Goals

As my training has begun to get more serious for the St. Jude half, I've been thinking that maybe I should actually create a goal for myself for this race. In the past, I've just signed up for races without a whole lot of contemplation about a goal time other than a random guess the morning of the actual race. So... for the St. Jude, I knew I wanted to try to run my fastest! I looked back at my times from previous races to get an idea of a realistic PR for myself. Here's a recap of what I've done in the past...
- Nittany Valley Half Marathon (12/6/09) = 2:01:06; 9:15 Pace
- Cooks Forest Half Marathon (3/27/10) = 1:59:45; 9:05 Pace
- Cleveland Half Marathon (5/16/10) = 2:02:41; 9:21 Pace
- Lactic Acid 5K (8/4/10) = 26:46; 8:37 Pace
- Applefest 5K (10/2/10) = 24:34; 7:54 Pace
- Forrest Spence 5K (8/27/11) = 28:47; 9:16 Pace (Fail. Haha.)
- Cooper Young 4 Miler = 34:03; 8:31 Pace
After looking at that, I know I want to try again for another sub-2 hour half. If I aim for a 1:58 finish time, I'll definitely have to be pushing myself harder than I have at any other races, but I really want to get better. Plus, I need some kind of goals in my life! Also, if I broadcast that goal on the internet, maybe I'll be more inclined to work for it. (Haha!) Hopefully, it will be achievable since this time I will have been coached through it all. For my long run tomorrow (7 miles!) she is encouraging us to consider fueling during the run. I've never really felt the need to go all out on sports drinks, gels, goos, chewies, etc. so this should be a fun adventure/addition to my training!
Speaking of fueling. One thing I like to have around are muffins. They're such a perfect snack! :-) I finally found some pumpkin at the store today (yippee!), so I used it to make these.

Vegan (Fail) Pumpkin Muffins
(Adapted from this recipe from Joy the Baker!)
Ingredients:
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-3/4 cup whole wheat flour
-1 cup packed brown sugar
-1/8 cup granulated sugar
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-2 tablespoons ground flax seed
-1/2 15-once can pumpkin puree
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-1/8 cup honey (I thought I'd be cool and finally make a vegan dish. Joy called for maple syrup and all I had was honey - not vegan. Vegan-fail.Haha. Oh well. Next time!)
-1/4 cup raisins
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin.
2. Combine all of the dry ingredients (flour through flax seed) in a mixing bowl. Combine all of the liquid ingredients (pumpkin through honey) in a second bowl. Pour liquids into the dry ingredients and combine. Fold in raisins.
3. Fill muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean. Makes ~14 tasty, moist muffins. :-)