Beat The Blerch

Most of you know that Tom and I are training for a 1/2 marathon. The race is called Beat The Blerch, and comedic illustrator extraordinaire The Oatmeal is putting it on. He's written some pretty hilarious comics, my personal favorites being "My Dog: the Paradox," and "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances." We decided to do this 1/2 marathon partly because we both love The Oatmeal, but also because it's about 30 miles from Seattle, WA so we're making a long weekend trip out of it. Another reason is it's the kind of race with "large quantities of birthday cake at every aid station, in addition to Nutella and magical grape beverages." Haha!

September 21st is quickly approaching, and we're about 5 weeks into training. For training purposes, I knew I needed to find a plan to help me along. I ended up purchasing Hal Higdon's 1/2 marathon Novice 1 app for my iPhone just because this is our first long race, and I wanted to make sure I eased myself into it. The app is $10 which seems like a lot, but I haven't gone a day without using it. My thinking was: if I spend the money, it will make me  use the app - and it's been working so far! 

Right now we're up to 4 miles on our short runs Tuesdays and Thursdays and have a long run of 5 miles on Sunday. Every 2 weeks about a 1/2 mile is added to the short runs, and a mile is added to the long runs. 

I was so proud of us both on our Tuesday run this week - we made it 4 miles without walking which was an endurance personal best for each of us. It's so fun and inspiring to complete these goals together, and I love having a great running partner who pushes me to be my absolute best. 

This morning was a 4 miler. It was rough, and I only made it 3 miles before I had to stop, but considering where I started I'm proud of what I've accomplished so far. I've never been a fan of running in the past, but I'm learning to enjoy it more every time I hit the pavement. I'll try to post more training updates as we get closer to race day, but  I usually log all my runs on Instagram. My username is @michellemaemax, so if you're interested in my progress come be my friend :) And now, I leave you with some runspiration. Go out and Beat that Blerch. Cheers!