I've been training for my second half-marathon, and I've been doing everything I shouldn't be doing.

I've been eating poorly.

I haven't been drinking enough water.

I haven't been getting enough sleep.

And I ran too quickly on one of my 16-kilometre long runs several weeks ago and hurt my hip a little.

After I hurt my hip, I realized that I should really be paying closer to attention to my training if I want to do well in the race.

On the plus side, I decided to go to a physio for the first time ever, and it's amazing what physios can do.

It turns out that I've got a huge difference in muscle strength between my left and my right - and from what I've heard, this is very common and is one of the biggest reasons behind running injuries.

So I've been given strengthening exercises that I need to work on.

I've also gone to my chiropractor a few times, and it's amazing how effective Active Release Therapy is.

Oh yeah - and my race is coming up in a week (eek!!)

My hips and my knees have been doing a lot better since I've been seeing my physio and my chiropractor, but I find that I'm still starting to get a lot of stiffness and pain later in my run. The good news is that even if this holds true next Sunday, I should (hopefully) be able to get to about 15-k or so before I run into problems. And I've given up on my initial time goals. I've been training hard, even if I haven't exactly been training smart, and I want my race experience to be a positive one.

So I'm going to do my stretching and strengthening exercises, I'm going to do my best to eat well, drink enough water and get enough sleep this week. I know I might not be able to finish as quickly as I'd originally wanted, but I plan to soak up the energy of the crowd, and to have a great time.

And I'm already thinking ahead to my next race.

I'm hoping to train properly for the next one, and I plan to set all my goals here publicly.

I figure that if I do that, I'll be more likely to stick with my training goals.

Happy running,

Sarah :)

So I am definitely not doing that longer race I alluded to way back in, what was it - December?

Nope, I am most definitely not doing the Around The Bay 30k.

Maybe next year, who knows. But I took a bit of a break after October's half-marathon, and that two-week break became a few more weeks, and then a few more months.

Before I knew it, almost 5 months had gone by.

I've tried running a few times since the half-marathon, but I've found that my old IT band issues have started bothering me again - usually around the 3-4k point.

So it looks like I'll have to start slow again, with low mileage, and work on lots of strengthening exercises targeting the proper supporting muscles.

I plan on getting back up to those nice long distances - and hopefully even beyond what I've already done, since I want to complete at least one marathon in my lifetime.

So there's my update.

On a related note, the weather is supposed to be amazing today, so I will hopefully get out there for a run today.

Happy running,

Sarah :)