A new race to train for

After taking several months to heal my leg injury and to not worry about training for any running event, I am now "in training" for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon.  It came about rather strangely and I have to give my friend Rachel all the credit.  She has been running this spring and summer and entered her first race in early August.  I went to run the race so she had someone to be there in the beginning since she hadn't done it before.  Although I've run in dozens of races, it can be nerveracking for me, so I totally understood why she wanted someone there. 
Honestly, I dreaded going to that race.  I didn't want to get up early, I didn't want to be tired, I didn't want to compete and see all these other really fast runners in great shape, I didn't want to at all.....until I got there.  My competitiveness returned from vacation that I never realized it took.  When I got home, I was all energized about racing again, which is the last thing I expected myself to feel like! It didn't hurt that I got first in my age group and 8th overall (ok there were only 50 runners!!).  I decided (with Andy's help of course) to train for and run the race in Des Moines.  Talk about a change of attitude.  The 5k I ran with Rachel went well and I felt good about it.  It's a pretty boring course, but it's flat and there's not very many competitors.  If you want to feel good about your times, I always suggest running in the Pioneer Days 5k!  And speaking of running well, I have to give kudos to Rachel for beating her time goal by 3 minutes!  She rocked it!
I'm still in good shape from torturing myself with the marathon at the end of May, so I picked up the training pretty easily.  I've already had two 90 minute runs and have impressed myself with the speedwork.  I ran hills last week (if anyone here in town is familiar with 33rd St, that's my hill) and before that, I went to the track to run 400's.  I did 8 of them that morning and averaged 1.5 minutes per lap.  Not too shabby.  The goal of this 1/2 marathon is to prove to myself that I can run it in the time I would need to qualify for the Boston full marathon which is 1 hr 52 minutes.  Considering the bad races I've had this year, I certainly expect this to be a challenge, but I'm up for it.  I realized that I have to push myself past the uncomfortable zone and get over the discomfort.  Quit being a pansy and just DO IT!  As usual, we shall see!  And I don't know why I have to have a goal for this.  Why can't I just go out and run and have fun like I used to do? 
As for any other news, I believe Paw Prints is still going to close.  It's really hard to see it happen, but I honestly don't know how we can continue....it's heartbreaking really.
My foster cat, Daytona, is such a sweetheart and I would LOVE to keep him.  It can't happen but I guess I'll just have to keep him until we find the perfect new owner for him!
Well, I'm sure it won't be weeks upon weeks before I write again.  I hope not anyway. Enjoy the 700 mph wind and heat today!

Daytona thinking about his life...