Still alive, still running

What a horrible, sad, lonely little blog this has become. I DID finish that half marathon. It was slow, horrid and discouraging. It took me awhile to recover mentally from it. I ran a 2:42:55 which was 20-30 minutes slower than I was expecting. Since then a ran a 10K and got a new PR of 1:02:50, and 2nd place in my age group (it was a group of 4). I ran a miserable, hot, hilly 5K on the 4th of July for a time of 31:16. My running coach (did I mention I got one of those?) encouraged me to run a redemption 5K which I did last weekend and finished it in 28:22 which is a HUGE PR for me, and the first time I broke 30:00 in a 5K. Next up is the Patrick Henry Half Marathon. I'm treating it as a long run that happens to me timed. It's really just a tune-up run. But, it's also an August run on a hilly course, so it'll be tough. And of course, looming over everything is that marathon. Gulp.