Resets

So the summer has flown by and the kids have started school again.  I have a ton of things that I've been thinking about, but haven't taken much time to get any of them down in the blog. Why?  who knows. When I left off, I'd just finished my first 10K and it was quite an experience. I'm happy to say that even though I wasn't very consistent with my blogging, I did keep the running up through the Peachtree.

I continued to work hard after that first 10K. I made my longest run of over 7 miles later that month, and on June 2 I ran my second 10K. The weather was perfect, about 55 and sunny at the start and I felt great for the first 5 miles. The last mile was a struggle as it started in a headwind and had a couple of short steep hills, but I powered through and finished in 1:12:49, which cut almost 5 minutes off my previous time. I felt pretty good about that and tried to just maintain my level of fitness for the next month up until the Peachtree.

July 4th came and it was fantastic. I struggled a little bit the week before the race but I did alright. My finish time was 1:17:28, which wasn't great but I felt good. It was definitely a difficult run, with heat and humidity, but the atmosphere was unbelievable. I don't remember a single part of the course that wasn't lined with spectators. There was music on every block, from bands, DJ's and people singing, plenty of cowbells and cheering. I'll try to write a post dedicated to that race, but suffice it to say I was very happy that I did it, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

After the Peachtree came time to decide whether I intended to continue pushing my limits and commit to a half marathon in the fall, or to push that for another year. I quickly realized that I risked burning out if I continued with the constant increase that I'd need to be comfortable to try a half, so I decided that I'd give that a shot next year and try to maintain through the end of this year. Then we had some houseguests for a few weeks in July and without a concrete short term goal, I let my running slip. After the Peachtree through the end of July I only ran two times.

Now its time for a reset. This past Saturday I went out for a light 3 miles, not pushing myself at all and just making sure I was moving. Today I did three more and I'm planning one more three mile workout this week, before we travel for a wedding this weekend. I'm going to target some 5K's for the rest of the year, maybe 2 or 3 and not try to push myself too hard, but maintain consistency. Build a base, as it were. Ideally, I'd like focus on one long distance race in the spring, maybe the Broad Street Run in Philly, and then attempt a half next fall. More importantly, though, I want to develop a consistent habit of fitness.  Continue to work on my diet, focus on doing the right things right each and every day and remain motivated without any particular goal, but with the journey in mind.