pushing new limits

I ran nine miles Saturday. When I trained for my first half two years ago, I was talking about stomach cramps, calf pain and adding more long runs to my training so I wouldn't lose confidence.

This time around, I ran nine miles, had breakfast with friends and took care of a hyper toddler for seven hours by myself. No stomach cramps, but some pretty annoying hip pain and sore feet.

This time, I am following the Higdon Novice 2 program. For a full marathon, which we aren't talking about yet. So by the time I run the half marathon, I will have already run 14 miles, and the half marathon will actually be a step down week where I am letting my body recover a bit.

The theme of the North Face Endurance Challenge is just to challenge yourself. Probably meant for the 50K folks who really push themselves to the limit, physically.

For me, the challenge is finding energy and time to run with our crazy life. So far it's working on weekends, not as well during the week. Yet I feel stronger and more confident than I did last time around.

The race has anything from a 5k to 50k. Ready to challenge yourself?