Either I'm better at this than I thought or I'm just really stubborn...

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, but between final exams and coming home for Christmas, life has just been really hectic lately!  That being said, I'm now home sweet home, and I spent a really nice relaxing weekend listening to Christmas music, making a gingerbread house, and decorating cookies with my mom... something tells me that this is going to be a very good break.

Well, enough talk about relaxing- let's get to the running!  In general, everything has been going pretty well: no injuries or anything, though I have felt a little tired, but nothing that has stopped me from getting on the treadmill.  I'm really hoping to do a few training runs with my friend Courtney (she's coming with me to Florida to run a 5K the morning before my second half marathon), so hopefully that pans out.  She's just really busy all the time- she works two almost-full-time jobs!  Crazy.

Anyways, on to my exciting new of the day.  As I said in my last post, I was going to try to make 35:00 in the 5K this week.  Now, I'll admit that thirty-five minutes is pretty fast for me- that's an 11:15 minute per mile pace.  I usually run between 11:25 and 11:35, so I knew that holding 11:15 for over three miles was going to be a stretch for me.  Despite a pretty disappointing 5.5-miler on Saturday, I decided to go for it yesterday.  I paced myself pretty poorly and had to push an all-out sprint at the end, but I hit 35:00 on the dot.  I was actually kind of amazed by it; even though I had set the goal, I didn't necessarily believe I'd make it, and certainly not on the first try.  Like I said, maybe I'm better at this than I thought.... or maybe I'm just incredibly stubborn.  I said I was going to do it, and then I did it.  I've always kind of been like that- being told that I couldn't or shouldn't do something only made me want to do it more.  The really interesting thing is that I felt totally fine at the end, which means I probably could pace a little faster, avoid that mad dash to the finish, and maybe make sub-35 tomorrow.  We shall see....

Sadly, my Nike+ system didn't record my new PR... I've gotten a lot faster since I bought it, but I haven't calibrated it in a while, so I usually finish a little ahead.  Yesterday it only measured 3.08 miles (rather than 3.1), so it didn't record.  A little sad, but hopefully it'll work next time (aka tomorrow).   I want my sub-35 PR and I want it to be recognized!!!