My next race is on the 19th a Half Marathon Higgins Lake Sunrise Run. The great thing about this race is it's local! Only about 12 miles away, no getting up in the wee hours to get there :)  I have been ( or had been) Training for this half, typical half training 6 mile runs etc.. I was getting frustrated with only running that far and decided to go for it and see how far I could run ( the furthest I had ran is 15 miles)  I ran 20 miles and felt great, i wasn't sore after. The next weekend I ran 28 miles! I have been running 28 miles every weekend since. It has made a huge difference in my running, My HR has dropped and I have got faster because of it. I started looking at ultras to run haha, I found one in September Woodstock  The question is what distance? they had everything from 50k up to 100m. I was running 28 miles without difficulty so the 50k seemed a reasonable goal. I am not very reasonable though! if 50k is doable then 50m is the distance I should shoot for!

Talking to a couple twitter friends RussianBear and Kate I got talked into an ultra in August ( August 21st, Marquette Trail 50) I signed up for the 50k and have begun training for that, two of my twitter friends are going to be there (so far) running the 50m. The course is intimidating, running on rocks, up hills, up stairs! But it's also in a beautiful part of Michigan and should be a lot of fun :)

I will update again after my Half...

I pushed through the program (faster then I should have) I stopped with the program just after week 5 (when you run 20 minutes continuous) after that I just started running 5k.. Wow I was running 3 freaking miles!! just two months earlier it seemed all but impossible..

Now what ? sign up for a 10k race of course! uh wait a minute that's twice as far! Suddenly running 5k didn't seem like such a big deal to me. I worked at increasing my miles and got to 10k and of course 10k now seemed like not a big deal.

I had to this point done 99% of my running on the treadmill, Winter was a good excuse for not running outside. In the spring I tried running outside, I went way to fast, I was horribly embarrassed. I felt like an idiot and very self conscious about how slow I was. I found some trails in the woods I could run on, so it was running outside but away from people. Hey it was a start!

This spring I ran my first Half Marathon, Just two weeks latter I ran My second Half Marathon and improved my time by 33 minutes. After this second Half I no longer feel any embarrassment about running outside. people driving past me in there cars smoking a cigg going to laugh at me for running ? yeah whatever... they are the ones to be laughed at!

I Place so much pressure on myself over my running that every run that doesn't go how I planed is crushing to me very discouraging. There is always another distance another time to reach for and often all I see is what I can't do yet and don't see all that I have accomplished so far. This morning I just went for my first run post Half Marry, 3 easy miles..

It was a horrible run my HR was sky high for such a slow pace my leg was throbbing, it was terrible! am I disappointed that it didn't go well, sure I am. Am I going to let it discourage me and sulk over it all day, nope! it was just a run and like everything else in life they never go exactly how you plan, you have good and bad runs just like everything else. When it seems like you are making no progress and you have so much further to go, take a look back at what you've accomplished. It's easy to dismiss what you have accomplish because there is always someone out there faster, someone who can run further. But they didn't just wake up one day and say hey I think I'm going to start running, then sign up for a Marathon and BQ on there first run. The worked at it, they trained, they struggled with the same issues as me or any other new runner does. Just take a look at one of the tracks of your runs, that 3 miles that doesn't seem like a big deal anymore. that's a long ways! most people wouldn't go that far without a car..

There will always be another goal, something more to strive for. But don't forget how far you have come, take pride in what you have accomplished you deserve it :)

