"You were gone for a really long time!"

The title of this post is compliments of my ever-observant father, who noted that I had been gone for a long time when I returned home from running. :)

We got a glimpse of spring here in Chicago, which made for some nice running weather. Yesterday it reached 55 degrees...good for running, not food for the breakfast/lunch restaurant business! We were sooooo slow in the morning (I decided everyone was out watching their cars), so two servers were sent home before noon. We then got a huge rush of people (we had a 25 minute waiting list!), which made it absolutely insane for the rest of the time. I thought I was caught up, and then I would get another table. This, of course, is good for my bank account, but I feel bad when my service is lacking because I'm running around the entire time.

The last thing I wanted to do when I got home from running around work was run, but it's too hard to pass up shorts weather...and I like to stick to my schedule! Hal called for six miles at marathon pace (yet to be determined...), and here's what we ended up with:

Saturday, January 7th
6.09 miles in 45:24, avg pace of 7:27

Clearly NOT marathon pace...I blame the weather because I think that paces feel different based on the temperature, not to mention the fact that I only had on one layer of clothing, versus the usual three! Of course, I wondered if the faster-than-usual run would affect my long run today, but it turned out just fine. Here are the states for my Sunday long run:

Sunday, January 8th
13.14 miles in 1:48:58, avg pace of 8:18
Splits: 8:14, 8:17, 8:29, 8:30, 8:20, 8:27, 8:24, 8:29, 8:19, 8:15, 8:08, 7:48, 1:01 (7:25)

I was proud of myself for this long run! The pace felt comfortable, and I ended strong. I definitely added on the last 0.1 mile so I could say I ran a half marathon today! :) The real test of the day was trying out my gels! I only ended up taking one around mile 6.5...I was planning on using two, but I couldn't bring myself to take another one later in my run. I tried the PowerBar Gel in Strawberry Banana, and while the flavor was okay, I really can't deal with the texture. I took about 1/3 of the gel and then swallowed some water...then I spent the next five minutes psyching myself up to take the rest of it. It felt like I was back in college when someone would offer a shot that I didn't want to take (not that I took many shots in college...but just saying). I squeezed a little gel into my mouth and then immediately drank some water before I was able to spit it back out.

The texture is what really gets to me, so maybe I just need to adjust to it or try a different brand. I never felt tired during the long run, which I suppose means that the gel did its job, and I definitely want to use some kind of energy food, but I'm still working on which one. Next weekend is another opportunity to experiment, so hopefully I can work on getting the gels down.

Upcoming this week: NCLEX! (Board exam for nurses!) Wish me luck!!