2012 new challenge? fastest pace on this route this year!

I've known for months, if not longer, that I need a new challenge for 2012.. An ultra? a triathlon? an adventure race? On Friday I received an email about the Beach to Battleship triathlon. It will be on my mom's birthday in October 2012; if she were still alive it would be her 70th. I've spent a lot of time in Wilmington and know the area well; I consider it my home-away-from-home. So my mind starts churning.. Now the bigger question is whether to attempt the full Ironman distance or the half? I put the question out on Daily Mile and received support as well as input that training for a 70.3 is a little more challenging than for a marathon, but training for the Ironman is a huge time and energy commitment. I looked at registration fees and time results from last years race at this same location. The half is much more affordable $185 vs $390, and based on finish times, it looks like the half would take me longer to finish than a marathon, and it would be a first, which both equal a new challenge.. so I'm leaning towards that.

I mentioned it to the guy that I'm dating and he's so excited about it! He's a cyclist and wants to help me train for the cycling portion, which is my weakest link. Friday night we talked about going to Stone Mountain this morning and me running 5 miles while he cycles and then me hopping on a bike and riding with him as far as I feel like. But that didn't work out.. We talked early this morning and he said he was going elsewhere to ride with his friend that he hasn't ridden with in a long time. My main focus now is training for my March marathon, so it didn't bother me too much because I felt the need to run ~10 miles today. I have plenty of time to kill before seriously starting to train for an October 2012 triathlon.

I had planned to run an easy 10 miles this morning. But as I was getting ready to leave to go to Stone Mountain to run, I received a text from a friend inviting us to go see a movie at 2 p.m. Which meant I must run harder than "easy" in order to do both. Since I was such a running slacker this week, and felt great this morning, I started a little harder than easy and then began to push the pace on the second 5-mile loop. I ran the entire way, with the exception of stopping to talk with Ron (aka @losttrailrunner) and his daughter, Laura. He asked about my shoes, saying they looked like the kind that triathlete's wear and that further put the bug in my brain to try a tri next year. For probably the first time ever, I passed a male runner! Of course several males passed me, but I was thrilled to pass at least one! I was shocked at my overall pace (10:58 min/mi for 9.75 miles) which is much faster than I've run on this route all year! And it was an even bigger shock because I honestly didn't feel like I was pushing extremely hard. Loving the progress!

I've met some of my goals for 2011 already.. achieved a marathon PR; lost weight; run more miles than last year.. but still have 88.64 miles more to go to achieve my big goal of 1,000 miles. I know it's achievable, barring major injury or illness, since I ran more than that many miles for 4 of the past 11 months. But it also means no slacking.. maybe this big goal will keep the mojo flowing :)