Run Lindsay RUN!

So, as I see I have been a huge slacker on my posts... I figure I am due for a new one! YIPPEE! (not to the slacker part of course, but to the new post!)

Last weekend, October 1, 2011, I set a personal record for my 10th half marathon!!!  I am still in shock! I mean, not only was this my 10th half marathon, but I PR'd again! Looking back from my first half I ran (4 years ago), I have improved by over 30 minutes. Crazy... huh? I am hoping the this trend continues, as I PR'd on my last half before this. But since I PR'd by 3 minutes... I am highly doubting it to be possible.

Some things I have realized that have helped me PR:
1. Cooler weather (duh!)
2. HILLS (I know weird, but true!)
     a. Not sure what gets in me about these hills, but I just want to get them over with so I speed up like crazy on them.

So anyway, I ran this half in 1 hour 46 minutes and 08 seconds! My last PR before this one was 1:49: something... I don't remember the seconds. In fact, I think it was 1:48:49 or something like that... I dunno. Anyway, still in shock and still on cloud nine.

My thought this very second:
1. Wow, I PR'd and got 4th place in my age group (20-29) I feel awesome
2. WOW, I am so dumb to push myself so hard a week before the Chicago Marathon and am still in recovery mode half a week before the race...
3. WOW the Chicago Marathon is only 3 days away.... when I signed up for it, it seemed okay because it was 9 months away, and I didn't have to do any running yet!!! WHERE DID THE TIME GO? and WHAT WAS I THINKING?
4. I AM SO EXCITED!
5. I AM SO NERVOUS...
6. I am so... excited?
7. I will be in Chicago in less than 2 days~ Maybe this time I can do it right and not trip and bust my knee completely open a day before I leave so that I can actually see the things I never got to see last year with 8 stitches and a gimp strut.
8. PLEASE PLEASE pray for me so that I do not fall tomorrow... I don't want another jack-o-lantern knee.

YES, this many thoughts really do go through my head all at once...
and no, unfortunately, I do not have control of them...

With that said... in T-minus 2 days, I will be Chi-Town bound!! I will keep you updated on the results of the marathon.  The goal: to run it in less than 4:00:00... my only other marathon I ran (January Chevron Marathon 2011) was 4:13:00.  I am in much better shape physically, but not sure mentally, since it is not my first, and I wont be on that "first marathon high". I am not sure if I will be completely in that mental spot I should be in.  Here goes nothing...