For the 1 maybe 2 people that actually read this or care, I'm sorry that I've slacked off from writing yet again. I go through so many phases and then I have life and work getting in the way. When oh when is there time!?! Okay, fine, there was time pretty much from September to December when we're super slow at work and I could have logged on for 5 minutes to sit and write a few lines about what was going on, but that just didn't happen. "So what IS happening", that one person way back in the corner may be asking. I'll tell you- not a lot in general life stuff, but running stuff has been quite a bit different.
At last I posted, I had run the Brindley Beach 5K in the Outer Banks and I set my PR of 9:19/mile. A few weeks later, I ran the 2nd Annual Fairfax 5K with proceeds benefitting one of Penn State's charities and I met the Nittany Lion and all and it was super exciting. I didn't quite achieve my then-goal of setting another PR, but I only missed tying my PR by 2 seconds overall. The competitive part of me knows that I could have pushed just a little harder at a few different points and it would have made a difference.
I had 3 more events to round out the year. There was The Glo Run, a Turkey Trot sponsored by Potomac River Running and the Frosty 5K also by Potomac River Running. As always, they put on very well-done events and my wife and I plan on continuing participating in PR's events. I didn't do very well with the Glo Run although it was pretty fun (I was coming back off of a minor injury) and the Frosty 5K was fun but cold. The Turkey Trot was different, however. I set my new PR of 9:00/mile!!
As a note- I do want to say that I am totally proud of my wife, she did both the Glo Run and Turkey Trot. She has goals that she is still pushing for, but I'm proud of her no matter what.
In the middle of all of this, I've been working, here and there, on training for the half marathon. Training has gone pretty well. Granted I've been doing it on my own, not following a real training plan, trying to listen to my body and all like that. The couple of problems that I've encountered in my training has been, not that I've struggled- I just don't do cold weather. Fortunately we've had a pretty mild winter and I've been able to get out and get some runs in. Problem 2 has been that I haven't dieted the way I should have or need to or want to or anything like that. Now with about a week and a half to go, it's kind of too late for that. They always say at this point, don't change things up. My longest training run has been 11 1/2 miles. I'm feeling excited and pretty ready. Which leads me to one of the things I wanted to actually write about- The Let Down.
Anyone who knows me knows I am a competitive person. I mean, really, that's not a secret at all. I am glad my wife challenged me to do the half marathon. I love challenges and having that end goal in mind. I really do. The problem is, and I've fortunately done some reading that doesn't make me sound totally crazy, is that at the end of an event like this, a lot of times people feel a sense of let-down because of all of the work they've put in and now it's not the same and things are different because it's over and all of that stuff. "That's bullshit!" I think I just heard someone cry out. No it's not bs and I've experienced it before. In fact, I experienced a bit of it after my first 5K....why do you think I keep signing up for events? I need my sights set on something else. With the articles I've read, they've all pretty much said the same thing- "sign up for another race" and "let your body recover" and "feeling like this is natural". Here's where my problems are coming in, which I know are all in my head anyway. I'm starting to feel that "let down" NOW. I mean the race is a week and a half away still and I'm very excited and I'm feeling absolutely ready to go get it done and complete it and feel that sense of accomplishment for myself, BUT I already know in my head that I'm like "but now what". I've not been able to find anything online that talks about feeling that feeling this soon. I know I can't be the only one, can I? I already have 3 more races lined up- Shamrock 5K (the day AFTER the half marathon), the Cherry Blossom 5K and the GW Parkway 5K. Believe me, it's not that I'm not focused or looking forward to those races and maybe I will be after this one, but for me this one is BIG and it's like "but then what...for real...no challenges no nothing...nothing to look THAT forward to". I don't quite know why I feel like this, but I do. I haven't even experienced the full distance or the half marathon race experience or anything and yes I've hated training and get bored going that far, but there has to be SOMETHING right? Wife told me to wait until after this and see how I feel and how I like it before considering another one. It's extremely sound advice and she always has those very clear and sound thoughts and she makes perfect sense. Somehow my brain isn't wired like that. Knowing I'm doing 2 races in the same weekend soon, I've actually started looking at dual race challenges for 2018. Yes a whole year away.
Yeah I know...I'm crazy.
And by the way, when is that "runner's high" supposed to happen? I've never really "enjoyed" any of my runs.
