My spring cleaning has benefited from the long, cold winter. My spring training has NOT.
I got sick. I got out of the habit. I told myself running should be FUN and there’s nothing fun about running in 11 degree weather with 16 mile an hour winds. I ran a little on the treadmill. I waited for spring.
I woke up to snow on the ground this morning – April 16th, and realized that I’d better start running like it’s September or I’m not going to FINISH the half marathon I’m signed up for in June.
It’s 7 weeks away, and I haven’t run longer than 5 miles since NOVEMBER. Actually that’s not true, I ran 7 miles in February… with a 45 minute break at a tourist destination while on vacation. Ooooh. So prepared.
Can I really get from 5 mile long runs to 13.1 between now and June 8th?
I had secret time goals for that half marathon back when I first signed up for it… secret time goals that anticipated me only moving forward with my running, not stagnating after my second half marathon in November, and then going into hibernation (i.e., slipping way backwards) for December, January, February, March and half of April.
I could be really upset with myself. But I enjoyed being warm and cozy indoors when I “should” have been running. I could drop out… but here’s the thing, I really WANT to be in good enough condition to be able to run 13.1 miles. So I’m not dropping out just because this could be my slowest half marathon ever… I’m going to ramp up the best I can in the time I have, and darn it, I’m going to finish that thing, hang my medal on the wall (lesson learned) and have a kicking half marathon come November because I’ll be in good running shape all summer long.
still running this… let’s go.