Monday, September 16, 2013

The Calm after the Run

Today, well actually yesterday, marks my first long run since...April, when I did the Statesman 10k.  Between now and then, I've only been running a measly 3-4 miles, if that.  But now, I can say I can and  I WILL reach the 5 mile mark by the end of the month.  There are only 152 days until the Austin Half Marathon, but who's counting?  Not me (looks around)!  This evening, as I right this post and think about all the things I could've done to improve my time at yesterdays run, I mapped out a little path to run at my neighborhood.  One way is about 3.3 miles, so a round trip run would be 6.6, which is exactly what I need.  I will slowly conquer that, but for now, I must do a little bit of cross training to get back into the swing of things.  I almost feel like a broken record saying that, but I really need to focus and get on the ball.  I really want to do well for the Austin Half Marathon and every other race between now and then, which are the Rogue Rescue 5k on 9/22, I might do a run next month, but I'll have to find more details, the Turkey Trot 5 mile run on 11/28 and that is possibly it at the moment.  For now, I leave you with my race results from my 80's 8k on 9/15/2013:

Congratulations on finishing the Run Free Texas 80s 8k Community Race on September 15, 2013.
There were 29 finishers in the Female 30 to 34 age group and 153 finishers in the race.
Your overall finish place was   115 and your age group finish place was 22.  Your overall finish percentile was 75 while your age group percentile was 76.  Your time of 55:32.3 gave you a  6:59 pace per KM.

I was surprised by the amount of hills there were on this run and I don't mean small little hills,  I mean gradual inclines that when you look back, you can see the highway and beyond.  I'm an amateur at hills for sure, but I will need to get over that.  I feel like there is so much for me to do, but I am excited about getting back into this training in full force.  This will be my mantra:


Word to live by!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Entering a Groove

This week was a bit more productive than previous weeks.  Maybe it's because I'm mentally psyching myself up to this half marathon in 162 days, but whatever it is, I happy to be finally getting back into a groove.  The last 10-ish months I've been off and on with running, more off than on.  I think a lot of it had to do with my personal life changes and adjusting.  Now I feel like I am at peace with everything in my life and now it's time to get back into what I loved to do, RUN!  As you know I was never a runner growing up.  I had really bad asthma as a kid and I couldn't even run down the block so I basically just never attempted to run.  Now, within the last year I've became more focused with the idea of getting myself to run.  A lot of it had to do with being in Austin and admiring the activeness of the city.  Plus I love to eat and hate doing certain workouts, so running is what I decided on.  To make a long story short and after a mud run, 5 mile race and 10k, I registered for my first half marathon.  So with that being said, I feel like September has been a great time to start mentally preparing myself and trying to be as active as possible.  This week was the first week in a long time that I ran 7 miles.  I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but with my schedule, I am happy that I got to do even that.  I really thank my friend Tami for being with me on Saturday mornings at 6:30 a.m. and being such a positive partner.  I must, however, break her from apologizing to me for her pace.  Pace, right now, does not bother me.  I love getting up early, having chats while running and focusing on distance.  So even if I do 2-3 miles during the week at my regular pace, I can always have my Saturdays with Tami.  I enjoy them.  Plus, I can always run on Sundays, which I plan on doing tomorrow.  For now, I will leave you with this awesome picture from one of my Saturday morning runs:


How beautiful is that sunrise view.  I could look at it all day!


Monday, September 2, 2013

Satisfying in September

Since I live in Cedar Park now and not Austin, is it appropriate to keep my blog name Rachel Runs Austin?  I THINK SO!!  Plus, Cedar Park is just A LITTLE BIT outside of Austin, North West.

The ninth month of the year is upon us and I believe now that I'm settled and set, it's time to make new goals for this upcoming Austin Half-Marathon in February 2014.  I mean there are only 167 days to go, who's nervous?  I AM!!  The past few months have been so slack when it comes to my running and training for this epic run.  A lot of you might not think it's epic, but this is my first Half-Marathon, so I'm just a wee bit nervous.  I did, however, end up getting new running shoes and a running watch to track my progress:


I absolutely LOVE them too.  Brooks feel so great on my feet and when I run, it's literally like I'm running on clouds.  Who would've thought that?  I did enjoy my Nike Run Free 3.0 shoes, but to start being serious and committed, I needed something with more support and that will work well with my stride, step and impact.  This was possibly the best birthday gift I received and the Garmin watch (which happens to be my in my favorite color) is so nice.  I don't even miss caring my phone anymore.  When I do run, since I run with my camel pak, I just put my phone and my keys in there.  It's nice not to have anything stapped onto my arm.  This purchase was sponsored by Rogue Running in Cedar Park, which is an amazing store with wonderful employees.

To tell you about my progress of sorts, I registered  for two races in September.  One is the 80's 8k (5 mile run) that is happening September 15th and the other race is the Rogue Rescue Run which is a 5k (3.1 mile run).  Then there is the Turkey Trot in November (5 mile run) and I believe those should somewhat push me into the right direction because right now I'm only doing 2 miles a run.  If, by the end of this month, I can get to running 5 miles, possibly 6, I will be so happy.  I can definitely get to 13+ miles by January, but I want to pace myself in a good way that I don't get burned out or injured, which reminds me that I have to read up on my Chi Running book to get some of the exercises out of there.  Another thing that I'm doing to help me prepare is yoga (on my Wii Fit) and maybe two days a week I will go to the little gym in our apartment complex and indulge on the elliptical.  I'm trying to do as much outside running as I can because come November the time will change and it will get darker at 5/5:30 p.m.  which will mess up my schedule big time because of my work schedule.

So for now, I leave you with this:


This is my half-marathon map.  I will mentally prepare myself for this.