i'm an awful blogger.

Since late July, a  lot has been going on. I realize I'm not a good blogger, mostly because I've been lacking in the "posting fun and original new content" department. I'll work on that.

After a bit of a blah period in my marathon training, I dragged myself to a group speed session and put on my happy face. I clocked a sub 8:45 minute mile as my warm up and negative splits followed during the sprint portions of the 6 mile run. I'm glad I went because it put me back in a positive mindset and I couldn't wait to lace up my kicks and hit the road for my next run.

15.15 miles at a 10:06min/mile pace

High on my speed work success, on August 4th, 2012 I ran my longest run ever. Clocking in at 15.15 miles was fantastic. Logging that mileage and ending feeling good was a highlight of the summer. Long run Sunday got switched to long run Saturday that week so I could partake in an important summer ritual on Sunday - brunch! I knew there was no way I'd be dragging my tired butt out of bed at 5am on Sunday to run long before I hit a gourmet brunch buffet at 11am with my family. I did what any savvy runner would do - ran long on Saturday and didn't feel guilty about drinking mimosas and visiting the buffet upwards of five times the following morning. It worked; I didn't feel a twinge of guilt as I ate 3+ desserts.

Some more fun news from that week - I got selected to be a part of the Mezamashii Run Project! More on this later...

Following my brunch carb binge I was preparing myself for an impromptu half marathon I'd finally decided to commit to 1 week before race day. My training plan called for a drop in mileage following the 15 miler of the previous Saturday, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get a solid long run in, find a half marathon baseline and work on fueling during a race. Sounds like a solid plan, right? ...and then, my epic training fail of 2012.