Run-ning! (said like Forrest Gump)

I love this pic of Forrest running- he's running over the drawbridge in Beaufort, SC, where I used to live in my monkey-farm days. Plus, I dig that nasty beard.

from empireonline- google image search.

So last night was my running club, and I also had a complimentary session with "Coach", who is a trainer there and also our running coach. We talked about form, and goals, and how to reach my goals. I told him my goals were the following:

- Austin half in February: finish without having to call for help, AND without dying. Not concerned with time
- Zooma half in March: beat Austin time, run the whole time.
- Austin 10/20 in April: run the whole thing, average 10:30min/mile or better.
- San Antonio half in November: beat PR for half at 2:10. Whaaaaaattt????
- Run houston marathon (or Austin) next year. One. More. Time. Then half forever.

We also talked about these things:
- "training" verses "working out" (I have a goal- I'm not just going to the gym to de-stress and zone out, SO that means I need to think about form and not heel striking, and tightening my core when I lift weights.)
- routines- something I seriously never worry about. I need to be doing my long runs on the same day as my race every week. Also, wearing the same clothes and shoes (which I do), eating the same things before runs, and running at the same time as the race. He said something like "you have to think "if I eat this, am I going to have to take a dump at mile three?""- he and I are going to get along just fine.
- having a training schedule, which I made last night and will post here.
- challenging myself by coming to running group and running with someone faster than me.

Right after my session was run group- I ended up running with this tall Lance Armstrong-looking guy with zero percent body fat for two miles. And while my norm has been 12min miles lately, I ran 11 min miles with him (he was probably wondering when we were going to stop walking and start running.)

And this is the schedule I came up with- this first week will be a little different, but I'm on it:
Sunday: rest (zooma is my focus right now, and it's on a saturday)
Monday: body pump, followed by a core class in AM
Tuesday: run group in AM
Wednesday: cycle in AM
Thursday: rest (walk that stinking dog)
Friday: run group in AM
Saturday: long run

So there you have it. I'm pretty pumped, and as Coach would say, ready to "get after it."