Marathon training has been going extremely well. I’ve been pushing through some crazy, hard workouts my coach has thrown my way, and I have fallen in love with the pavement. I love the random workouts he sends me; it keeps me guessing and yearning for more. I’ve doubted certain workouts, and come through on the other side with even more confidence.

August was a HUGE month for me and ran many, many miles!

One weekend it was running 17 miles…

the next weekend was 18 miles…

I felt like death after each long run. My stomach has been acting up causing me to puke and not able to keep anything down. I’m going to have to play around with my fuel and liquid intake. Ugh! Just when you think it’s all figured out, this happens – ugh!

Oh, and the next weekend, I PR’d at my 13th half marathon…My half earlier in the year was 2:01.58. This half I finished in 2:01:11. I was hoping to finish in 2 hours (or under), which has been a running goal of mine all year.I was extremely disappointed I missed it yet again. I strongly believe if I had paced myself better in the beginning, I would have hit that target goal. Lessons learned and something to apply in my next half marathon.

I learned a lot through that half, and powered through the hardest training during this part of marathon training. My end goal is the marathon on October. My coach reminded me it was about pacing and had nothing to do with my fitness. The fitness is there 100%, I could train for a half marathon and compromise my marathon training and goals. The big picture is in the forefront of my mind and training.

I finished 471 out of 1047, placed 180 out of 566 females and 37 out of 107 in my age group. I’ll take it 🙂

I’m excited.

And ending the month on that runner’s high.

(Yes. Yes, it’s real!)