back in the saddle

Despite not posting to this blog in about 7 or 8 months my running has been pretty consistent.  It is daily a challenge to figure out how to get out the door and take a run though with a 13 month old little girl that needs constant attention.  Thankfully she takes naps.  When she naps, I run. 
Probably the biggest bonus to my running and training for another half marathon in March is that I moved to Solvang in September.  Goodbye 45 mile commute to work and hello 6.2 mile commute to work.  I work with my wife so 2 days a week I run home instead of drive.  It is great to walk in the door at 4:30ish and just finish a run as opposed to walking in the door at that same time but just have sat in the car for the last 50 minutes.
In getting ready for the Modesto half marathon I felt like I needed to try and get an edge.  I am not the fastest, but in training I definitely put in the miles, do speedwork and all that jazz.  I felt like I more or less I have plateaued.  What I haven't ever done much of is cross train.  I can't seem to sit on a bike saddle for any amount of time where my man parts don't start to hurt.  Another cross training that I could do but haven't is swimming.  Of course I know how to swim but I am intimidated to go to the pool with all the real swimmers.  I don't want to be all over the lane looking like I a newbie.  There is a fellow teacher at my school who is also a runner and she has raved about a cross fit class she takes 2 days a week.  I first heard about it when my friend Andy was training for a 50 miler and he said it was indispensable to his regiment.  I decided to give it a try.
Let's just say the first class sucked.  I thought going in, "Hey I am in shape! I should be able to handle this."  I left that class feeling like I could puke.  I have a new respect for all those fatties on the Biggest Loser doing all those crazy exercises you always see them doing.  I am just thankful I don't have some crazy lady like Jillian cussing at me while I am trying to do the same things.  We do tire flips.  We fling big ass ropes all over the place.  We do lunges and ab exercises like nobody's business.  It's only been a month of that but I do feel stronger.
Back to my running.  I run 4x a week and do that class 2x a week.  I feel like I am getting faster.  Even before I started that class on one of my runs home from work I wanted to go at a pretty fast pace to see where my fitness was at.  I ended up running my first 2 miles at 7:30/mile pace and then the last 4.2 around 6:55/mile pace.  I was happy to see that I was around 44 minutes for a 10k.
My PR last April was a 1:39:42 which equates to a 7:35/mile.  My hope is to run at a 7:30/mile pace this March.  A big part of that is running a smart race and not going out too fast.  As for now, I am just continuing to do the things that I hope will get me there in 6 weeks.