Half Marathon Playlist

I woke up this morning in the mood to run. Luckily Sadie is always in the mood to run, so I had an enthusiastic running buddy just waiting for me to lace up my shoes and hit the pavement.

While changing into my running clothes, I made a special selection when it came to my sports bra!

My Bride to Be sports bra! Perfect for the morning of my bridal shower, no?

I love this sports bra because it takes me back to running the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon at the tail end of my first bachelorette party. My girlfriends made it for me to wear during the race and it makes me smile just looking at it!

Since I was wearing my special half marathon sports bra, I decided to rock out to the playlist I created on my iPod for the big race during our morning run.

I know I am always on the lookout for quality music to run or workout to, so I figured some of you guys might be interested in checkin’ out the songs I selected for the big race last August.

Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Playlist

• La Bouche – Where Do You Go
• La Roux – Bulletproof
• TLC – Waterfalls
• Carrie Underwood – Undo It
• Starship – Wild Again
• Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
• Shania Twain – Honey, I’m Home
• Hairspray – You Can’t Stop the Beat
• Sugarland – It Happens
• No Doubt – Spiderwebs
• The Chordials (Cornell University) – Use Somebody
• Amanda Marshall – Ride
• TuPac – Keep Ya Head Up
• Straight No Chaser – Fix You
• Basshunter – Now You’re Gone
• Zac Brown Band – Whatever It Is
• Jimmy Buffett – He Went to Paris
• Oceania – Kotahitanga
• Carrie Underwood – The More Boys I Meet

As you can see my music tastes are all of the board. This list includes hip hop, country and a cappella music and even songs from Disney movies and musicals. I love it all! 😀

My run with Sadie absolutely flew by this morning.

I had a lot on my mind and when the song “Fix You” by Straight No Chaser (originally by Coldplay) came on, I felt really emotional. I think it could actually be a great father/daughter dance song for our wedding because of these lyrics:

When you try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

The part about lights guiding you home is 100 percent how I feel about my dad and our home. I feel that no matter how bad things get, I can always go home and feel the love of my family. He’ll always try to “fix” things and make everything better.

I was nearly in tears as this song was blasting on my iPod, but I think it actually made me run faster.

The burning feeling in my stomach had me bust out an 8 minute mile in the middle of my run! 🙂

 

My Garmin was being funky today though and the satellite didn’t start working until I was a good .6 miles into my run.  The above stats are not 100 percent accurate as I ended up covering closer to five miles since I did my usual 5-mile loop.

And now I am a sweaty beast and must hop in the showaaaa!

I gotta get pretty for my bridal shower! 😀

Half Marathon, Here I Come

Guess what I did today?

I signed up for the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon!

Run Baby, Run!

The race isn’t until August 1, so I have plenty of time to not train before race day.

I’ve only run one other half marathon, which I completed with Ryan in December 2007. Our official time was 2:14.

OUC Half Marathon, Dec. 2007

I was not running for time (I never do). My goal was to run the whole thing, and that’s exactly what I did. No walk breaks!

I basically followed Hal Higdon’s novice half marathon training plan, and made sure to stick to the long run distances. Unfortunately I got sick two weeks before the race, so my longest run was 9 miles before the big 13.1 mile race.

It was definitely challenging, but I really enjoyed the experience. Ryan’s support was so amazing and I really appreciated having a running buddy with me. He didn’t train at all and stayed with me the entire time. While I was totally fine the next day, poor Ryan was sore for about a week! I guess that’s one of the benefits of training…

For the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon on August 1, I will have several running buddies! Five of my girlfriends from college will also be running.

If you’re a runner, do you run for time? What’s the longest race you’ve run?

My goal for this race is simple: to have fun! I never get bent out of shape about my race times anyway and am one of the least competitive people in the world. I will not be focusing on a time and I plan on taking it nice and slow and enjoying the sights of the city. I’m so excited!

Lunch

Though my lunch was not quite as exciting as my half marathon news, it was still quite delish!

I enjoyed a Swiss cheese and artichoke sandwich on a whole wheat sandwich thin.

Swiss Cheese + Artichoke

I also munched on carrot sticks and enjoyed a sugar-free orange jello on the side.

Tuesday's Lunch

Also, for your viewing pleasure, please enjoy the lil’ pic of my mid-morning snack!

Gingersnap Yogurt

Around 11 a.m. I dug into Greek yogurt topped with two small Gingersnap cookies and chopped pecans.

Yummmmmmy!