200 miles!

It's finally starting to warm up here in Boise which means I need to start getting up to run in the morning to avoid running in 90+ degree heat at lunch or after work.  I decided to get a move on that yesterday morning and set my alarm clock to be sure I had enough time to run, shower, and get to work by 9:00 am. I planned to run 3 miles and as I took my first few steps out the door remembered I only needed 3.47 to get to 200 miles for the year.  I didn't think twice about it - there was no question I'd hit that mark that morning.

So I did.  And it was awesome! 

I tend to forget how great I feel for the rest of the day when I get in a morning run.  I feel productive and ready to take on the world.  I definitely see the benefits of working out at lunch too, but morning workouts are so much better for my mental health, even if I do have to be out of bed earlier than I'd prefer.

On another note, I'll run my 7th half-marathon on Saturday and will, of course, be sporting my red Team BEEF shirt for the race.  I was hoping my new running skirt would be here by this weekend so I could be stylin' in some Athleta gear but it looks like it won't be here until Monday.  Booo. 

Anyway, I ran 10 miles last weekend at an average pace of 10:49/mile and this run has a slight downhill for the duration of the 13.1 miles so I'm hoping I can maintain a similar average and obtain a huge PR.  There's one problem: my body does not like to run at 10:45 pace.  It just doesn't.  Something tends to be off with my gait and I just can't keep myself there.  I'll tell you what my body does like to run: 9:40 to 9:50.  No kidding.  It just doesn't like to run 9:40 - to 9:50 for a long period of time!  That being said, after reading this Runner's World article and after Mike's PR at the High Speed Pursuit when he ran without his Garmin, I'm contemplating running without mine on Saturday (gasp!).  We'll see what happens with that plan.

I'm excited for this race and can't wait to see what happens on Saturday!