it was hard mentally cause I was going to take a chomp at mile 5.  And then by the time I got to 10 miles I felt great so I decided to try and do 12 miles...well my water bottle flew out of the holder and I had to go find it. If I wasn't at the gym and if it wasn't crowded I never would have got off to find it.  Well by the time I got back on and started going again, I had lost my running "mojo" and so I stopped at 10.5.  Half a mile more than I wanted to do is fine by me.  And since it was my longest alone on a treadmill - I'll chalk that up for a win....(yes I have to find the positive in every run to make myself feel better)

Then I went to Runner's Corner to get some more Chomps for my HALF MARATHON next weekend and then decided to have them test my running **FINALLY** to see what type of shoes I need.  I pronate but slightly. 

They gave me two suggestions and I'm debating between the two -  What are your opinions??

Saucony Women's ProGrid Mirage - it matches my running outfit - bonus! LOL

Asics Gel DS Trainer 16 - Felt great to run it

Anyway - I love long runs.  They make me feel so powerful, so amazing.  For some reason, during the week it's hard for me to run more than 5 miles.  Mostly cause I am on a treadmill and mostly because the time just isn't there.  However, you get me on the weekend and I have thrived on long runs.  Nothing builds your confidence like running the farthest you have ever run or accomplishing a mental battle with yourself while pushing the hardest you ever had and ever muscle in your body hurts - it's exhilirating!  I'm so excited to finally have my last long run done before my HALF MARATHON.  To finally say next Saturday - I'll be RUNNING my very first HALF MARATHON. I'm on cloud nine.  I can't wait to finish and have a great race report for you guys.  Thankfully this half is close to home, no buses, and starts at 8:00 - so I can eat at a decent time, get ready, and have time to relax before the race.  I am not sure how I'm going to do the 4:30 last bus call for my half in June.  The forecast calls for 77 degrees and sunny next Saturday!  I'm not sure I've even ran in 60 degree weather, this should be fun!

My goals for the half marathon are:

The main goal in this isn't really time, but I would be lying to myself and everyone out there if I said I didn't have time goals I wanted to meet.  I'll be happy if I finish my half at all no matter what time as long as it's under 3 hours, but I'll be really disappointed with myself if I don't finish in under 2:25 - If I can hold a little over a 10 minute pace in practice long runs I can hopefully hold it for the half on race day.  With that being said, my ultimate goal for this half - the goal that will make me so ecstatic - make me feel like I've really come full circle in training and in achieving my goals is to have my half be in 2:05 - which would be 9:30/M.  I know this sounds incredibly slow to most, but if I can average that pace on race day - I'll be in heaven.  My ultimate goal for my half in June is to be under 2 hours and I'll feel like I can definitely achieve that if I can do close to 2 hours in this race.  But all in all - if I am not injured and make it to the finish line - I'll be able to find the positive in the race and feel great.

Oh interesting tidbit - I was reading Fitness magazine during my run today and it stated that stretching before a race is actually harmful to your race.  Weird huh?  They say to stretch good afterwards, but loosening your muscles before your race isn't the best thing to go out and win a race.  However they did say to warm up with slow jogging before a race.  I'm not so sure about that..but I suck at stretching so I'll pretend this is why I don't do it...LOL