I ran 100 miles!

For the first time in a very long time, I ran 100 miles. No, not at one time (although some folks do that), but for the month. I knew this would be the perfect motivator to get me back into half marathon training shape. After having my son, I would always barely get up to 10 miles before he would get sick or my husband would have to work and I'd have no sitter. So all of my hard work went away because I could never rebound. Now baby girl rides in the stroller and my son rides his scooter or his bike while I run.

Now, it is NOT my preference to bring either of them, but I've learned that you've gotta do what you've gotta do. Most times if I'm running with them, pace doesn't matter. Only distance. This in turn helps because I'm still getting an easy pace workout in. I'll do fartleks, run/walk intervals, and hill train with them. When I'm solo, I always want to run as fast as I can to get it over with and not really stick to a plan (I'm impatient). On one of my ten-milers, we had to stop so many times to give our son a break. So, yeah...I usually try not to bring them if I need to do over 4 1/2 miles. How do "they" have so much energy inside of the house, but when you take them outside to burn it, they're "soooo tired"?

I ran short runs 4-5 days during the week and scheduled long runs on Saturdays & Sundays depending on my husband's work schedule. I ran them with one of my running groups, which also really helped. Being a mom of a 9-month-old and a 6-year-old, you MUST find a way to become disciplined if you have any personal fitness goals. This is why I choose to post my runs/workouts online, run with friends, and enter challenges. That's just what helps me stay accountable myself. Be careful not to compare your journey with others, but most definitely use others to help you achieve what you're trying to achieve.

Before I had kids I was all over Atlanta running with Black Girls Run and then became a group run leader for them. Then came children. That's why it's been 7 1/2 years since I've run my fourth and last half marathon. So... this challenge came right on time.

I registered for the runningnerds Summer Heat Virtual Half Marathon. I ran the runningnerds Winter Virtual Half Marathon years ago. I think that was my 3rd half marathon? It was virtual, but I ran it with a group starting from West Midtown. I remember it was extremely cold that morning. Like I said in my previous post, I am up to 10 miles, so next week I am going to run 11-12 miles. My old running coach always told me to run a mile or two over the actual race distance, so that the actual race distance will be easy. It's nothing like running any race and that last .5 mile becomes a s-t-r-u-g-g-l-e. The thing is, I don't know if I'll have time for that. So I'll probably attempt 12 this Sunday, 9-10 the next and go into taper mode? I'll have to look at an official training plan before I make my mind up since I'm already at 10.

Wish me luck on my journey! The school year is soon to start aka busy season (and that's a whole 'notha case of foolery with what's going on), so this would be a great finale. I'll take a mini-break and then back at it for two fall races in October and November.

What do you do to help you stick to your goals? What are you choosing to focus on to help your mental state right now?