I hope everyone had a beautiful October weekend! Are you kind of sad that the month is almost over, like me? I love October. But at least I was able to say a lovely farewell- basking in the crisp air, bright sun, and colored leaves all weekend up in Guerneville with friends. We ran, we sipped, we ate, we relaxed, and we played. So fun.

And my race motivation really worked! My playlist was amazing. I listed a few of my faves from the playlist at the bottom of this post in case you've been craving some new workout tunes. And the costumes definitely helped. Watching our Mario and Luigi run around in full-on denim overalls and hearing passersby wonder aloud whether Jim was dressed as a ghost or a sperm really picked up the mood. Plus we WON the team costume competition. (Thanks for the delicious prize wine, Hawkes!)

 But there was one unlisted helper that really helped get me through those last few painful miles. This guy:

Jimmy helped us keep a nice steady pace, and every once in awhile when I felt like I might start dragging, he'd reach out his hand and give me the boost I needed. Towards the end my ankles were aching and my muscles were losing steam, but we knew we wanted a strong finish. So Jim fought through his own exhaustion to grab my hand and help us speed up through the end. Thanks Jimmy - I'll never make you run a 1/2 marathon again! ;)

Here are some more shots from the weekend.

Allie's Half Marathon Power playlist:

                 

:: 13.1 ::

Eek! My half marathon is in 3 days. To be honest, I haven't quite kept up with training the way I maybe should have. Which probably explains why I'm feeling a little nervous. This running thing does not come naturally to me! Hiking, yoga, team sports - yes. But running...my body resists each and every step. Which I guess is one of the reasons I really wanted to do this in the first place; to see what it would feel like to get my body running more than 3-4 miles at a time. To see if I could do it at all.

So the bad news is, I only did a few "long runs" in my training, the furthest of which was 9 miles. (reeeally banking on that whole "race adrenaline" thing to take me the last 4.1 miles on Saturday...)

The good news is, in my training runs every mile after 4 felt pretty good- kind of comfortable and robot-like. Like all I needed to do was lean forward a bit to keep going. Like a segway! Sure, my body felt like it was going to crumble into tiny pieces after each run...but I can cross that bridge when I come to it. (p.s. when I just googled segway I found this link. whaaa??).

The even better news is, I have some awesome motivation lined up for Saturday which I think will help me go all the way:

1. Wine. This is a WINE country 1/2 marathon after all. After the race we'll be rewarded with tastings upon tastings. They even give you a taste during the race if you so desire. I will run for wine!
2. Food. If you've ever been in a long race you know that the good ones have wonderful snacks awaiting you at the end. Nothing inspires me to burn calories more than the thought of replacing every last one of 'em with tasty treats.
3. Hot tub. Our rental house for the weekend has a hot tub. Mmmmyes.
4. Team. Jim and I are running with 8 wonderful friends, and we're all dressing up as the Mario Kart gang for the race. As the blondie of the group I was named Princess Peach...and I'm pretty sure that wearing a crown will keep me going strong til the end.
5. Music. I've been slowly but surely compiling the greatest running playlist known to man. I'd still LOVE some recommendations though - please comment with any favorite songs I should add to my list :).

Wish us luck!