My half marathon in Amsterdam is less than 2 weeks away and, unlike my trepidation before the Chicago run in July, I am feeling very ready for this run.

For this training, I didn’t just focus on building my mileage, I included at least one speed-work workout each week and interspersed 5K races periodically.  The training has worked, my speed has improved,

and in the last few weeks I have set new personal records in the 10K and 5K.  Both of these were set during training runs when I wasn’t even trying to go fast; I was focused on relaxing and the speed just came.

But the big test came with my 18.1 K run (11.25 miles).  In July I bonked during my 11 mile run and walked about 3 miles of it.  I decided to run a slightly longer version of the same route so that I would have to face my demons.  I was hoping for a cool October day, but we are in the middle of a heat spell and it was 68F and humid before the sun came up – Demon #1.  So, I got myself out the door at first light.  My run started off slow; I reminded myself that that was a good thing, so I went with it.   The other demons popped up their heads at each point where I had trouble the last time, I argued them back and kept going. I hit the road that defeated me last time and heard the demons telling me  I would fail.  I told them that I felt strong and added a loop through a neighborhood along the road for good measure – Demon destroyed! I ended up speeding up throughout the run and had my fasted kilometer at 15K.I did it, I did it in 1:52; so I am ready.  Amsterdam, here I come!!!