This is the first year since 2004 that I haven’t considered doing a marathon. I ran New York in 2004; 2005 I skipped because Pie was born; ran New York again in 2006; Miami in 2007; Baystate in 2008; and Miami again in 2009. I had planned on running Chicago last year, trained, made it up to 18 miles, but ended up bailing on the race because every time I ran over 16 miles, something hurt. As I’ve mentioned here before, I have nothing left to prove. My PR (personal record) isn’t fabulous, but it’s nothing to be embarrassed about either (my first marathon I ran in about 5:19, I think; my PR, Baystate, was 4:13:46. I’m considering having that number tattooed on me. Just kidding. I think.). <\/p>\n
So this is the first summer I’ve been able to feel laissez-faire about my running. I’m running primarily for fun. I’m cross training. I take a Piyo class (Pilates\/Yoga) my neighbor runs once a week. I’ve been doing strength training videos. I’m walking a ton. I’m still running three or four days a week, but at a slower pace and for shorter distances. It’s more enjoyable.<\/p>\n
I’ll be doing a half marathon in the fall, the same one I’ve done for the past four years. But as I’m not training for a marathon, I’ll need to do a little work to get up to speed for the half. I resigned myself to looking up a half marathon plan. Working backwards from the race date, I’ll have to start training about August 14.<\/p>\n