Mind Vs. Body, and Some Goal Updates

Lincoln Park (from the 2012 Turkey Trot)

I decided to work from home today because I was hit with so many projects toward the end of last week. Spending my normal commuting time (which is about 3 hours, total) working seemed like a better use of my time and would probably help with my stress level.  Once it started getting light out, it was clear we were in for a beautiful, sunny morning (with rain in the forecast all afternoon/evening).  I love seeing the sun so much, my first thought was that I should sneak out for a run later in the morning, before it starts raining.  But about 5 minutes into walking the dogs this morning, I knew I'd need to take today to rest.  I've been on the verge of shin splints for the past week, so much so that even walking downstairs and around the block this morning started irritating my shins.  I think this probably means I'm actually experiencing mild shin splints, but I had them so bad last year when I started working out regularly that I don't consider myself as having them until I'm in so much pain that I can barely walk.  Yeah, that's healthy.  But I ran more this past week than I have in any given week, possibly ever, so it makes sense that my legs might need to get used to that.  Although I don't often lack for motivation anymore, I have a really hard time resting when I really want to exercise.  I'm still constantly worried that I'll lose the momentum that I've worked so hard to build up, but in the end, it's just one day.  And I know it's better for me to listen to my body and rest and give my shins a nice ice massage than to push myself too hard and get seriously injured, but it's still hard.  I may go to another TRX class at my gym after work, since I know that won't bother my legs, or maybe just take the day off completely.  How do you handle a rest day when you want to work out?

In other running news, I've made a little progress on my 2013 goal of training for a half marathon by finally picking one!  I decided to sign up for the Chicago Women's Half on June 23rd.  I did the Women's 5k last year, in its inaugural year, and it was a really good experience!  I had a hard time with this decision though, because I'm not a great warm weather runner.  I mentioned in a previous post that Kim was nice enough to agree to run my first half with me, so I talked the pros and cons of an early summer versus a fall half with her because I just couldn't decide (I should note that I asked Kim because I love running with her, obviously, but also because my trainer wanted me to run with an experienced runner who has done a half before - having help picking a race is probably one of many reasons why I needed to go with a pro!).  So the choice came down to: doing a fall half, which would see me doing most of my training in the hottest part of the summer with a good chance of warm weather on race day anyway (it was 60 and sunny during the Chicago Lung Run last year in mid-September, and it was even 60 degrees on my wedding day in November, so there's no counting on cooler weather in fall anymore); or signing up for the Women's Half in June, doing all of my training in milder weather during the spring and then possibly having a hot race day.  It did start getting pretty warm during the Women's 5k last year (a lot of this was due to there not being much shade on the 5k route - I'm curious if there's more shade on the half route), but I thought I'd chance it anyway.  The half starts at 6:30am, and I plan to run it in about 2 and a half hours (sorry Kim!), so I'm hoping it won't be too hot by 9am.  When it came down to it, I knew I'd have a harder time sticking to a training schedule during the hot, humid summer than during the spring, and a fall race date could be just as likely to be hot as late June could.

Another deciding factor is that a lot of my family is going to be in town for the Women's Half.  My mom's cousin and her daughter are running the half as a mother-daughter team (how cool is that?!), and I think at least one more of my cousins is planning to do the half.  Some more cousins and aunts are coming along too, making a girls weekend out of it, and my parents will be here.  When I thought about it, it'd be so cool to do my first half with so many people here to cheer me on. What are the deciding factors for you when signing up for a race?

As far as training goes, I'm going to use the Hal Higdon Novice 2 program, though I do have to tweak it a little to fit around my gym class and personal training schedule.  But looking at it, it doesn't seem as big and scary as I thought it would be.

And speaking of goal progress, I can check another one off the list - planning a honeymoon!  We booked our trip last night.  We're spending 12 days in Hawaii in April!  We'll be island hopping, starting in Maui, then going to the big island, and finishing up in Kauai.  I'm SO EXCITED!  I've never been to Hawaii, but have always wanted to go there.  And I'll be a couple weeks into my half training, so I'm definitely looking forward to some runs there!  If you've been to Hawaii, do you have any recommendations?