13.1 set for 1/13/13

There's got to be something lucky to come of that, right? Here's hoping.

Anyway, I know, I know: long time no blog. Everyone else has been posting 2012 recaps and 2013 goals, which I'm flat-out going to skip right now for obvious reasons (obvious if you've been following along for the past few months, that is).

Since I last posted, I've been more physically active than I'd like to think (probably because I don't log my hour-long elliptical sessions online as I do with my runs) and traveled to New York for New Year's, during which I ran nine miles with my sister, followed by a midnight 5K on New Year's Eve. That "long" run was the longest I'd covered since mid-October, and although it was depressingly slow thanks to tourists, hills and icy sidewalks, I went ahead and did the last-minute switch to the half-marathon instead of just deferring my Houston Marathon entry altogether.

I expected to feel some excitement at finally being committed to a race for the first time in seemingly forever. But until this morning, I was feeling pretty "meh" about it. When Carla texted me yesterday, freaking out about the possibility of cold, rainy weather next week, my first thought was "Psh, who cares?" (Sidenote: That's pretty much what the weather was like yesterday and I didn't want to be outside for more than two minutes at at a time. If I was still set to run the full, I would probably be freaking the F out right about now.)

Today I ran 11.5 miles, during which I also accomplished the "Blood, Sweat and Tears" run I manage to squeeze in at least once a year. I'm always about halfway finished when this happens, and also at least an hour away from home, with no phone or cash on me, natch. (I run with an ID tag on my shoe, lest my non-running readers think I'm completely irresponsible.)

I was test-running the new Oiselle gear BF got me for Christmas today. Still hoping to get to wear the sleeves next week!

I was about 6.5 miles in when I bit it, and had open wounds on both knees, my left elbow and left hip. I dusted myself off and walked it off for a couple of minutes to make sure I was really okay. I always think about quitting when I fall, but today I knew it wasn't an option if I didn't want my confidence levels to drop even further before the half next week. Before this run, I was panicking about where my dad would be spectating, just in case the leg pain flared up and I had to drop out of the half. But five more miles later, I was done, I was home, I felt twice as ready than I did last weekend, and now I don't think I need to worry about not finishing at all.

I still can't say I'm feeling excited about running the half next week and because of this, my sister keeps asking me why I'm even doing it all. The fact is, I'd been looking forward to covering the full pretty much since I crossed the finish line at last year's race, and my dad even committed to spectating again right away. Dozens of my Houston running friends are posting their bib numbers all over Facebook, and it felt bittersweet to run through my favorite part of the marathon course this morning. So I'm not going to lie: it still hurts and it still sucks. But now that I'm better (even running with blood dripping down the "bad" leg didn't hurt today!), I'm pretty sure not running at all next weekend would suck even more. Plus, Meb is also running the half next weekend; any down runnerd would have to get a little psyched about that, right?

I definitely won't be breaking any records, much less nailing a half-marathon PR next weekend. The real reason I'm going forward with the half is to get a better idea of where I'm at post-injury. Most of my post-injury runs have been with friends, and my "conversational pace" is pretty slow. Without a goal race in sight, I'm the master of the 10-minute mile. Running 13.1 with a d-tag on my shoe and timing mats under my feet is more likely to help me decide if registering for the June marathon I'm eyeing is realistic or not.

And now to wash the blood out and stitch up the hole in my arm warmers before next weekend. See you on the flip side.