tourist

All of this (with a few changes/tweaks of course):

A whole lot of this:

Is culminating into this: Little Rock (Half) Marathon

The weather is looking like this (notice 6am temp please):

Which means I'll be wearing this (gloves, hat, glasses not pictured):

I'll be carrying with me (plan on taking advantage of water stations):
I did sign up to have my race info post via Twitter and Facebook through MarathonTracks.com. I'm not sure how it works exactly, if my followers or friends can see the tweets/posts or if you have to sign up yourself.

Jason will be at the start, then he will ride his bike to a few points around the course before heading to the house to watch me there. Then he'll be back to watch me finish. I can probably persuade him to send out a few tweets/posts if you want to follow him (@jkmiller) or you can check out the MarathonTracks, or wait for my blog post of course.


Thank you all for putting up with my whining and complaining, for your constant support and motivation, your helpful tips and advice. I wish you all could be at the finish line!

Free Friday
Today is going to be a rest day for me. My body is begging for it, and I realized last night that my last rest day was last Thursday. I usually don't like to go more than 6 days without my rest day. So today it is.

I guess I shouldn't have bragged about our nice weather, we have rain and much much cooler temps in the forecast now. Darn it. I was hoping that race day (Sunday) wouldn't be too terribly cool, but it's now looking like it'll be around 33 degrees at the start of the race. That of course means having to fuss with gloves and such.

Wearing the race bibs makes layering much more difficult too. I have to have a bib on front and back so no real way of shedding a layer that I can think of. I guess at least I won't have sweat pouring into my eyes though....trying to find a positive....

Today I did pick up my race packet from the marathon expo. I can't explain just how nervous I am or why I am so nervous. At this point, I am wishing the race was tomorrow so I could get on with it. I have a feeling (or hope) that once the race gets going, I'll settle in and enjoy it more. I really do want to enjoy this experience.

Fun Facts Friday - Working Out and Running
Dawn @ Florida Coastal Cooking passed along a blogger award the other day (thanks girl!!!) so I decided that would be perfect for Fun Facts Friday.

The rules:

• Link to the person who awarded you
• List 7 random facts about yourself
• Pass the award on to 7 other bloggers

I know it's supposed to be random, and supposed to just be factoids, but since I'm focused on my half marathon on Sunday and all the training and such, I thought I would do random facts and thoughts regarding workouts and racing. 

1. It's kind of fun being the only female in the weight area of the gym - makes me feel like a bit of a bad ass. 
2. Even though I don't just love to work legs, I can't wait to hit them hard again starting next week. I feel like they've lost all definition since the IT band injury and race training.  
3. I think I may actually miss the half marathon training as crazy as that might sound. There was something satisfying about conquering some of those crazy intervals.
4. While I trained with bloks/chomps running outdoors, I felt too silly to use them when running on the treadmill at the gym so I just took water and Gatorade. 
5. I have 2 drawers dedicated to workout clothes (one winter - long pants/tops - and one -  shorts/tanks).
6. I prefer short bra tops because I get really hot and sweaty, though I feel a bit awkward wearing them at the gym because no one else does.
7. I firmly believe the only good treadmill run is one with intervals.
   

So, now to pass this along...

1. Courtney @ The Granola Chronicles
2. Kalli @ Fit & Forty Something
3. Alison @ Physically Philosophical
4. Madeline @ Greens and Jeans
5. Bela @ It's Life, Max it Out
6. Melissa @ Melissa Dishes 
7. Kristen @ Swanky Dietitian

But as usual, I hope you will all play along and list a few random facts!

Beautiful Day for a Run
I hate to brag, but it was another gorgeous, spring-like day here today. Sunny with temps hovering at 70 degrees. Perfect for an outdoor run by the river. Though, I must admit that I really wasn't wanting to go run today.

I debated with myself about changing up the running plan (plan? what's a plan???). But tomorrow is supposed to be rainy. I also had a feeling that the sunshine and fresh air would do me some good. I've been up and down with my mood recently. I know a lot of it has been stress from the car situation. Also, the upcoming race is on my mind of course.

As expected, the run really boosted my mood. The wind had picked up quite a bit and it was in my face on the way out. I think that's probably better than having it in your face for the return though. Maybe....I did 4 miles then 4 gentle pickups. I'll be totally honest, it was supposed to be 2 miles and then the 4 pickups (hanging head...). No scolding please. I swear no more extra miles. In fact, I'm thinking of fewer.

The plan calls for rest tomorrow (all over that) and then 2 miles on Saturday. I sort of question the 2 miles on Saturday though. Any thoughts??? Should I run tomorrow and not at all on Saturday or just do a super easy 2 on Saturday to get the legs loosened up? I was thinking that a positive would be a little bit of energy/stress relief.

Tempeh Thursday
During lunch today, I got dinner started so it would come together quickly tonight. I made a Carrot and Cabbage Slaw and started marinating some tempeh in BBQ sauce. My hope was that marinating it for several hours would help keep it from being too dry when baked or grilled. I was really planning on grilling out this evening.

Alas, I got lazy. After getting stretching, rolling, and getting cleaned up after the run, it was starting to get a bit late, and I knew I was going to run out of day light. Instead, I did my nails, baked the "fries" and tempeh. I know there will be plenty of grilling soon enough.

So, not grilled, but still just as tasty. Even better, it did come together super quickly since I started it at lunch. And, marinating the tempeh for about 6 hours really did seem to help with the dry factor.