Thankful for 2009, hopeful for 2010

I got up this morning and ran the Columbus Turkey Trot 5 Mile race. I had a decent pace of 10'39"/mile and finished in (unofficially) in 53'41". Good times and hey, who doesn't like free pie?

I've got a lot to be thankful for this year. First and foremost, the support that my family gave me during all of my training for the marathon. They made a lot of sacrifices so that I could achieve my goal. I'm also thankful that my health held up this year and that I'm still motivated enough to keep running.

Now that 2009 is winding down, it's time to start looking ahead to 2010. In 2009 I had only one which was to run in and finish the Columbus Marathon. That was pretty lofty for only having been running for nine months at the time. Now that I've achieved that goal, I need to start thinking about what I'd like to accomplish in 2010.

They're smaller goals, but I think I'm going to need even more work to achieve them:

• Finish a 5k in less than 27'30"
• Finish a 10k in less than 60'
• Finish a Half-Marathon in less than 02:15'

And a sneak peek of what I'm thinking I might want to do to celebrate my 40th birthday in 2011

• http://www.marinemarathon.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble

Hot on the heels of running the Buckeye Bash 5k race last Saturday, I have signed up for the Columbus Turkey Trot 5 Mile on Thanksgiving Day. I had a decent pace at the Buckeye Bash (10:05/mi), so I'm hoping that will carry over into Thursday.

I'm trying to get back in the habit of running short distances (around 5k) before I go to work in the morning. It's rough getting up at 5:00am but when I do, I feel like I've already gotten something accomplished for the day no matter what else it brings.

Bring on the stuffing!!

Relax

I'm the type of person who needs to have clearly defined goals to work towards so I can have that feeling of accomplishment when I reach them. That's why marathon training was mentally relatively easy for me to get into. Physically it was really demanding, but having a set schedule helped me to stay focused.

Right after "the big run" I decided that I was going to try to start working on getting faster. I set myself up a six week schedule that would gradually increase my distances from 0 miles on marathon week back up to 30+ miles per week.

Well I decided that I was going to try run all of these as fast as I could in a bid to increase my speed. The resulting runs were indeed faster, but also started to cause me more pain. I was really starting to dread lacing up my shoes everyday and got to a point where it just wasn't fun.

This week I've tried to put the focus back on enjoying the run and not trying to out do myself everytime I step out the door. It's been far more enjoyable.

Side note: Here's a great little article with some hamstring strengthening exercises. I'm going to try to work these into my regiment and see if I can ease some of the difficulties that I have with my right hamstring. http://bit.ly/hamstrings1

Strange Things afoot at the Circle K

Something is really odd. The last couple of times that I've run, I feel like I've never run before. Horrible panting, leg pain, shin splints, side stitches....I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm just having trouble getting back into the swing of things post-marathon. It's very disheartening.

Super fail, excuses, big win

Laela(Angel), Ann(Angel), Sarah(Angel), Christiana(Jaws), and I(db) all went and ran the Dead Celebrity 3 Miler on Halloween. Well going for my PR in the 5k was a super fail. I ended up finishing four minutes slower than last year, but that's okay because I had a fantastic time. Lots of great costumes, pizza, and beer afterwards. We followed up by going to Bob's.

I've got plenty of excuses for my time being slower, but the long and the short of it is that I haven't done any speed training at all in the last six months. Oh well, I'll get it next year.

Now for my big win....as of this evening's run I crossed the 2000 mile threshold since I started running with the Nike+ system. That's a lot of miles in seventeen months.