molasses and other running rambles

Tomorrow marks one month until my half marathon, and Saturday is the Tulsa Run! I ran seven miles on my last long run, which I switched to Thursday since we were out of town this weekend (new post to come on that!), so hopefully that means I am on track to a strong half marathon. I know I need to run more short and moderate runs during the week. Life has been really crazy on Mondays and Tuesdays, when I'm supposed to do a shorter run.

My plan is to run only a six-mile long run this weekend, four during the week, and depending on how I'm feeling, maybe one or two on Friday morning before tackling the big 15K on Saturday. JT will be out of town, so I will be driving myself to the Tulsa Run solo (unless there are any takers out there?) and running it by myself. Don't worry, though; as much as I love the support and encouragement knowing JT is miles and miles ahead of me on the course, I did the Route 66 by myself and the only thing that stresses me out is parking downtown!


Training is definitely taking its toll on my legs. My right hip and sciatic nerve feels pinched right now, the back of my left knee is tight on and off, probably because I haven't been to Pilates in a week, but I am doing my best to take care of myself, stretch and recover well. It might be no secret to you, but I don't really have issues with resting :) But ultimately, running is coming easier to me as long as I fuel properly, and recovering from runs in general is getting a lot quicker and easier!

I'm slow as molasses, I acknowledge. I run slower than most people walk. Average people can run full marathons in the amount of time it will take me to run my half marathon or less. But if that's what it takes, that's what I'm going to do. And hopefully when I get more consistent about healthy choices, it will be even easier to trek along and I can look back on my 2010 time, not to laugh, but to be proud of taking this step forward to a new, more disciplined LB.

Speaking of getting in better shape, I am realizing very quickly that it's really hard to slim down while long distance training. Even though I haven't weighed myself in a very long time, I've noticed that my muscles have changed a little, and on top of that, I'm hungry all. the. time. I've been reading lots of blogs and articles and really want to shift my focus to choosing good, whole foods to fuel my running. That's definitely something I'll have to be more intentional about.

On a positive note, I have figured out a way to calm my stomach and still fuel my activity: Clif Shot Bloks. They taste delicious and give me energy without weighing down my stomach. I've tried and love all of the berry flavors. Do any of you have any other go-to fuel alternatives? I also mix Gatorade with water and like that a lot!

All in all, I'm feeling really upbeat and enjoying running again. As in, I want to do keep this up after my half marathon and do one short run, one medium run, and one long run every week. Having an awesome playlist and a really cool running app on my phone (iPhoners, download Runmeter!) really, really motivates me. The way Runmeter works is, it tracks all of my stats -- though I'm not so concerned with my pace or time or anything at this point; just finishing -- and it even updates my twitter status with my distance and run map. My favorite part about it, however, is that the app speaks Twitter replies to me. So if you see me beginning a run on Twitter (@laurietomlinson), and wish to reply to me, a really cool British robot will give me the message through my headphones and help me tackle a really killer hill or something!

Thank you so much for all of your comments and encouragement! Since running is such a mental thing for me, it helps more than you'll ever know!