7. One Week Until Half-marathon! (T-7)

As I mentioned earlier, I will probably be updating this every couple of days now rather than every single. I would like to mention a big THANK-YOU to those who have both clicked on some ads and decided to follow me! Very unexpected and surprisingly delightful at the same time.

This past week I had been feeling under the weather and not sleeping well due to a chronic cough. I wasn't able to sleep because I would go into these coughing fits. In addition the weather has not been the greatest although I do belong to Planet Fitness so weather should never be an excuse. At this point I have convinced myself I would rather be under-trained and 'just do it' than to be over-trained and burnt out.

Today it is cold and rainy. I haven't ran yet, and I am not sure that I will. It should be my last day for a long  run, and I just don't think this half matters enough to me that I want to go out and endure the cold, rainy, and VERY WINDY weather. Maybe I should take this half more seriously, but my goal is just to finish, and I am confident that I will. Maybe I should come up with a list of 'reasons TO run' for when I am unmotivated but truly need to train (like for when I start my real marathon training May 16th!).

6. *Cough* (T-11 days)

Nothing terribly exciting to post about today. I was up coughing all night, so I didn't get up early this morning to run. Wednesdays I spend my day volunteering at our local center for abused kids. It is an awesome experience but also exhausting. I am done with my 4 hour shift of work at 10am tomorrow, so hopefully I will be feeling better and able to go for a nice run tomorrow and that the weather will be decent.

5. Clothing (1/2 Marathon T-12 Days)

The half-marathon is less than 2 weeks away, so my cousin and I have been discussing what kind of clothes we are planning to wear. Typically both of us run in a t-shirt or tank top and shorts or capris. Because our race is 13.1 miles, we ultimately want to be as comfortable as possible.

There are a few problems any fitness enthusiast can tell you about - some  clothes really are better than others. For example, finding the right shorts is almost a job in itself. Some shorts ride up to give you a wedgie, and some have the side effect of chafing after a few miles. Unfortunately, this type of information is not something a store associate can provide you with. It's usually not something you can test out in a store setting either, so unless you are good about returning items (I'm not), one wants to find the best item the first time around.

The weather average for May 2nd is a low of 40, high of 65. We have been having an unseasonably warm spring so far, and the high is already slated to be 70 with a low of 45. I am a big fan of running my long runs in 45-50 degree temperatures, so it is likely to be much warmer than I prefer. We have decided to try this tank top from Under Armour. One of my concerns is that Under Armour material (82% nylon, 18% elastane) tend to ride up when I run. I do not know if this is a sizing problem on my part, or a problem typical for this item.

Two of my friends have also highly recommended purchasing shorts with built in underwear. They said both of previously mentioned problems are not an issue. I have not checked these out yet, but I am planning to look into them. Otherwise I think spandex shorts are a safe bet, so I will probably stick with those.

I am still not sure whether I am going to try and get new shoes and break in before the race or not, but I still have a day or two to decide. Luckily my tax refund is still on its way and not already spent!