Well, That’s One Way To Do It.

Well — 12 done and done.

Let’s back track a bit here.

You all remember my last night. . .

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Ashley . . . don’t drink wine, specifically a half bottle of red wine, before a long run.

This picture just makes me laugh — but that does pretty adequately describe how I felt this morning.

BUT — Denver let the clouds break and gave us a morning full of sunshine.  COLD — but sunny.  So, I had no excuse but to hit the road.  I’d get 12 done one way or another.

Being the creature of habit that I am — I followed my pre long run routine.

And my favorite coffee mug to make me smile 🙂

Once I finished both, I strapped up my big girl pants, and hit the road.

Seriously, I could hardly even balance on one leg before I left I was so exhausted. . . and pretty much just a goober.

I started the run down the 16th street mall, like I did last week, but decided to run around the Capital Hill area a little more today.

I always like running around new areas, and the Capital Hill area, and the surrounding parks, were no different.  It was a great change of scenery — and I feel like I got to see the last bit of flowering that Denver still has.  Especially after last nights freeze (That’s right folks, FREEZE.  I ran by ice).

I ran the 16th street back towards home, and ran around the parks near me a bit to get to mile 6.

My blog friend and AWESOME runner, piratebobcat, posted about a fun training run that he was planning on using in his marathon training.   It was set for a 12 mile run, where the runner uses a mile to warm up, run 2 runs, 5-6 miles a piece at faster than MGP, with a 10 minute break between the two runs.

Well, Mr. Bobcat, this run was NOT easy.  They weren’t lying when they said it would trick your legs into feeling like the final miles of a race — but I think it also reminded me to keep pushing it, because I felt like I could keep going at the end instead of just being ready to be done like I sometimes am.

After six miles, I made it back to our apartment, planning to break 10 minutes, and run the last 6 miles on the treadmill.  One, because it would be a different challenge, and 2 because I would be less tempted to break speed on the treadmill than outdoors and I wanted to run a little faster than my half pace previously.

My stats for the first 6 miles.

The first 2.5 miles were a steady incline, followed by steady decline, which explains the pace.  I was keeping a pace that I could control the entire time, but trying to push it a little past comfortable.

Then I hit the treadmill for the last 6.

The first mile I kept at a slow pace, around 6.2 on the treadmill, then pushed it up a little more until I hit mile 9 (or 3 on the treadmill).

By this point, I was feeling the miles and ready to just be done.

3 miles to go

I must have been keeping too comfortable of a pace, because the last 3 miles were some of the easiest.  I pushed the speed a bit for my last mile, in hopes that I really push it out of myself.  And finally, I hit mile 12.  A little under 2 hours after I started.

I was a little wobbly coming off the treadmill, but overall felt like I could have kept going, but knew I should be a SMART runner and let it go.  I am way to far in the training to hurt myself now.

PS:  Yesterday marked exactly one month until the race!  October 27 — WOOT!  Saint Louis RnR Half Marathon!

Then I got home — and was just excited to be done.  Zach was at the farmers marker, so I decided to take some cheese pictures of myself while I waited for him to get home.

And guess what he brought me today??

A lemon bar from the market!  He’s the best :).  So now, I’m going to shower, eat the bar, and do a  heck of a lot of this

for the rest of the day.  And maybe watch from college football.  Let’s Go Notre Dame! 🙂

Question of the Day:  Are you training for a race currently?  What is it?  Anyone training for the STL Rock and Roll with me?