My last few months...

It's been a while since I found myself moved to post anything on here. It's not that wonderful things haven't happened to me - the opposite in fact! I think I've been so wrapped up in moving from one thing to another and focusing on what's next rather than sitting down to appreciate and be grateful for all the amazing things that make up my life! So that is what I'm doing now. It's so easy to be swept along and always planning for the next thing - which isn't always a bad thing, don't get me wrong - but it's so important to realise that enjoying the moment is just as special.

So firstly, and most excitingly, Patrick and I got engaged!! It was such an amazing evening together followed by the very special moment in a place with a lot of meaning for us when he asked me to be his wife. As you can imagine I was over the moon, and of course said YES! I then had another surprise and found that all our friends had gathered together to celebrate the night away with us too which was just fantastic! The bubbles flowed ever so freely and I think it was my pure joy that saved me from the headaches that hit our fellow revellers the next morning!! 

I also ran my third and final half marathon of 2015 in Philadelphia with my dear friend Haya. It was a pretty chilly November morning but was my most relaxed and comfortable race yet! We ran together the whole way, keeping each other buoyed and motivated and we hit consistent time splits the entire way with even a sprint to finish. After our training and hard work it was an amazing morning and I was so proud of both of us and our 2:10 finish time!

Shortly afterwards I had my first thanksgiving, left New Haven to return to England for Christmas, had an excellent time celebrating the holiday season and my engagement all over again with everyone back home, met gorgeous puppies, started following Adriene's January Yoga Camp (a post coming about that soon!) and started planning the wedding! It's been extremely busy but hugely exciting and successful. Wedding planning has gone so well so far and I'm enjoying it immensely but more on that in another post too I'm sure! We've applied for our fiancé visa so just waiting for new on that and right now we are preparing to go to Norway for three months on Monday! The start of our next adventure and I'm so excited to see Patrick again after nearly two months apart - six more sleeps to go...!

Gulf Beach Half Marathon

So after a week and a half or so of settling into life in New Haven (more on that soon!) I ran my first half marathon on this side of the ocean! I'd looked for one in the local area to give me motivation to keep training after the Reading half earlier in the year and found the Gulf Beach half marathon in Milford which is just down the road. It was described as the flattest half marathon in Connecticut and the course runs along the boardwalk next to the beach - I thought it sounded perfect and it didn't disappoint!

While my intention had been to keep training after my previous race that didn't quite happen... And I had to start from scratch building up my distance. I worked out a plan to increase my long runs steadily until the race and because I have another race in two months time, the goal I set for this race was to finish, enjoy it and not injure myself! Come race day I was pretty nervous - as I always am! - but Patrick helped keep me calm and once I got running the nerves started to fade and the 'I can do this!' mentality took over. 

Patrick had told me to look out for him around the three mile mark and sure enough there he was, with a big sign cheering me on, putting a massive smile on my face! The course was an out and back route so it was amazing to know I would see him again around the 10mile mark. Little did I know that the two lovely ladies above were also turning up to surprise me on the way back through! Having people along the route to cheer you on and support you gives you such a boost and the three of them then drove back to the finish to be there to watch me cross the line which was fantastic!

The course itself was lovely and definitely one I wouldn't mind running again. The sea views were gorgeous although there was occasionally a very strong fish smell that wasn't the best when you're breathing deep! The route was lovely and flat, although it was a pretty hot day by the time we were finishing. The last 0.1 miles is run on sand and at a slant which was way more difficult than you would think it would be! Usually I would be sprinting for the line but it was enough just to keep my balance and keep moving. My final time was 2:12:05 which I was so pleased with and had zero ache or pain after. Going to try and mix in some speed training to improve for my next race - Philly here I come!

Reading Half Marathon & a new PR!

I am absolutely buzzing right now!! As the title of this post suggests I ran Reading half marathon today. It's only the second time I've run a half and the first time I've done Reading. The first one I did was in Cardiff and while I started off training really well, I went on holiday for three weeks about four weeks before the race and well, I didn't quite manage to keep up with my training! This time I've been training really hard and it totally paid off because I knocked 18minutes off my time for a new PR of 2hours 4minutes and 3seconds!!! So proud!!

It was a gorgeous day, in fact almost too hot at points - the last 1.5 miles on a long straight road with the sun beating down were tough to say the least! The course was flat for the most part, two hideous hills but the crowds were amazing and finishing in the stadium was an atmosphere I will never forget. Even gave me enough of a boost to sprint the last 100m! 

Massive thanks have to go out to my wonderful boyfriend Patrick for his constant support through my months of training and waking up super early this morning to wish me luck! He's always encouraging and motivating even when I'm having the worst days and I really couldn't have done this without him! Also a huge thanks to my parents for ferrying me around today and bringing my post run fuel - my mum even made me some delicious granola bars! And finally, but by no means least, I want to thank Jaki my running training buddy and Alecia for starting me off on a brilliant pace to lead me through to my fab time!

Would definitely recommend this race to anyone thinking of running a half marathon. It's a brilliant atmosphere, incredible crowds and a great course! Not to mention a stadium finish that gives you such a high!!