Week leading up to the Half

I mentioned that I got in my last long run - 8 miles - on Monday.

Unfortunately from about Tuesday on, I've been congested.  Probably due to breathing dry, shared, airplane air.  Or maybe it's due to the little germ balls I work with.  Regardless, this whole week I've tried to drink extra water, have more OJ, eat extra fruits and veggies, sleep a little more, and I've even thrown in a nap or two.

I woke up early enough to do a quick pace run Thursday morning.  It was humid/foggy.

The run was ok, it was supposed to be 2 pace miles sandwiched between a warm up and cool down.  I got in a 9:48 and a 9:44 (goal was 9:55).  The pace fluctuated quite a bit though over the course of each mile and the pace wasn't as easy-feeling as I hoped, especially when I could only breathe through one nostril or only my mouth at any given time.

I had hoped to get my last other run in before my half marathon Friday morning, but I chose an extra hour and 15 minutes of sleep instead, which I think/hope was the right choice.

My only other physical activity this week was just walking around at work (a fair amount!), dog walking, grocery shopping, cleaning.  Not so impressive.  We'll just say it was an extreme taper.

Luckily as I write this Saturday night, I can breathe again! With very minimal stuffiness.

Today was the expo!

Sorry to say this, but it was a little disappointing compared to last year's.  I'm making this statement solely on the amount of samples and freebies given out.

Here's what I got this year:

• Cherry Lime Roctane gu and Perform pain relieving gel were in my "swag bag"along with a handful of cards for other races.

 From walking around to the different tables I got:

• 2 mini Lara bar samples: coconut cream pie and PBJ.
• Brooks gave out the hat.  They scanned a "ticket" you filled out; some of the possible prizes included a bandana, hat, or t-shirt.
• Hand sanitizer from Team in Training
• Nutrilite Endurance cubes (like gu chomps, clif shot bloks)
• Cascadian Farm mini granola bar
• 2 mini packs of Sports Beans
• A bunch of coupons: Snickers Marathon bar, Cytomax, PF changs, Larabar, Cascadian Farm

I did try the watermelon and peach tea gu chomps, and really liked the peach tea flavor so I bought 2 packs.  I also got this Philadelphia shirt from Brooks (this one fits, unlike the dark blue shirt they give to all race participants that only comes in unisex sizes and is still kinda loose...big pet peeve of mine!  There are many thousand runners and they can't get women's sizes??)

Here's the race shirt and swag bag plus a headband (free with my friend's purchase):

Here's what I got at last year's expo.

What kind of take-home goodies were missing this year?
Oikos Greek yogurt, Salonpas patches, Dole fruit chunks, Gu chomps, Clif bar, Sport wash, Cytomax. I can't complain about the ING stress ball...ING is no longer a sponsor of the event.

Anyway, tomorrow's weather is looking fantastic for a half marathon.

2:10 would be fabulous. 
I'd be happy with anything under 2:15 though, which would mean I've made progress since May despite doing all my running outside in the heat of summer. 

Wish me luck! And good luck to anyone else racing this weekend!