Tired and Energized...

That's how I felt on Monday night after spending over two hours on a treadmill. I successfully completed a half marathon! I ran about 12 miles at a pace of 9:22/mile. After that, I slowed down the treadmill to a steady walk for a couple of minutes to regain enough strength to complete the rest of the distance (13.1 miles total). I haven't run since then, but I'll probably do a few miles sometime tomorrow.

Things are looking good for me to continue training and run a marathon sometime in October. The Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon is on Sunday, October 2, and the Chicago Marathon is on Sunday, October 9. There's also one in Portland around the same time.

MILWAUKEE
Pro: Not too many people.
Con: Not super-exciting.

CHICAGO
Pro: Lots of excitement and tons of people cheering you on.
Con: Tons of people running alongside you.

PORTLAND
Pro: Amazing scenery.
Con: Lots of hills.

Right now, I'm leaning towards the Milwaukee Marathon because it's the closest. We'll see if my opinion changes in the next few weeks.

Running on Full

It has been about eleven months since I began regularly hopping on a treadmill a few times a week. My goal back then was to lose a little weight. My goal on Sunday was to run farther than I ever had before -- specifically, 15 kilometers (about 9.3 miles). I originally wanted to complete this task on the streets near my place of residence, but anyone who took a step outside would understand my decsion to do it on the treadmill instead. I clocked in at 1:22:58, which is a pace of 8:54 / mile. This is about the pace at which I ran the Roma 5K back in July. Granted, running on a treadmill is easier than running outside, even when the weather is perfect. On a treadmill, the impact on your knees is smaller, and you can hold on to the side rails to catch your breath if you're getting tired (I did that several times during the last mile or two). In any case, I'm excited that I was able to complete a 15K, and I'm still determining what challenge I'll take on next.