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