I’m not sure if driving the course the day before was a good idea or not. What it did was give me a sense of the difficulty of the course the GoGirlRun organizers had set out for us. I’d never done that before, so I assumed doing so would simply make me fret over what I saw, and fret I did. But I ended up sleeping fairly well the night before. Getting up at 4:30 a.m. in my own house, for a half in my own city, is not something I’m used to. It was weird. Also weird was the fact that Carl did not run this race with me. No dudes allowed. In the end, while the hills in the Jay Dix 10k a month before took me totally by surprise, I was ready for the hills in the GoGirlRun half. I crossed the finish line in 2:36, happy to have done my best on that day.

At the Start Line!

At the Finish Line!

With My Finisher Bling

It was actually really cool to do such a long run through Columbia. The first third of the course took us west along the Katy Trail, where we do so many of our runs, so it was familiar to me. Then we ran on the roads for quite awhile, to another part of the trail, over to Stadium Blvd – and the largest, longest of the killer hills – and back to the trail. It was a good course, good race, and I’d run it again. I was so surprised throughout the course as, over and over again, I passed chalked words of encouragement written on the roads by Carl – up until midnight the night before! – and seeing my very special sign made by Bev as I passed their house gave me energy and made me smile.

The BEST Chalk Art Ever 🙂

Artwork on the Course – Hey KSM! That’s ME! 🙂

I cannot imagine that it is June already. In just three short weeks we begin our 18-week training plan for the NYC Marathon in November. I’m ready to start. It’s safe to say that I’m taking it easy this month. Still hitting yoga each week, and still running at least three times per week, but not pushing it too hard. Today is the first Saturday I haven’t ran in I don’t know how many weeks. But it’s raining, and I slept in, and I’m sitting here writing this and drinking my second cup of coffee. It’s making me understand just how much, and how hard, I work to be able to run well and happy. But at the moment, I’m just enjoying my lazy Saturday morning.