The long road back

This past weekend I ran my first half marathon since V & H's birth. Actually it's the first half I've run since I did the Disney Goofy Challenge back in 2008! And the longest run I've done in 4 years. I took off a lot of time from running for baby bearing and now that my kids are here I've been doing my best to get myself back in shape with their help. And I think there's something to be said for (1.) training with a double jogging stroller and 2 growing girls and (2.) LOTS of mileage in the bank.

All of my coaches in both high school and college always preached, "mileage is money in the bank." And I can't say I was always a believer of this until this past weekend. Here's a peak into my Garmin watch, this is all the mileage I've put in (minus 1 or 2 runs that my Garmin died on) since my Chiklits were born:

Date:	Miles:	Time:	Pace:
6/12/2011	3.83	40:44:00	10:38/mi
6/18/2011	5.77	53:05:00	9:12/mi*
6/25/2011	7.17	1:03:00	8:53/mi*
7/9/2011	7.14	1:06:00	9:15/mi*
7/17/2011	6.22	58:16:00	9:22/mi
7/30/2011	12.98	1:57:00	9:03/mi*
8/11/2011	3.4	31:02:00	9:08/mi**
8/16/2011	4.41	39:34:00	8:58/mi**
8/18/2011	5.01	46:36:00	9:18/mi**
8/20/2011	3.16	26:40:00	8:27/mi
8/27/2011	10.17	1:33:00	9:10/mi*
9/2/2011	3.35	30:45:00	9:10/mi**
9/3/2011	5.81	51:35:00	8:53/mi*
9/5/2011	3.11	30:06:00	9:40/mi
9/14/2011	4.38	41:04:00	9:23/mi**
9/17/2011	5.75	49:27:00	8:36/mi*
9/21/2011	4.43	38:57:00	8:48/mi**
2/23/2012	4.24	46:46:00	11:01/mi**
2/25/2012	5.17	54:15:00	10:30/mi**
2/27/2012	4.34	44:53:00	10:21/mi**
2/28/2012	4.9	50:35:00	10:20/mi**
3/2/2012	5.68	54:57:00	9:41/mi**
3/4/2012	7:03	1:05:00	9:20/mi
3/7/2012	5.31	49:57:00	9:25/mi**
3/8/2012	6.32	1:00:00	9:38/mi**
3/10/2012	8.51	1:15:00	8:55/mi*
3/14/2012	5.31	49:36:00	9:20/mi**
3/17/2012	4.35	41:01:00	9:26/mi
3/19/2012	6.31	59:13:00	9:23/mi**
3/20/2012	4.38	41:13:00	9:25/mi**
3/24/2012	8.56	1:12:00	8:30/mi*
4/4/2012	4.36	43:18:00	9:55/mi**
4/14/2012	4.33	40:43:00	9:24/mi
4/15/2012	4.36	41:50:00	9:36/mi
4/16/2012	5.3	50:23:00	9:31/mi**
4/19/2012	4.38	40:48:00	9:19/mi**
4/20/2012	3.37	33:08:00	9:50/mi**
4/25/2012	5.3	50:32:00	9:33/mi**
5/6/2012	3.47	30:31:00	8:48/mi
5/7/2012	5.39	50:57:00	9:27/mi
5/9/2012	5.37	49:40:00	9:16/mi
5/17/2012	3.31	35:03:00	10:35/mi**
5/20/2012	5.3	53:45:00	10:09/mi**
5/24/2012	4.95	49:27:00	9:59/mi**
5/26/2012	5.31	50:06:00	9:26/mi
5/31/2012	5.31	50:56:00	9:35/mi**
6/2/2012	6.16	56:34:00	9:11/mi
6/7/2012	5.31	50:15:00	9:28/mi**
6/10/2012	6.27	57:31:00	9:10/mi
6/15/2012	5.31	52:22:00	9:52/mi**
6/16/2012	5.27	46:36:00	8:51/mi*
6/23/2012	5.32	50:00:00	9:24/mi*
6/24/2012	FFlD 1/2	1:49:47	8:15/mi***

* = running with my running group or other people
** = running with the double jogger

Fairfield Half officically online: 1:49:46 @ 8:23/mi pace.

So there it is! I was really freaking out about how I was going to do. I really thought I'd get in more training but we had so much rain in May and I never got in the 1, 10 miler I wanted so I honestly thought I was going to die in this race. So I went in with the mind set to run really relaxed with no pressure and that's just what I did! And I just happened to get lucky with a perfect day for me. Nice breezes, lots of shade, and rolling hills. The before-kids me would have beat myself up over a 1:49 half marathon but the after-kids me is pretty happy with myself. I think 1:49 is a good place to start out and now I can try to really start training to see how much I can improve in 4 months with a little extra work. So we will see...life is busy and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. But I have a few more summer races in mind that will hopefully keep me motivated to get in a couple more runs a week.