The training runs last week were fairly solid. We managed to find a dry window for Tuesday’s 5 miles run and it was a balmy 45°F. I was happy with my pace of 9:35 and really didn’t have any soreness (knock on wood!). My husband went into the office on Thursday and was not able to get a run in due to meetings all day, so I ran on my own for that 5 mile stretch. It was 42°F and there was no escaping the rain that day! My pace was slower, 9:45 and I think the rain and wind got to me more than I should have let them! Then Saturday and the long run came around. We have not run farther than a 10K since the Vancouver half back in October- a bit of a shock to this old body!

Actually, I have always wanted to do this particular run. We started in our home town of Redmond and ran to the neighboring city of Woodinville, which netted us 6 miles on the Sammamish River Trail near our home. We had to extend the run a little further on the trail to get to the 7 mile mark. This run took me 1 hour and 7 minutes at that 9:38 pace I have been hovering around. It was also the first run where we brought water and a snack. The runs are getting longer and tougher!

Next week we have to change it up a bit. We were scheduled for another 5, 5, 7 week but our community has an annual “beat the bunny” 5K fun run the week before Easter Sunday, and we really like this event. There will be two pace runners, dressed as bunnies, a faster rabbit that my husband can beat and a slower one for the rest of us! It’s about 2 miles from our home and a truly fun run to start the day. That means the long, 7 mile run for the week will have to be on Thursday-I hope I can recover enough to survive it!

April 2017 Half Marathon Training Schedule

This is a blank and printable April Calendar. Courtesy of WinCalendar

On a side note, we went to a different climbing gym this week. We braved the friday night traffic in Seattle and headed over to Seattle Vertical World. The walls are higher, definitely! It was fun to challenge ourselves with the harder routes and higher climbs-check out these pictures!

We are already trying to figure out how to get back there and avoid the traffic this time. I am sure we will make it happen! Might just have to stay after climbing and hit a happy hour to wait out rush hour, sounds like a good plan to me!