January 2, 2012

It's a new year and time to start training for the Illinois Half-Marathon again.  The Illinois Half was a goal of mine last year and my dear friend, Kellie, volunteered to run it again and to be my training partner.  Kellie is a much stronger and faster runner than I am but she was so positive and encouraging in our training runs and in the race.  I did well until about mile 9 when my left hip began to hurt sometime fierce but I did finish-without walking-ran every step of that baby! 
 

I did feel burnt out after running and really did very little this Summer or Fall-I would hit it off and on, but never got serious.  A big part of me wishes I would have a least kept my fitness level at a 3-4 mile and ran some 5K's.  Maybe I will consider that this year......maybe :)


Having already ran my first introductory Half-Marathon, I have a couple of things that I want to achieve or do differently this time:  1.  I want to improve my time.  I will never be a speedy runner-my goal is always just finish my races, but I would like to improve on last year's time even if that means by 30 seconds.  2.  I want to run the race weighing less than I did last year.  As of right now, on week #1 of training, I weigh approx. 15 pounds less than I did on Race Day last year and I hope for that to become about 20-25 pounds less when training and healthy eating to compliment training kicks in.  Those are the Big Two but I am sure more will come to mind as the training progresses.

I have a couple other fitness goals for this New Year that aren't necessarily running related.  I want to really work on toning and abdominals this year.  Running really helps to tone my lower body and does help my abs but sometimes my upper body gets neglected during running training.  Sometimes running the long distances really take a toll on me and the thought of doing other things, although important, such as cross-training, upper body strength, etc gets pushed aside. I want a buff upper body and no muffin top for summer!!

Today is Monday-which according to our Hal Higdon Plan means Strength and Stretch:  I went to the Fit Cen and attend Kelle's ab class-wow intense tonight!  She decided to lead us through the P90X ab routine.  I am definately going to feel this!  After class, I pulled out my old weight card-checked it out and promptly through it away.  I hadn't lifted consistently since September when I started the Ideal Protein Diet.  I started over and it felt good!  Actually I enjoy lifting-it's just as with everything else-finding (or making!) the time.

Here's to a great Half!