This is what I keep repeating to myself when I just don't feel like going out for a run. I cannot believe it is already September, that I am already four months into this training program, and that I only have eight weeks left until the race.
I hate to say a hasty goodbye to summer - I really do love the sunshiney, windows down, music blaring, happy, relaxed vibe of summer - but I have had it with this DC humidity. There were points during Sunday's 18-miler that I felt like I was running through pea soup. When I look back at my most difficult runs, they all have one thing in common. Not hills, not visual landscape and variety (or lack thereof), not running alone. Humidity. So this past weekend's run was long and sweaty and thirsty and sweaty, but, again, it's done. It's nice to look at a map of an 18-mile point-to-point run and think, I did that with just my two feet.
To steal a quote from Yogi Berra: "[Marathon training] is 90% mental; the other half is physical."
This coming week looks like a rainy one, so I may end up on the treadmill more than I like. Luckily, I just checked out the audiobook version of Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running from the library, which should keep me entertained during two-plus hours of running without going anywhere.
As a reward for the treadmill (or rain-soaked) miles, this coming weekend is the Parks Half Marathon. I haven't figured out how I'm going to approach this race. I don't want to race at full half marathon pace, but I also don't want to run my long slow marathon training pace. I'm thinking of trying my goal marathon pace to see how I feel after 13.1 and determine if I could keep that pace for another 13.1. Only 13.1 miles. Hallelujah.
This is my running schedule for the rest of the week:
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