Last weekend in Nashville, John and I joined Kira and her mom for the last half of their long run. Since they're training for the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, they needed to get 20 miles in. We met up with them after 10 miles and finished out the last 10 to make a new personal distance run for me, John, and Kira. The weather was 100% perfect in my book, and we ran on the Brentwood Trail in Nashville, which was shady and super green. Even though I was glad when it was over (and hungry!), I'm so glad we ran with them since it was a real confidence booster going into the end of my 10K training cycle and planning for my first half-marathon.
John had an even better experience than I did and ran around shirtless after we were finished. After he shouted, "I feel like a fucking warrior!!!" Kira kindly reminded him that there were children running around all over the place. It looks like he'll be joining me for the half in Fort Wayne, and I'm stoked that he'll be able to keep doing long runs with me.
In the short term, I have the Forest City Road Races 10K coming up in just over a week, and I'm trying to just focus on that for now. The past week involved a lot of eating out and celebratory meals (re: cake), so I've decided to go on a kind of food streak between now and then. My plan is to not eat dessert of any kind so that I eat a particularly clean diet until the race. It might not sound like much of a challenge, but I actually eat some kind of dessert pretty much every day - melted chocolate chips over berries, a piece of candy or 5, a handful of chocolate chips, etc. It adds up. I want to focus on eating well. After the race, of course, I'll go to town on one of the chocolate bunnies that my mom sent me back with. I'm really hoping to PR in this 10K, I've trained well for it, and a little change to my diet can increase my awareness that the race is coming and help me focus on good preparation. First running. Then chocolate bunnies.
On a related note, John and I started listening to a podcast called Garden Variety Triathlon. It's written and produced by a friendly southerner who makes triathlon sound like a completely achievable and fun idea. He doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, but I've still found the information and discussions on his podcast to be interesting and helpful. I've never done a triathlon, but I have an interest in them, and his comments about running and swimming are up my alley. It's also nice to get an idea of what issues you face when you're new to the sport and just want to compete against yourself, as the author of the podcast does. Two thumbs way up.
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