Ready, Set, BOO!

Here we go... down to the last month of training before my first race EVER - the Palm Beaches Half Marathon on December 5th.  I didn't want to be an over-achiever and kill myself with a full marathon, being my first race ever and all.  Wouldn't that be ... slightly ... ambitious?
I haven't been regimenting myself with this thing called a "training schedule" that it seems a lot of runners use.  Why disappoint myself if I can't make my daily quota according The Schedule? What if I was vomiting bad Chinese food for 12 hours and I couldn't run the 4.5 miles that I was scheduled to run on Tuesday? My entire week would be thrown off! More importantly, this training thing is new to me, and I don't want to frustrate myself when what I've started was intended to be fun.  I've been making a point to run every other day, anywhere between 4 and 6 miles.  That's been working well for two months. But as we drill down to the last few weeks here, I think it's time to start pushing myself into a few extra miles.

I need to buy new running shoes.  Paula Radcliffe wasn't the first one to say that you should train in the gear that you're going to race in and I've been running in an old pair of trusty Nike sneakers for about 4 years.  Time to shop! Obviously, I'll be sticking with Nike.  Maybe these 2010 Lunarglides? Well, definitely not white. One puddle and my $90 would be down the drain.  We were lucky enough to test-run them at my Nike South Beach Run Club and they were light as a feather.

The best thing about training thus far is justifying how many hours I sleep, and how many carbs I eat (aside from the fabulous ab tightening effects, ha!).  I'm lucky enough to be living in F-lat!-orida for a few months, and while I realize sandy beaches, a strong sea breeze and 80 degree October evening jogs peeeee-robably aren't conducive to simulating the 'norm' for a race environment, I'm glad I get to feed my new running hobby in such pleasurable conditions.

So as soon as this random-tropical-4-minute-downpour passes, my Cascada Pandora mix and I are  heading out for 6 miles of sea breeze and palm trees ~

Oh, and Happy Halloween!