Old balls +1

That's right Johnny, you will be old balls + 1! I soon will be (gulp!?!) 23 years old! Still one month to go for me!

I thought I would just give everyone a quick update on my training, etc, here in AK. I have been working a week on week off schedule on the north slope of AK so to keep myself motivated while in the field I signed up for 2 half marathons this summer. The first was the Mayor's half marathon, here in Anchorage and it was June 21st. I trained for about 7 weeks for it and I am definitely thinking I could have used some more training! I did 2 weeks of 6-miles a day on a treadmill (time on slope), then did 2 weeks of "altitude" training at about 4 miles a day with the Bolder Boulder thrown in (my trip home to WY), then a week of 6-miles a day on the treadmill (slope), a week of hiking around AK (friends came to visit), then a few days of the 6-miles on the treadmill at various speeds, then it was time to "taper" for the race! I kept increasing my speed and incline on the treadmill with every subsequent workout so I would not hit a plateau. My goal time for the race was set at under 2 hours, I had run a half in January in 2:08, and one last April at 2:16.

So race day comes and it is a beautiful AK summer day...meaning rainy and about 50 degrees! It was all pavement but followed the coastal trail so the scenery was beautiful! I was shooting for 9 minute miles but started fast, my first mile was under 8 minutes, then every mile after that was 8 minutes give or take a few seconds, then I hit mile 10. From miles 4-10 I ran with a 54 year old woman whose goal was to beat her time of 1:53 from 9 years ago, she runs half marathons and marathon all the time, definitely one of those "old" people I want to be! We stuck together until mile 10, which we hit at exactly 1:20....then I started to fade a bit so she took off and I was on my own, at which point my legs decided that 6 miles on the treadmill didn't quite make them strong enough, I averaged just over 10 minute miles for the last 3 miles but was able to run up the last hill at the end. The result was I finished in 1:55, 5 minutes under my goal! I was pretty stoked!

My next race is the middle of August and I think I am going to shoot for 1:50, I am done working in the field so I can get much more pavement running in so hopefully that will help!

I hope everyone is doing well with their summer training! Tonight Katie, Liz, Russ, and Patrick and I are meeting for dinner! I can't wait!