the well-seasoned bagel: progress

The past two weeks have been in taper mode - thanks to the half marathon I had yesterday.

Spoiler alert: I finished. :P

I mistakenly spent too much time on running on the treadmill within these past two weeks, but I am pleased to see I can at least run on that thing again even if it's boring as heck.

Easy way to start off the morning.

Last weekend was spent in Columbus for a wedding and I was able to get a 6 mile run in there. Which was supposed to be done the day prior, but I think Jeni's didn't want that to happen.

The Olentangy River Trail was packed (this picture is not evidence)! So awesome to see people being active early on a Sunday.

Bourbon salted pecans and salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks. So.. heaven.

Hung out with my favorite niece and the fam at the Columbus Zoo too.

Her hair is so long and curly!

Visited the best university around. No bias.

Been trying to have healthier snacks at work. Greek yogurt and hummus have been helpful in that cause.

Sriracha causes me to eat a tiny bit slower, which is a win.

Yesterday was the Flagstaff Half Marathon. My goal was to finish under 2 hours. This was a bit ambitious for a few reasons:

1. I finished my first half marathon last month in 2:14.

2. This was incredibly hilly: 1000 feet elevation gain.

3. Also, running at 1000ft higher than the usual 7000ft here in town.

So much gear.

So, around the first mile, I completely ate it. Completely. But I bounced right back up and kept going. Wasn't going to let that mess up the rest of the run.

I didn't actually look at my scratches until halfway in. Couldn't really feel too much..

Until after. So much burning.

Mentally, I really struggled with this race and I think that is due to reason #2 above. If I would have trained on more hills within the past month, I think the sub 2 would have happened. However, I finished in 2:05:04. Really not that bad! Got my first medal!