Running over 2013

I had two pretty killer runs this weekend.

The first one was Friday after work, and my 8 miler was today. I'm particularly proud of mile 8 when I decided to kick it up and see what I had left in the tank.

8 miles is big progress for me; if you've been reading at all the past couple months you know this. So while I was chugging along this beautiful afternoon, I quickly got lost in deep thought as to what I want to accomplish this year as far as running goes.

this picture is in no way related to what i just said, i just like it.

This spring I won't be doing anything crazy; I made a vow to myself not to sign up for any races longer than 10 miles until I can comfortably run 10-12 miles again. My plan is to stick to the 5/10/15k's until the end of the spring... with a possible half marathon in late spring or early summer.

I will also look to try a (sprint) tri(athlon) at the beginning of the summer... and if I like it maybe I'll do another Olympic-distance one. Who knows.

I better get some better biking gear before then, huh?

Those aren't my main concerns though. Because I realized that I have some personal issues with 26.2 that I need to address.

A couple people have asked me if I'll do a spring marathon, and as badly as I want to... no. I'm sticking to my word of the year - Proactive - and focusing hard on staying healthy this year. That's why this spring will be about regaining my mileage base, and getting strong. Really strong.

And then getting fast.

Because it's awesome to be able to hold paces like my two shorter runs this weekend.. but it now definitely isn't as easy as it was for me pre-IT band crap. I will be extremely surprised if I am able to run 13.1 miles in 89 minutes again by the end of the spring. Regardless, a half marathon PR is not my concern.

Philly Half

My concern is the fall. And this burning desire to beat the sh*t out of a marathon.

What's with the rage Kait? Let's call it passion, shall we? I've run two marathons. Colorado I was a basically a clueless ditz; I downloaded a training program off the internet and crossed my fingers. I flew down the Rocky Mountains and surprised myself with a BQ. Awesome race, my first taste of 26.2

Boston then robbed any chance of a PR that I had when a caribbean heat wave rolled through in mid-April. That's ok.

This fall New York never happened. Let's leave it at that.

So here we are. January 2013. With over 9 months to train, assuming I stay healthy, my #1 running focus this year will be to PR that fall marathon.

Very specifically, a 3:1x PR.

 It's doable. From where I stand at my computer this very second, it is going to be a long road to get back into that kind of shape.

Good thing I love nothing more than a good hard challenge.

Cheers to running over 2013!!