Thank Goodness for Small Favors

Tonight, as I type, I am in San Diego, CA, comfortably lying on a king-sized bed in my hotel suite watching Robot Chicken. The promise of a comfortable nights' sleep made me look forward to the end of this day. I'm also looking forward to my run tomorrow.

New city, new route. 

I was thinking about it today and realized that since I've started this half-marathon training program 6 weeks ago, I've run in four different states and five different cities and towns: my town, Orlando, Madison, Anaheim, and now San Diego. I've run in the Mid-Atlantic, the Deep South, the Upper Midwest, and Southern California. I even ran my longest run (the 10 miles I keep bragging about! sorry I can't help it!) while away.

I'm, for the most part, on track with my training and am up to week 5 or 6 at this point. I know that I'm scheduled for two 4-mile runs and a 5K race this week. I ran one 4-miler on Monday and plan on another one tomorrow morning. As for the 5K, I'm not signed up for any races obviously, so I'll just try and go for a 5-miler over the weekend. Unlike in Anaheim, this part of San Diego doesn't seem to have continuous sidewalks, and I don't have any particular destination to aim for, so tomorrow's run should be interesting. And the hills look killer!

The most important thing I've learned through this training, though, is that I CAN MAKE IT WORK no matter where I am. I'm a traveler. I have no choice in the matter. Until the race, I still have to run in Wisconsin again, Denver, Boston, San Diego again, and Boca Raton. That's not counting if I should hop down to Orlando for a little R&R in the midst of my travel-heavy fall season. But I haven't flaked out on my program yet and don't plan to.

That's the great thing about running. You only need your legs. You don't need a hotel fitness center or any equipment. You just need running shoes, the road, and the willingness to explore (safely of course)---oh and workout clothes/sweats! That's definitly a must!

Tomorrow I'm running early, grabbing some continental breakfast, heading downtown on the trolley to work, and then hopefully ending the day with an awesome fish sandwich from The Tin Fish across from the convention center and right in the shadow of Petco Field.

Well, I'm off to sleep on this glorious bed with my four down pillows and nice clean sheets (for a hotel anyway)! Seven more days and I can go home to my own bed! I can't wait!

Deedah