26.2 in 25 hours

I easily reached my goal to run 26.2 miles in 2 runs, and roughly 25 hours. (8.1 Sat., 18.1 Sunday)  I was happy to meet Laura (AL cousin) and Paige to run 5 miles before the Gulf Coast Half marathon, Mandeville, LA.  I broke my "no pre-dawn" running rule.  I just had to.......
First, I was excited to visit with Laura and Paige.   Second,  I'm doing mostly solo runs, so I was excited to run with PEOPLE.  Especially considering my Ipod has been on the blink for 2weeks, meaning I've been using my backup shuffle (boring), so no podcasts, no radio, no talk radio.  I don't mind solo running, but I do need some variety to keep me entertained.   Get it right Apple, I need my Ipod......I'm in the middle of marathon training.....

So I met Laura and Paige and we chatted away 5 miles - quick chat run, but slow by pace.   I didn't have much of a pace plan for the race, but I was aware -  the temperatures were on the warm side,  and definitely humid.  My main goal was to get the 18.1 miles checked off.  I ended up running 2:02 (9:20 avg.).  Like all races it was challenging at the end.    It really didn't feel like an 18 miler it felt like a 5 miler and then 13.1.  In my mind, there is a big difference !

My splits - 1 -9:54 I would have preferred around 9:30, but there was a people problem, and I started to far back. No worries !
2-9:32, 3-9:20 good, I decided at this point that 9:15-9:20 felt about right for the day, considering all (18 miles, heat, humidity, no wanting to race)
 4- 9:09, 5- 9:11, 6- 9:21, 7- 9:16, 8- 9:16, 9- 9:20, 10- 9:13, 11- 9:16, 12- 9:12, 13- 9:16,  1:00

I'm pleased with the weekend.  In reviewing my splits, I can think of nothing better to say than....
I'm pumped.   When I started this journey in May, I decided I would not be running big miles, but I wanted something new to focus on.  I decided mental training was going to be my focus.  By big miles, I mean when I left off 3.5 years ago, I was running 40-75 miles and actually peaked out at 80 miles (1 week), at age 45.  Been there, done that !  So I've been reading about mental performance, using mantras during my training runs/races, reading, reading, visualizing, etc.   I'll write more on this later, but the thing I wanted to work on most is not falling off the pace at the end.   All these years, I always thought it was a training/fitness thing when I gradually slowed at the end of training runs and races.  So each time, I trained harder, more miles, etc.,  and still ended up falling off at the end of most long runs and races.  What I FINALLY realized this summer, is it was probably never a "fitness" thing, it was a "mind" thing.  I'm still in the testing phase, but so far, the mind focus is a HUGE bonus for me.   So yes, I ended the weekend with 26.2 miles, 2 runs, 25 hours.  Now I just need to subtract 1 run, and 20.5 hours by Dec. 3rd, at St. Jude Memphis, TN.  
the journey continues......

A few of my favorite pictures from the Mandeville, Louisiana weekend, 2016.

The Sunday 18 milers - Paige, Me, Laura

3 of my AL cousins in this picture - so happy to see them !