Rainy 14

I was bound and determined to get my long run in this week. I was scheduled to run 14 miles on Saturday, but Paige and I ended up staying with her folks in Arlington all day. We got home Sunday afternoon and it was rainy and cold. I decided to wait until that evening to run in the hopes that the rain would subside. Unfortunately, it did not. Around 6:00 PM I decided to give it a shot. Afterall, it was only sprinkling. Sprinlking turned into rain and I was drenched after the first 7.5 miles (which is when I made my pit stop at the house). I was cold and wet, so I changed clothes. I could tell Paige was a little "peeved" b/c she thought I was being stubborn for running in the cold, rainy weather. Through the last 2 miles I was wet, cold, and achy - and I'm not afraid to admit I was a little chafed as well. While the run was hard, I felt great mentally afterward. I'm undoubtedly ready for the White Rock Half next month.

Bearded Turkey Trot

The morning of Thanksgiving day I, along with 30,000 other folks, participated in the 40th Annual Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot. The 8 mile course wound through the southern end of downtown Dallas. The race began and ended at Dallas City Hall - which can be seen in the background of the picture I've included. Paige, Allie, and Paige's mom were nice enough to brave the cold weather and meet me at the end of the race. I thought the run went pretty well. My official finish time was 1:19:19 (9:55 per mile). Very acceptable given the fact that it included a quick visit to the Dallas Museum bathroom (the portapotty lines at the beginning of the race were ridiculous). I had intended to run the race with some friends from church, but the massive crowd prevented us from finding one another. I've dedicated the race to my beard.

Lucky 13

The cool thing about training for a long distance race for the first time is that each week I get to run further than I ever have in my life. This Saturday I ran 13.1 miles. I ran the additional .1 because that's the exact distance of a half marathon - which I'll run officially on December 9th. I thought the run went well. I ran the majority of miles around 9:50 per mile, which is nothing to brag about. There are three major areas that I feel that I'll need to improve upon if I'm going to be a good runner. These are my weight, my speed (which will undoubtedly be impacted by weightloss) and my mental toughness. While I'm glad to have pinpointed these deficiencies, I also struggle with being patient and giving myself time to develop in these key areas. I guess we'll see how it goes.