10 Miles...one foot in front of the other (AGAIN)

I'm having a lack of motivation, and it affects everything!  Jenn and I both are supposed to be hardcore training for this half marathon coming up in 24 days, but we just aren't that motivated.  This causes issues in the rest of life.  Without the intense workout schedule, I don't burn as many calories and have a tough time maintaining the notches in my belt.  Secondly, I find that I don't have too much to blog about!  :(  Erika @ This Spartan Will did her best to get me blogging more than once every two weeks with the Versatile Blogger Award, but I have a hard time doing those "Chain Blogs."  But today, I am proud to admit that there has been some activity worth blogging!

I left you last time with a picture of my new niece, Brynlie, who I was about to meet.  She's AWESOME!  I got to feed her and hold her and put her in her PJ's.  My sister even let me hold her while she SCREAMED for 20 minutes. (Thanks, Mindy!  Actually, I enjoyed every minute of it.)  Here's a picture of the two of us just getting to know each other.

Jennifer and I had great aspirations of running our long run on Sunday last week, but it turned into a 4 mile jog.  Yay for cheating!  However, yesterday, we finally mustered up the courage to lace up the ole sneaks and hit the pavement.  We decided that since we skipped 9 miles last week that we would do 10 this week to make up for it.  We ran a route that we had run last time we ran 10 in training for the Holy Half Marathon.  As we were about to walk out the door, I realized that my ipod was dead.  What an idiot!  Way to be prepared.  So, Jennifer had a head start on me while I let my ipod charge for about 8 minutes.  As I started running, I was a little worried that Jenn would be a carrot dangling out there in front of me that would push me a little too hard as I was catching her.  But, when I caught her at 4.5 miles, I realized that I was right on track and wasn't pushing too hard.  The run went really well.  It was 51 degrees outside, so I was in shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  The wind wasn't too bad, and the miles just clicked by.  The last 2.5 miles were a little struggle in the sense that I felt like I was going slow and just couldn't find any speed, but  I finished 10 miles in 1:21 at a pace of 8:11's.  That's pretty great for me.  Plus, that means that I would still have 29 minutes to run a 5k to reach my goal of a 1:50 half marathon.  I think it's possible!  Here's the comparison of yesterday's run with the last time I ran it in March.  It looks like I'm a tad bit faster, which is great because I felt like I was in better running shape back then.

When I got home, I was freezing cold and just a wee bit salty.  I thought you might like to see my raccoon eyes of salt.

Jenn had a good run too and is feeling strong and ready to beat her goal.  With only a couple weeks, we're starting to get amped up and ready for some race bling and a new shirt!  Isn't that why we do this?

I hope you all are having a blessed week, and thanks for reading!