Welcome! Running Recap & Plans:)

Hi there, and welcome to my blog! I am so excited that you are joining me on this journey. It feels slightly awkward writing all of my thoughts and feelings on the internet, but at the same time I feel like I have so much to say and can’t wait to share it with you. I’m sure you’re all thrilled 😉

I think I will catch you up on where I am in life and with my running right now. It has been a year since I’ve run my last marathon, and I have every intention of running another one in the next 6 or so months. I took some time off from long distance this year due to moving, starting a new job and some incredibly random/weird injuries. I planned on running a marathon this fall, got halfway through the training, and then decided that I would not be able to continue it due to injuries. This was the first time I had ever signed up for a race and not run it, so it was a little defeating at first, but I think that it was the right thing to do and decided to fill the void by focusing on the future and getting to the next starting line as healthy as possible.

Last month I ran in the Runner’s World Festival of Races, which was an absolutely incredible experience! I ran the Hat Trick – the 5k, 10k, and half marathon. I ran the half marathon with my mom and the other two by myself. My mom and I run many races together – we have run 2 full marathons together and 5 half marathons. We run about the same pace and it’s always so nice to have company at these races! The Festival was held in Bethlehem, PA and was just such an uplifting experience. I really have a hard time putting the feeling into words; there is something about runners that I just can’t explain. Even running in a road race by myself feels like I am running with a group of close friends. I love that each runner has a story and feel like every person is there to support each other and help each other through. I feel like the world is just struggling with keeping a positive spirit these days and being involved in these road races really just lift my spirits and help me remember that there truly are some incredible people out there.

Last weekend I ran the Stony Creek half marathon completely on a whim. It was only a few weeks after the Runner’s World races so I didn’t train specifically for it, but felt that I was pretty well prepared from a few weeks before. I had originally signed up to run the Indianapolis Marathon last weekend, but decided not to run it about a month ago. I wanted to run something this weekend and found the Stony Creek half marathon. This was a really small race (which always makes me nervous because I’m worried I’ll me last;) but was so organized and I don’t think I ended up being dead last which is good.

I wrote a training plan for myself which started today! I am planning on training for a half marathon in Chicago and potentially running a marathon either in May or sometime in the fall (still to be decided). I’ve had some weird elbow issues the past month – I don’t even know how to explain them. One at a time, each elbow started to hurt to the point where I could not bend or straighten my arm, even just to clap at work. Sitting down and going to bed hurt, even just walking with my arms down at my side hurt. I have no idea what in the world it was, but my arms seems to be about 95% back to normal now! I wore this training plan to try and slowly start incorporating strength training back into my workouts after not using my arms for a full month. Today I ran my first brief speed workout in about 8 months! We’ll see how the training progresses as we get deeper into the holiday season (it’s always so easy for me to talk myself out of running when it’s cold and dark outside;).

So far so good! One day down and 15.7 weeks to go. Off to eat some ice cream tonight because I just feel like I can’t end my day without it. A really bad problem to have. But I guess I’ll take it, and stick to my routine of eating ice cream at 8:15 every night. Hope everyone is having a great start to their week! I always find myself getting a little antsy as the holidays approach and I know there are some breaks coming up. Hopefully we can all power through and enjoy the seasons changing!

See you soon!