Happy Thursday! I know I am not alone in saying it feels GREAT outside today. It's been a long, hot summer, but I am more than excited to run in some cooler temperatures.

Training has been going pretty smoothly. I haven't had shin splints come back, thankfully, and no other injuries or problems to note. The runs are getting harder and longer, for sure. There is a part in the Half Marathon Method that says something to the effect of "you may not even think you can finish the training." I know what it means now! With about 5 more weeks to go, I am really just focusing on one day, and one run, at a time.

Something I have been incorporating lately into my runs is trying to mimic the elevation and difficulty that I will see on the actual race route. My question is why did I not think of this before? I feel like I am just now starting to incorporate elevation right when the training is really ramping up. Wouldn't it have been better to incorporate that from the beginning? I hope I am not too late.

The race route will be about 550 feet of elevation. My last long run (also my new distance PR at 12 miles!) was about 450 feet of elevation. It was not super hard, but it was also very slow. The speed and tempo runs are really the testament. I tried doing a tempo run Tuesday on a route that was just 187 feet of elevation, and my average pace for the tempo miles was about 9:25 a mile. Is 9:00 miles too tough of a goal for a route with 550 feet of elevation? I am still asking myself. For now, I will continue with the plan, follow the training and close as I can, and just hope the lower humidity in October and less tired legs on race day will work wonders. One more month until taper week!

In other news, I took an Epsom salt bath the other night, and I highly recommend the pre/post-workout 15-minute soak that has menthol in it. It felt AMAZING on my tired legs.