13.1 Already!?!?!? How'd that happen?

Hello to all of you lovely blogeroos on this chilly and rainy Sunday afternoon! 

First off, I wanted to mention that I had a wonderful time at retreat this weekend with all my lovely sisters! I don't have any pictures at the moment, but I'll post some as soon as I can facebook stalk some of my sisters who remembered to bring cameras. : )

After retreat yesterday, me and a few of my besties stopped at a local cider mill and cheese factory for samples, samples, and more samples. It was a lovely way to end the retreat indeed! I was planning on going for a run when I got home, but seeing that it was pouring and only about 45 degrees outside, I decided to do some at home stretching and strengthening and take a rest day. I'm really glad I did too...I'll explain in a minute. 

Last night, I went to Panera Bread with some friends. It was yummy indeed! I got a thai cafe salad, black bean soup, and a big ol' piece of baguette. The hot soup was perfect for the cold and stormy day. 

Panera bread just opened in my town last week! I'm in love!!

I've been 3 times in the last week. No shame...no shame at all. 

Afterwards, I hung out with my friends for a while and then headed out. They all went out last night for round 2 of my friend's 21st birthday celebrations, but honestly, I was too tired to go out. After getting up at the crack of dawn on Thursday for my internship, interning all day with a bunch of 3rd graders, going out Thursday night, getting only a few hours of sleep, running five miles on Friday, staying up late Friday night with all my lovely sisters, and going all day Saturday, I wasn't up for another night out on the town. 

Although I didn't go out, I'm glad I hung around while everyone was getting ready to go out and pre gaming. I had a lot of fun, 100% sober : )

Last night I slept like a baby and didn't wake up until almost 9:00 AM. Note...9:00 AM is sleeping in for me. I'm usually up between 5:30 and 7:30. 

After fueling myself properly with a yummy breakfast, I set off on a run. I was pretty sure I wanted to do a long training run, but I was going to let my legs and energy level dictate how far I ran. I was hoping to do between 9 or 11 miles, but something amazing happened..... 

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I ran 13.1 miles!!!!!!!!!

Although I was a little bit tired at the beginning of the run and a wee bit chilly, my legs loosened up quickly and I warmed right up. For the most part, I followed the same loop I did for my 10 mile run last week, but I popped in and out of some neighborhoods and trails to add a little bit of distance. The route I chose was basically comprised of two loops--one big loop and one small loop. If I wasn't feeling the run, I'd opt out of doing the small loop. 

Once I finished the big loop and started tackling the small loop, which is about 2.5 miles, I heard my garmin click. I made a point of not focussing on my garmin for the whole run. About 9 minutes later it clicked again. I was guessing it was going to read 10 miles but too my surprise, it said I went 11 miles. At this point, I was about a mile a way from my house. I knew that my run would be at least 12 miles by the time I got home. 

When I neared my house, I felt great! Like really great, so I made the decision to go an extra mile just to say that I had run 13.1 miles. 

So, I ran 13. 1 miles and I feel great about it although I must admit my hamstrings are a little sore right now. 

The only problem is my half marathon isn't for another month. I know I need to back off a little bit, so I don't burn out before the big day. I think I'm going to continue doing one long run a week until the race but not do anything over 11 miles. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think my long run schedule may look something like this: 

Week 1: 10 miles

Week 2: 11 miles

Week 3: 10 miles

Week 4: Race 

I would really love some suggestions about how to approach this, though! 

Anyways, I was originally planning on going to an intense power yoga class with a couple of friends today, but after running 13.1 miles, I figured that my body needs a break. Although I would love to stretch out my muscles, power yoga is not what I need right now. 90 minutes of intense yoga would drive me to the ground, so I skipped out on the yoga today. 

Now, I'm about to go get dinner with a friend and then go to my weekly chapter meeting. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekends everyone!

How do you deal with peaking too early when training for a big race? 

Do you ever have unexpected long or good runs?