Training mode has officially commenced!! :)

As crazy as this may sound to some, I can not begin to describe how excited I am that I can officially say that I am training for my next half marathon.  The enjoyment that I get each time that I complete a run is beyond my ability to express into words.  My next half marathon is going to be the Oak Barrel Half on April 5.  This will be the first race that I have completed in the winter/early spring so I am not sure what to expect.  All 3 of my last half marathons have been in the fall.  In months where the weather is either hot or seems like it is too cold since you have been training in the heat anyway.

So with that being said, yesterday was my first official half marathon training run of 4 miles.  The run was great.  It was cold and for the first time ever, I have had to layer up to run.  Although I have run in colder weather, I do have to say that this particular run seemed colder than the 10K dam run that I did back in October.  I feel that this is because of the wind blowing so the wind chill made it seem colder. 

The training this time around seems to be different and more enjoyable.  Just for the simple fact that I have people to train with and get to know through the Mach Tenn Running Club.  I joined this group about half way through my training last year for the Women's Half and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was pretty bummed that the training was over.  So needless to say, I was beyond thrilled that they would be doing group runs again.  What makes this race awesome is the fact that they are putting on the Oak Barrel Half Marathon.  I am excited/honored to be able to run a race that the club is putting on. 

I am also not that worried about my time as much as I was last year.  I feel that last year I was so wrapped up in doing a run in a certain amount of time that I lost the love of running that I had.  Then I finally was just like you know what it doesn't really matter.  God has given me this ability to run and I should just be thankful for that. I know that I said that several times last year but I feel that for once that I truly mean it this time.  Besides I am trying to do a running streak this year and if I get to wrapped up in my time then I am going to get burned out and not even want to run.

So here is to a successful, fun filled half marathon training and to my running streak.  I have also decided to share a snap shot of each run that I have completed and a description of how the run went.  Some of the posts will be short and some will be long.  In the end all that matters is that I completed another day when others have never had a chance to do one.  So until next time.