Okay, okay, I’ve been a terrible blogger. But now that I’m actually kind of half marathon training again, I’d like to keep up with how my runs are going, which means I need to make blogging a priority again. So here’s a quick recap on the past couple months: running has sucked.

Jonathan and I went to Europe (the Netherlands and Germany) for a couple weeks in September. Things started off well. My first run overseas was in Vodelpark in Amsterdam and Jonathan ran with me. It was speedy, it was fun. I ran 9 minute miles. All was good.

My next run was a 7 miler, in prep for what I hoped to be an October half marathon (I was thinking maybe the Go Commando half since I’ve enjoyed the 5k). I did that in Cologne and it went very well, below an 11 min/mi average.

I did one more run that first week, a little two miler, but fatigue from all the walking was starting to catch up and it was a little harder, although my pace was still good.

And then I didn’t run again for a week.

A lot of that was because we had no time. We had trains to catch and sightseeing to do and nude spas to experience (just ask me about that). So when I was finally able to put in a 5k run around the English Garden in Munich, I was beat. It was hard.

After returning to the US, I had several rough runs. I was only doing 1-2 runs a week, which didn’t help, but most of my notes on these runs say stuff like, “Why is running so hard all of a sudden??” I knew an October half was probably not in the cards, so at the beginning of October I just started training for the half I was signed up for in December.

My legs, for the most part, felt fine; it was my breathing that was causing me issues. I decided that I would run all my long runs for this half with intervals, just to make sure that I would be able to manage the distance. After the half is over, I can start focusing back on speed.

So I ran my first three long runs — 6, 7.5, and 8.5 milers — with 2:1 intervals. They went okay. I was trying to do three shorter runs during the week, but usually just got in one or two. On my last long run, a 10 miler, I switched the intervals to 3:1.5, but this run was much harder on me, so I might go back to the 2:1.

My worst run, however, was one Wednesday when I joined up with the East Nasty group for their weekly run. I started okay. Ran steady for the first mile or so. And then around the 3 mile mark, I started getting chest pain. It felt like my heart was beating erratically, so I slowed to a walk. I didn’t say anything to the girls I was running with as they had already moved on ahead of me, so I just took my time, trying to run when I could, but mostly walking to the end of that torturous four miles. It hasn’t happened again, thankfully. I’ve been trying to take it slow ever since.

Here’s to hoping I can eventually get back to where I was! Jonathan and I are going to start up another round of 21 Day Fix this month, so we’ll see if that helps at all.