Week 1

Running News
Week 1 of half-marathon training is complete!

My goal was to get in 3 runs and 2 cross-training sessions this week.  While I did run three times, I missed a cross-training session due to birthday celebrations.  We have an 8-year old in the house!!  That trumps cross-training, I'm afraid.  My "long" run this week was the same as last week, only 5 miles.  My long run will peak 2 weeks before the half at 12 miles. 


Birthday Boy!

We have had a full weekend of birthday celebrating and it began with school being canceled on Friday due to freezing rain, so Cameron got to spend the day at home with my mom.  This year, instead of a party, Cameron decided on two afternoon playdates to celebrate his birthday.  Fine with me!  We still had treat bags and treated each playdate like a mini party but it was MUCH quieter.  The weekend has been filled with lots of little boy laughs, Lego, eating out, eating in, birthday cake (pic to be shared later) visits from my family and even going to see a play (The Hobbit).  I think we're all exhausted.

Recipes
Since I only prepared one meal this weekend (on Friday night), there are no new recipes to share from the weekend.

I did try a couple of new recipes last week:
1) we really liked this homemade version of rice-a-roni (much healthier than the boxed version!)
2) homemade wheat thins

I have grand plans of trying lots of new vegetarian recipes (or adaptations of my current recipes) over the next few months as we cut our meat consumption to help improve our diets and hopefully help fuel my running!  To be clear, I don't plan on converting to vegetarianism, I just want to include more vegetarian meals each week because I think I feel better when I eat less meat.  Considering I ate a Big Mac for lunch yesterday and a donair for supper, this weekend is not necessarily a good start!

Plans for Fall - rambling ahead (warning!)

I'm torn on my fall half-marathon.  I thought it was set in stone but I'm now trying to choose between three:

1. Fall Classic is going to have a half this year (in addition to the 5k and 10k)
   - end of September so weather tends to be okay and I wouldn't have many long runs after school is in session
   - in my hometown so costs are minimal
   - part of a very small race, so it might not be as nice as a larger race (of course, the Fall Classic 10k has always been fantastic, so it could be great)
   - flat course
2. Maine Marathon in Portland has a half event
   - early October (week after Fall Classic) so the timing works
   - flat course
   - shopping in Maine (i.e. reward shopping in Maine)
   - travel costs are higher
3. PEI Marathon also has a half event
   - hilly course (but I'm not out for a record time so that doesn't matter too much)
   - mid October so weather is a bit riskier, but should still be okay, however, I'd have longer training runs after school is in session
   - Trevor might run the full so I'd be there anyway (although if he does the full and I run the half at the Fall Classic, I'd run the 10k for something to do)

I guess all that rambling really just cements the fact that I'm leaning toward options 1 and 2.