Half Marathon training

We are in week 2 of Half marathon training and all is well so far. Our main focus of training is the St. Louis Rock n Roll Half Marathon. Dustin and I are big fans of the Elite series because they have music along the course and your race bib is your ticket into a concert the night after the race. Our favorite is the Country Music Marathon in Nashville. It is where we both ran our first marathon together...all 26.2 miles of it, ensemble. It was a great experience, especially since we are big fans of country music. We especially like the fact that most Elite races are on Saturday instead of Sunday so we are able to go out Saturday night and see the city, celebrating instead of worrying about the next day's race. That first year we saw Phil Vassar in concert. I couldn't believe how many songs he has written for famous artists, especially for Tim McGraw. He even had a few hit singles that he recorded himself I recognized. I went home and bought a few CD's (yes I said CD...no ipods at this time) and loved them. He is an upbeat artist with fun, wanna-sing-along songs. A few years later we went back and saw Lady Antebellum. They only had their first single out at the time, but we could tell they were going to be big!!!
For St. Louis' first elite race they are having Sugar Ray for the free concert. That will take us back to memories of old times!! "IIII just wanna fly...". I'm excited to be a charter racer!
On Wednesdays we have speed work so we have been heading over to Farmington HS's track. Their track has a nice, newer surface so it has been fun to run on. Plus, the civic center is just across the street for post run stretching and abs. The only problem is that apparently the men's locker room is really warm so Dustin spends most his time getting ready in the morning trying to cool off. One of the guys getting ready today said that when he was in HS the wrestlers used to sit in the locker room before weigh-ins to sweat off some water weight. Geez!
We visited St. Joe park again over the weekend with a much better experience than 2 weeks ago. We tried to pick out a 10 mile route that was flattER. It still had some challenging spots, but it is good for us. My calves have been sore since we moved here from the changes in elevation compared to Springfield. They are getting so big that I have to take my skinny jeans off with the jaws-of-life.
Besides that, things are going well. We are getting settled and trying to get running routines down. We trail ran last week at pickle springs and stopped at the farmer's market on the way home. It's the simple things in life like a fun trail run, farmer's market, country sunset, and being able to see the stars that have made this transition easier. It's not all that easy for me to be at home all day studying by myself so keep the joyous, simple things coming!!