Stacey 2.0

I completed the Lake Powell Half Marathon last weekend.  It is a really fun course and a well-managed event, but I had probably one of my worst times ever:  2:34!  I could tell about 4.5 miles in though, that this was not going to be a course "for time" for me.  It's a net downhill but also a combination of road and trail, ups and downs, and possibly a bit of altitude thrown in, although I never really felt like I was out of breath.  It was my first real race of the fall season and I had never been to Lake Powell before so it felt good to cross it off the list. Next week begins my 12-week descent to the Arizona Rock n' Roll Half Marathon, where I've set the goal to complete it in less than two hours.  My current half PR is 2:07:10, so shaving off a little over 7 minutes is kind of a lofty goal, especially since it's been about 8 months since I was even able to run that fast.  Many other runners and blogs of the running kind have suggested getting a coach fo

Trolling through Pinterest one day, I came across a pin recommended for me:  " 13 Running Books You Should Be Reading Right Now ".  I pinned it to my Run Junkie board to read later.  I listen to a lot of audiobooks in the car on my dreadful commute to/from work, so while I don't feel like I have the time to sit down and read, if I can find any of them on audio, I'd put it on the wish list to download from the library. *This post has been updated with affiliate links from Amazon.com. When I actually had time to look through the article, I came across the  Believe Training Journal . I used to  love  writing in my journal when I was a kid!  It wasn't a training journal back then - I wasn't athletic at all, it was just a bunch of angsty pre-teen stuff or details on whoever I had a crush on at the time.  Still, I know I could use some new tools, tricks, motivation, etc. to give my training a boost.  The summer has been super rough on my running.  Plus, my goo

The summer is "running me ragged" this year, pun intended.  While I've only been running for less than 4 years now, I've had some summer runs in that time period that just didn't feel like such a struggle.  This year, for whatever reason, is quite different. I live in a suburb of Phoenix, so it's not exactly my best running weather this time of year.  I don't mind the heat, but my so-called runs are turning into longer and longer walks.  I don't know if I'm actually accomplishing anything by trying to train in these conditions. Some other things I've been pushing through this year as compared to previous years, are: 1.  The lack of a dedicated training partner.  Most of my previous partners in crime are doing the triathlon thing, which is great for them, but isn't something I want to do, at least not at the present moment.  They're not running as many days as I am, and for good reason.  I've lost some other training partners d

The Vistancia Sprint Triathlon was last Sunday. I wouldn't describe it as my most shining moment.  Nothing tragic happened, but nothing felt like it was going right, either. I thought about going through and describing each moment of the race, but eventually decided against it.  To sum it up, I came in last in my age division on the swim and the bike portions; 3rd from last on the run. Now, I knew well in advance that I wasn't going to win it all, I just wanted to do better than I had in my previous sprint triathlon .  I think I probably could have.  I ended up stopping to attempt to help a friend who had a flat tire on the bike portion of the race.  I wouldn't say I actually helped anything, since I didn't really know how to change a flat tire, but I had seen it done before...  Thought maybe all of that observation would be effective...  Although I don't think it was.  Still, I think his triathlon goals are much bigger than mine, and I guess I didn't see

It has come to my attention that whilst my van was running away at Ragnar Del Sol, my best friend and her sister-in-law (both in the other van) decided to set the goal of completing Ironman in 2016. Apparently it is expected that I participate in these shenanigans with them. A couple of weeks have passed and I find myself just as indecisive about the whole thing as when I first heard about it.  Why am I waffling?  I think there are good arguments to do it and good arguments to hold off, or to just be a great spectator.  It's been a weird feeling for me though.  I'm pretty sure if I committed to it, and was able to train for it, I could finish.  So, for the first time, I'm not sitting around worried that I just can't accomplish something, and that's a pretty great feeling.  I was also kinda-sorta worried that I might somehow lose my identity as a "runner".  I've been making some small but incremental progress this year and I don't want to lose m

Oops.  I haven't posted since October?  Like all of us, the holidays were pretty hectic, and then I took this stupid MySQL online class during some of the heaviest training weeks of the year.  I had to let something slip during that time, so it ended up being this.  Then I had a few weekends of races and now, things will be kinda sorta quiet...  until March. Since the sprint triathlon, my major races in 2014 included the Rock n' Roll Las Vegas half marathon , the Thanksgiving Tryptophun Rhun 6 hour race, the Desert Classic 30k , and Across the Years (24 hours). I didn't post the Vegas race in my "upcoming races" at the time because I have a weird thing about strangers knowing when I'm not at home...  It was my first Rock n' Roll event ever.  My best friend was in Vegas for some work conference and I met her there, along with her cousin-in-law.  It was fun, but packed, as I understand most Rock n' Roll events tend to be; and unexpectedly cold!  I