A Bad & A Good Run

I was so excited to get outside yesterday. Then some stuff came up and I wasn't able to run until pretty late, so I hit the treadmill at the gym. I felt fine all day before the run...but as soon as I started running my stomach started churning. I ended up making a total of 1.5 miles (with a break) and gave up. Such a disappointing run.

Then this morning, I wasted too much time deciding if I felt better or not and didn't have time to go to the gym. So, I headed outside to get in a couple miles (I had about a half hour before I needed to get in the shower for work). It felt great to be outside!! It was slow going, because it was too dark to be able to tell where any ice patches were. I only got in a little shy of 3 miles - but it was so nice to be outside for a change!! The weather even felt pretty nice - the right clothes sure do make a difference.

Yippee - New Shoes!

I got FOUR new pairs of shoes today!! One of which was a new pair of running shoes. I got some Brooks Glycerin 8s. I have never worn Brooks before, but they felt pretty good at the store. I can't wait to try them out on the treadmill on Monday. I'm not taking them outside until I am sure I like them - they were pretty spendy!

Upping the Mileage (a Haiku)

It is a new year.
The holidays are over.
Upping the mileage.

I have a couple races on my calendar. No more excuses to be a slacker.

Last week I had my first 20 mile week since before Thanksgiving.

It felt good to actually get in some decent runs. Unfortunately, they were all on the treadmill. Yeah, yeah, I know just a couple posts ago I was talking about being all "hardcore" and running in the coldness of Minnesota...but then it got REALLY COLD! I mean temps (not even talking windchills here) in the subzeros/subteens. The average temp for the first couple weeks of the year here was a big goose egg - yep 0*!! Plus, I have been fighting off a cold (just adding to the excuses here...) and didn't want to help it along.

This Sunday the forecast is a high of 33 & low of 16. That sounds more doable! I've got 8-9 miles on the schedule - the last time I did a run that long was also before Thanksgiving. I feel like my running has a purpose again...not only to not lose too much fitness. It has even motivated me to start watching my diet again too (that went out the window over the holidays) so that I can run better/further/faster. I think all the junk I was eating was making me feel sluggish.

2010 Goals

I laid out a whole list of PR goals for almost every distance that I have run - pretty much like last year. I even posted it on this blog...right over there -> to the right. Then I looked at it and wondered if that was really what I wanted to do this year. What were REALLY my 2010 goals?

In 2009, although I had some fun breaking PRs and meeting almost all of the goals that I had set out for the year, my MAIN goal had been to run the marathon. That is where most of my focus had been. I ran some of the other races just to make the PR, I wasn't actually training for them specifically.

So, I decided to get rid of most of my goals and set just a few goals that I will have to work hard to achieve...if I accomplish those, then I bet some new PRs will just automatically come in other distance races. With that said, here are my 2010 Goals:

Run a Half Marathon in 2 hours - When I finished my marathon, I decided that I would not run another one until I got faster...because 5 hours is a long time to run. My arbitrarily assigned "faster" is a HM under (or damn close to) 2 hours. My hopes are that I can do this during 2010 and roll that into training for my second marathon in 2011. In 2010, I plan to focus my racing efforts on Half Marathons...starting with the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon on May 2 (I have at least 4 months in a row of HMs picked out, but am not committing to them until I see how I feel coming up to and finishing my first of the year).

One Thousand Miles - Does it look fancier if I spell it out? This was a goal for 2009 that I didn't meet. I was on track up until the marathon, but ended up cutting my miles by more than I had thought afterward. I ended up short with 867.1 miles...although this was my highest mileage year so far, so I plan to build on that and actually hit the 1,000 mile mark for 2010.

Volunteer or Cheer for at least 3 events - I feel like I have been a volunteer slacker. There are so many people that volunteer for the events that I run and I just haven't given back much.

There you have it. My 2010 goals. All three of them. I hope that narrowing my focus will end up being a positive. And to you, a belated...

Happy New Year!!