time flies when you're doing long runs and boot camp

The current phase of my fitness journey has been in progress for 5.5 weeks now. The once dreaded half-marathon is THIS SUNDAY! (and I'm running in my sweet new purple shoes, above) Instead of wanting to sleep in and skip it, I am actually excited for it. You read that correctly: I am excited to run a half marathon. The past five weeks have been very challenging. Getting up at 5:30 every day to workout in the cold (and dropping) temperatures with the moon and stars still out is a powerful thing. It really makes you feel like you're sacrificing comfort of a warm bed and laying around for something good for you, which is pretty empowering. Running 10 miles at 6am so you can still get to work on time is something I never thought I'd do. Yet . . . here I am. And now I want to see all of this hard work pay off by running the half this weekend.

I was very encouraged when we did our fitness testing in boot camp and I improved my time by more than three minutes. That was HUGE for me. Amazing what a little change and challenge can do! Similarly, when I first was running, I was at a 14.5 minute mile and was dead after two or three miles. Now, a five mile run is "short" and I am running at a 12 minute mile or even 11.5 minute mile pace. I'm not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I ran a 10k in decent time for training purposes, I completed 10 miles the other day, and I intend to complete the half. My pace has improved dramatically, and I am excited to see how I do on Sunday. Who knows, with progress like this, maybe I'll make this a habit and try to complete another one soon, with a better time?

The next obstacle to tackle, however, is my eating. I am not beating myself up about that right now, since I am DEFINITELY more fit than I was six weeks ago, and am very proud of the morning workout routine I have developed; however, that is next. I can't justify eating the wrong foods (and too much of them), no matter how much I work out. Besides, what a waste of getting up at the butt crack of dawn and kicking my ass with a workout!

Phase two of this journey will be focused on better eating habits. I have 3 months until my 30th birthday, and only 6 weeks until I take an amazing trip to Costa Rica with my bff! That's 6 whole weeks of opportunity to treat my body better and get ready for an awesome trip experience.