Its been 1 month since my first training check in!  This training month has been interesting.  I’ve been traveling 3 out of the last 4 weeks, which makes scheduling my runs and workouts seem like a jigsaw puzzle to say the least.  As a result, I’ve been pretty lenient on my strength and cross training.

Badger and I got to run in the hot, hot heat & humidity of Georgia on vacation:

Did I mention it was really, really HOT!  I just had to let Badger jump in the fountain to cool off.  By “had to” I mean, I couldn’t really stop him from jumping in!  My sneaky little boy.

Our last days in Georgia were spent with friends in Athens.  Badger was a big hit there, not just for his general awesomeness, but for his resemblance of the university mascot.

More importantly, I was able to spend time with this beauty, she lives on the other side of the globe and I miss her soooo much!

After a week of vacation, it was time to go back to work. My first week back, we were out at Stanford University, so I had a few great runs in the beautiful CA sun, with some HILLS!  Yes!

Last week, I went to San Diego.  It was a VERY short trip and I had a lot of work to do.  I managed to get a short morning run in before hurrying off to meetings.  I didn’t get to snap a photo on my run, but I had some time before my flight home, so I went to the bluffs to watch the sunset.  Even now, looking at the sunset pics almost brings me to tears.  I miss the ocean (the one that the sun sets into).

Each week, I’ve surpassed my goal mileage anywhere from 2 – 10 miles.  Some of my cross training days were converted to easy run days for convenience.  I’m cutting back on extra runs and putting cycling back in this week.  My shins have been sore again this week, so I’m letting them take a little extra time.  Although my mileage is up, I haven’t been happy with my speed.  I wanted to run a 1/2 marathon this year under 1:45:00.  I don’t think Nike Women’s is going to be that race. I haven’t had many hills to train on.  The only thing going for me is that I will probably be faster in the ideal running conditions (50s-60s deg F, as opposed to 90sF and high humidity) and high adrenaline.  So, I’ve decided just to push myself to my limit and be happy with my performance.  I will try to find another race in November or December to go for my goal time.  …Perhaps I should really make time for my strength and cross training!