I'm going to do this thing!

So for all my talking about running a half marathon, it's just started to sink in for real.  Probably because the calendar says September now and the few Sundays remaining before my race are now a reality.  I've been nervous, even though I've done a 10 miler and several 9+ miles...  Today my scheduled run was another 10, but I really felt like I wanted to do a loop instead of an out and back.  Sometimes with an out and back the return trip is so painful because I have just seen the scenery, my brain focuses on wanting to stop running instead of the fun, interesting things I'm seeing.  And I do see some fun stuff on my long runs!

Today's fun finds:

Is that a bow in the tree?  Yep, and it was the second one I saw on my run...the first one was purple.  It made me smile, somewhere around mile 7.

What's this?  A HUGE flag!  I would have been shorter than the third stripe from the bottom!  This is right across the street from where I thought I saw a dog charging me last week...so I don't know if it's a new addition or if it was there last week.  Either way, it made me smile too!

Today, I got a later start than I had wanted, but I needn't have worried, since DH was just getting up when I got home and the boys had been playing very well together.  I headed out on the beginning of my regular route, but added on a few new turns.  I am usually pretty good at guessing closely to the right mileage, and I turned down the road I thought would bring me back to my driveway closest to hitting 10.  I hit 10 right after I got on my road...which is about a mile and a half long...so, with out meaning to, I ran 11.3 today!  Tacking on another 2 for a half marathon?  Easy as pie.  (I'm registering tonight!  No more putting it off!  I know I will be sad the morning of, if I'm not there...thinking I should have, could have done it) This evening I'm thinking another two is a bit more, but this morning I really felt like I could have easily kept going (except my new awesome water bottle was empty and I was out of fruit snacks).  This evening, my knees are complaining a little, and my hips too.  Hopefully all that will be remedied when I get my new running shoes. 

I found the current model of the Asics Cumulus I'm wearing.  I got them in the spring to replace the Cumulus I was already wearing.  I actually tried on about 15 pairs of shoes and narrowed it down to my favorite 3, and had the running store guy (poor guy, he was with me for more than an hour) set them up for me in a random order and I put them on with eyes closed to determine by feel which ones I liked the best.  I ended up with the same shoe I had, but a year newer.  It's definitely time for new ones, and I was going to go harass the running store guy again, but found them for 88$ on line, with free shipping and no sales tax....compared to the 100 I forked over in the spring.  I figured, go with the ones I know I will like since I have 2 weeks to break them in until the local half marathon which will be my first one ever!  (and another two weeks later is the half that was meant to be my first, with my best friend from middle/high school...but I'm all trained up and I can sleep at home for the first one...so how could I not do it?  Plus, registration is only $30 .  I've paid more for a 5K before. They should arrive before next weekend, if the estimate the site gave me was right.  Super excited!  I love me some new kicks!

Today: 11.3
September: 15.7