Dearborn is a 3 hour drive for me so I was up and out the door by 2:30am, I arrived at the race around 5:45 there was plenty of parking race day packet pickup was at 6am and race start was 7:30 it took till 6:20 or so before I got my race packet and bib. It was 30 degrees so I went back to my car to stay warm and wait for the race start. At quarter after seven I headed out to the race start, there were thousands of runners I was way in the back never even heard the gun go off. I was much better prepared for this race then My first in the time between my first (two weeks ago to the day) and this race I had discovered the Foam Roller and WOW does that thing work miracles! I didn't experience any of the cramping or tightness in my shins like I did in Flushing, everything was going great I was not trying to maintain any set pace but heart rate. My goal was to stay as close to 180 bpm as I could without going over. that's my turning point between 175 and 180 I can keep going over 180bpm and I stall out. I ran the first 6 miles without so much as stopping I was thrilled to see I ran the first 10k in 1:02:09. The second half I was starting to run out of steam and the pounding on the concrete which I am not used to was taking its toll on my back, a couple times I stopped and stretched for a few seconds. There were lots of spectators on the course cheering you on that was great :) despite fading a bit I finished strong in 2:17:04 (Official Time) 768th in my age group and 1335 Overall. 33 minutes faster then my previous half, My next Half is in June Higgins Lake Sunrise Run I am sure by then I will break the sub 2 hour mark.

As I crossed the finish line I thought of my wife and had to fight back tears as rewarding as it is to finish there is part of me missing without her. I hope she was looking down on me proud of what I have accomplished in the last year.

How Cool is that number 777 !

I can't back out when I have a number like that!

Back to race day I was really not sure what to do or where to go so I stood in the hallway tweeting :P

I went outside and me and some other people that were equally confused as I asked each other "you know where the start is" well we found it around the other side of the building.

Off we went out the parking lot and down the road, there were people directing us at the first turn "half marathoners to the left, 5k runners straight" one mile in my shins were burning like mad just as bad as when I started running. I was not even a mile yet and I had stopped and was stretching, I walked a bit then ran another half mile or so and the burning was just as bad and they were starting to throb. I stretched again walked some more. I kept that up for a couple miles. Burning that bad only a mile in to a 13.1 mile race made me want to say forget it! I knew how shitty I would feel if I turned around and went back so I pushed on. Not sure exactly when but I think around mile 5 or so the pain in my legs became tolerable at least. I need to find some kind of new stretching to do, I should not be that tight! (uh, my legs i mean) Once I got to that point I was fine I was able to keep running at my 11:00 ish pace the rest of the way at a couple points I walked for a bit. Mile 6 I ate my Sport Beans ( not the easiest thing to eat while running ) I tweeted, I took pics, I survived the Flushing Township Half Marathon!

As for the stats 213 out of 215 runners with a time of 2:50:16

Thanks Everyone for the support along the way, especially @anotorias for not letting me give up :)

I was worried running a distance would be to much for her, she is a tiny dog.. I am such a slow runner though she had no trouble keeping up, plus it was nice and cool out. In the middle of summer it won't be something she can handle, she has trouble with long walks in summer. I had planed on a 5 mile run once I set out I realized I was more sore from the 13 miles the day before yesterday then I had thought. I took a different route and went 5k.

the garmin malfunctioned 1/4 mile or so in. I looked down to check my pace and it said I had ran 16 minutes already. The only way I could get it to reset was to clear all the history! not sure if I will run tomorrow or not I have about 24 miles in this week, next week on Saturday is the Flushing Half Marathon I need to be rested up for that so I am taking it easy next week just short 5 mile or less easy runs.

To get over My fear of running outdoors I searched for a route that would be all trail, or at least not right in town, This is a route I had thought about doing last fall. The First 6 miles are Trail after that it's Country road. It took me a bit to get used to pacing myself outside, My previous attempt at an outdoor run I went out way to fast and was out of gas after one mile! I went out at 8am just after sunrise is was in the 40's and sunny, I saw lots of deer in the woods and out in the middle of nowhere a few houses. The first 4 miles or so were pretty easy then the trail got hilly and some soft sand. At mile 6 out so I was out on the road, a few cars passed me and I didn't have a panic attack, so that was good :P I brought My water bottle with me filled with powerade and I had some sports beans.

Right about mile nine I came up on this.

Yes those are shoes hanging from the tree !

It was nice to finally get outside for a run, the fresh air and scenery were nice. I am looking forward to going out again, most likely this Sunday for 5 miles on the trails.

As soon as I started trying to run outside and scheduled some races running lost all fun for me... I really wish I could run outside, right now I just want to crawl in a hole and die...

Here is the HR data from my barely 1mile outdoor run.

Info taken from active.com