The Count Goes On

Man, running lately has been awesome. I think the biggest difference between training this year and last year is that I'm not at all burned out on running. By the end of my training last summer, I had a couple of bad runs, and I was just done. I didn't care. My last run was just awful. I had these weird numb moments and I could not force myself to run the last mile or two.

Tomorrow I run 18, and then I am planning on two more hard weeks with 20+ miles and then that's it. I only have two tough weeks of training after this one and then I'm ready for Utah Valley.

What's been great too is that my pacing has been good. I feel stronger than I ever have. I have been doing strength training in conjunction with my running, working out my core, my back, my legs. I finish my long runs, my more up-tempo runs, and I'm never sore. I'm fatigued, sure, but I always finish strong.

Yesterday I ran 9 miles after having had Tucano's for a birthday lunch, and although I felt heavy and sluggish, I ran a good portion of it on an incline, and I still came out with an 8:03 a mile pace. It just feels awesome to be feeling so strong.

And I'm way slow to get on board with any of the new running technology, but I just recently got a new Ipod Nano for my birthday, and I was finally able to use the Nike+ accessory Amy won in her work raffle from Christmas. I just loved it. I listened to my podcasts, the electronic lady told me my mileage, my pacing so that I didn't even have to bother looking up that stuff myself. I just love it. It makes just going out and running even easier since I don't really have to pre-plan my route or calculate minutes per mile, etc. Awesome.