When you were younger the adults in your life would say how “fast” life was going for them. It isn’t until you hit a certain age or parenthood that you realize just how true that statement rings. I haven’t had the time to sit down and write something that I felt would be worth while. Time has gone by fast and lots of things have happened in the last five months. Let’s talk racing and training!
February, March and April I spent preparing for a half marathon I had signed up for a year in advance. Mid-April I ran the Athens Half Marathon and felt horrible. The race didn’t go as planned and if it had rained the whole time, I would have quit half way through. My first race back since before my second child and it was not picture perfect. I needed a do-over. I signed up for another half marathon right away that was just a month away. I decided to just run that for fun and to help a fellow runner hit their PR. Race day came and I was feeling pretty good. Traffic was horrific and I was afraid I wouldn’t get to the start line in time before the gun went off. Fast forward and my friend hit her PR!
At the Expo for the May race I decide to sign up for a 3rd half marathon just two weeks
after the second. I’m already trained and ready to go, so why not? The Medina half marathon course was also supposed to be for fun. But, I was feeling good and thought I could hit a sub-2 hour time. I have only hit that two other times and one was pre-baby number one and the other was post-baby number one. It had been years! Sadly I finished in 2:00:58. Yes you read that right. Just 59 seconds short of the sub-two hour time frame.
This prompted another half marathon sign up. However, it is at the beginning of September, so I have been training hard. My friend from the May race that PR’d signed up for the upcoming half as well as the Columbus Marathon. I decided I would help her train and have gone a numerous long runs with her to help keep pace. There are times when I felt like I have held her back, like that first 20 miler, but we keep moving forward! To be honest, that is only the second time in my life I have run 20 miles. The first time was the only time I attempted a Marathon.
For the big finally to this post, I got into Trail running. My hubby was listening to a podcast with Joe Rogan and he had Courtney Dauwalter on after completing the MOAB 240. She not only kicked butt on the course, she beat the second person by 10 hours. Over 240 miles she ran in 2 days, 9 hours and 59 minutes. It was insane! From there I went on my first trail run with my Run Happy friends and it was a completely different experience. I started binge watching YouTube videos of trail and ultra running. The pictures and views were incredible. I was living vicariously through these other trail runners. I decided to sign up for a trail race. I asked the people of the inter webs just which races were worth completing in our area on my birthday. That’s right, I wanted to spend my birthday out running in the woods! I was directed to the BobCat Marathon and half marathon and decided to give it a go. I’ve implemented hills into my workouts and have the full understanding that I will be much slower than a road race. But, the views will be worth it! With all this information and my obsession with podcasts and YouTube videos on ultra running, I have decided to sign up for a 50 mile race next June. Yes, you read that right, 50 MILE trail race! I have a few people interested in completing it with me and I’m excited to start some serious cross training. Apparently there are some serious gains in elevation.
I’m excited for how this year has spiraled in my running journey. The only few times I have flaked on a group run is when I wasn’t feeling well or my kids literally did not sleep the night before. Other than that, I have gotten my butt out of bed in the 4 o’clock hour 5 days a week and on the weekends it is 5. I’m staying healthy, meeting some incredibly nice people and enjoying running once again!
Until next time:
Be Confident! Be Fit! Be You!
confidentandfitmom 