Livin' the Dream in Lima

To say this fall has been busy  is an understatement. Full-time teaching job + part-time bakery business + training 55-60 miles a week + random other activities that life brings... keeps me on my toes! I'm loving every second of it though. :) To sum up this fall training cycle in a sentence - it rocked. It was the first time I really ever put a plan together myself (I usually just use SmartCoach on Runnersworld.com, but a girl can only take so many mile repeat workouts. Seriously, I think that's the only type of speed training they've ever assigned me.)  Start of the Columbus Marathon - I ran the half. I was nervous that it would be too much/not enough/not the right kind of speedwork/too aggressive/not aggressive enough. Ya know what I mean? Turns out, it worked for me.  I topped out at about 60 miles a week, and most weeks had two speed workouts and a 12-15 mile long run. I made sure I got one solid speed workout, and if I happened to get the other one, great,

The end of my training cycle is coming near... just 2 weeks to go. That means RACE TIME! I had three races scheduled for October: Oct 6 - Hands4Haiti Half Marathon Oct 13 - Cheerfund 15km Oct 21 - Columbus Half Marathon The original plan was just to run the Hands4Haiti Half as a training run. It's a really small, no-frills race here in the Bean Town, and I thought attempting a PR would be difficult. I was just going to go out and get my long run done (and maybe win. Seriously, last year the winning time was 1:35.) Then, I would taper, and race the 15km and Columbus Half all out. Well, here's how it went down. I carb-loaded like a champ Friday night (mmmm, pizza) and woke up Saturday morning ready to roll. I warmed up and made it to the start line. After chatting with some of the other runners, the race finally started. (15 minutes late, whoops.) Chillin' at the start. We thought it was funny that mostly women were at the front. Girl power! Two women to