Had another successful run this morning. Still short and many would not see the success I see, but like beauty, success is in the eye of the beholder. I had three runs this week; just like I planned. None of the runs were more than 1 1/2 miles and all of the outings were less than 30 minutes. A lot would claim that was 'nothing' but to me each outing was longer and farther, and consistent pace even with basically doubling the mileage each run. This is the first week back at it since about last Spring - yes there were a few running efforts last summer but they were few and far between.
I'm not upset about this slow start because it has shown great progress and it is very similar to how I started out running. Back when I lived on Lake Harriett in Minneapolis I started by running from my apartment to the Band Shell, then a few outings later made it a loop - running to the band shell and back. This continued for weeks as I increased the distance to my turn around point: the band shell, end of band shell's parking lot, first dock, second dock, rose garden, and finally the canoe rental storage By the time my turn around point was the canoe rental storage it was more than half way so the combined there and back was more than all the way around the lake - but it took me weeks before I was ready to run that full lake circumference! And the first time I ran all the way around the lake I felt like Rocky when he runs up the Philadelphia steps.
I'm pleased with my restart and its time to make some goals for the season.
First goal is to be ready for the BLS Fun Runs.....what does ready mean? it means being able to run feeling comfortable and confident for the 3 miles. Okay...so what does comfortable and confident mean? it means feeling good with running/jogging the full distance without need any walking breaks (with exception for a couple of the hills), it also means being able to finish the distance in under 35 minutes The BLS like to claim that there is more than enough to go around, but in reality there is not enough bottles of water or the special food (ie, ham roll run, etc) for all the slower runners. The faster people take more than one so there is often not enough left to go around. My goal is to be fast enough to make those BLS fun runs be my dinner. My starting pace is slow enough to affect getting things at the fun runs, so my immediate goal is to shave 2 minutes off my starting pace in time for the April fun runs. Overall summer pace goal is to be a 9+ minute miler by the last of the fun runs.
Second summer goal is compete a long distance race. I have the Ice Age Half Marathon in May, but my expectation is that I will hike that more than I will run it; although this year I would like to add some running to the course. I'm open to counting this as any run of at least a 10K. There are a couple 10 miler races in Chicago that look interesting, and there is always the BLS Cudahy Classic 10 miler. Or another half marathon could be a good fit in September or October. I'd even consider a full marathon if the time limit was long enough to have me walk parts of it. Ultimate running goals include a full marathon but I'm not sure this is the year for it because once again I'm starting my spring running over almost from scratch. The full marathon may have to wait for a year that I'm RAW (Running All Winter).
Third running goal is to run with Zeus. This will take time and practice to get us to a mutual pace - he is a sprinter and I can go longer (but slower) distances than he can sprint. He also has to learn to run and not stop at every interesting leaf or mailbox!
Right now these are my personal plans for the running season. Simple and doable, but still challenging. I promise to give an update at the end of each month through October. Let's see how I do. Good luck to all your running goals for the season!
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