As I begin my half marathon training, I am trying to add more cross fit workouts.  This week I did Nike Training Club three days in addition to my runs.

pay attention

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
Haruki Murakami

It is time for new shoes.  I got a new pair a few months ago, lovely orange shoes, very fun.  It seems they are great for shorter runs - 3-4 miles.  But as I am adding distance, I am feeling a correlation between the way my knees feel and the shoes on my feet.  So, on the To do list for this week, get a new pair of shoes because those miles are going to keep going up as I begin to train for my half marathon.

I hit the go button

I did it.
I filled in all the boxes.
I hit the go button.
No going back now :)

running my age?

Okay, not my age in one run but I thought this was a pretty cool distance to go on my 57th birthday :)

And, I hit my mileage goal this month which is so very wonderful.  I just need to push that yes button on the half marathon registration.

motivation

Last week I listened to a wonderful audio book, had a good 6 mile run, and I manged to do a well with my drum lessons in spite of horrible allergies and meds making me feel groggy.  And I found some new motivation to keep going, to push myself just a bit.
To this morning we set out to do a seven mile run - my longest run in years.  And not only did I do it - I did it faster than I predicted.  Feeling pretty good about things right now :)

switching to wheels

This afternoon I took my bike to the trail for a change of pace.  I have to admit that my motivation was not pure.  Tomorrow we have to turn in our Wellness Bingo games at work and ride a bike was the last empty square on my card.  I am always a bit surprised when the competition monster rears its head.
It was a beautiful day, perfect for a ride.  And I got to practice the trail etiquette that I wish bicyclists had when I am the runner :)  "Passing on your left."
May is Ride Your Bike to Work month around here and we always have a team at work.  I haven't signed up yet but I am thinking about it.

a different path

Today we drove to a new start point for our run.  Just a chance to shake it up a bit.
We were hoping for 6 miles but fell a bit short.
But - we had a good time and it was fun to see some different scenery.  The best part was finding these blue trees.  They are along a new section of this trail and are painted blue to help them get through the start of their growing.   There was a sign about the environmental reasons for this but I had already stopped to take this photo so I didn't pause longer.
Perhaps next time we run in this direction we will get more information.
This run today puts me at 20 miles for this week - best week in a long time, thanks to spring break :)