Better Late Than Never

I am a little embarassed that my last post was from the night before the Portland Marathon Half...almost 8 weeks ago!

So about the race. I didn't have the energy I thought I would, and I overdressed a little, so I decided to focus on my distance goal rather than my time goal. It was one of the toughest mental challenges I have faced as a runner but I was able to run the whole thing without walking! It was a very proud moment :) My time was 12 seconds faster than my fastest time, so I still did get a PR! But I was not running as fast as I could have becase I didn't want to have to stop and walk. So, I think I realized that I can get faster times if I incorporate walk breaks. Good to know for future races. At least I crossed that goal off my list!

The last 2 months have been a blur of work, school, and exercising. Blogging had to take a backseat unfortunately. But now I have a break in school until January, and things at work have slowed down a lot, so I finally have some room to breathe. This weekend I actually had free time, and I didn't know what to do with myself!

I have kind of been in a rut, running-wise. I really peaked before Portland, all my training runs were great, I was hitting my goal paces and distances, and I looked forward to every run. After the race I cut back a lot on running to give my body some rest. I was only running about 3 miles, 2 times a week. We had a wonderful vacation in New Jersey and I had two beautiful longer runs (6-7 miles), but the rest of the time I was not having fun. I was supposed to start marathon training the week of November 13th but my heart just wasn't in it.

I looked around for a fall half-marathon to give me a running pick-me-up but the only one in the area was already sold out. I did find one event the day after Christmas that looks intriguing...its a 6-hour run around a 1-mile loop, and you just run as much or as little as you want. It's pretty cheap ($45), and it raises money for Autism. And it's only about 15 minutes from my house. I am thinking about doing this...I am undecided what my goal will be. Run 13.1 miles? 15? 20? I think I like the freedom this race gives you. You can choose how much to push yourself. And it seems more like an ultra event (the winner from last year did 34 miles) which I am really interested in doing next year. And best of all, I can feel the running bug coming back :)

Anyway that's what's up with me. I am excited to have some time to catch up on blogs! Looks like lots has been going on these past few weeks. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!