The two-week countdown

This morning, I ran 13 slow miles. I hated every step of it.

That is not the kind of attitude I plan to take with me two weeks from today when I race the Murray Half-Marathon. I know the reason why my training plan called for 13 slow miles, but I am ready to get on the course and bump up the pace to a comfortable tempo.

I am excited about running the Murray Half-Marathon! The city of Murray is my favorite place. After all, it is the nation's friendliest small city and the home of Murray State University, my graduate alma mater. The fact that the course is routed through the city and the university is enough to get me pumped. I ran it last year and had a blast!

As I was running this morning, I thought a lot about how I would tackle 13.1 miles to accomplish a sub-two-hour time. I am considering a number of options but haven't decided which I will use. I want to ask some questions and research those options some more. Perhaps in the final week I will have a more definitive approach.

The training has been tough. My coach was accurate from the beginning when I told her how my training for other half-marathons had been. She said I had never been pushed in my running. For the last 10 weeks, I have learned that my body knows when to shift gears and get down to business. That has been obvious in many of the tempo and some of the long runs.

I still have two weeks of training to go. It won't get any easier. But come race day, I will be ready!