New goals, old goals

So I completed my first ever half-marathon a few weeks ago and I’m happy to have done it. But more than that, I’m happy to be done training for it. While it’s good to have that race date looming over as a reminder to get the miles in, it’s kind of a pain in the ass, too. Especially since this has been a brutal winter for training. I know us folks in the Northeast like to moan about the snow and cold all season long, but we have gotten socked with storm after storm and while I don’t mind running in the cold (sometimes I prefer it- the summer heat drains me during runs) the snow is sloppy and dangerous to run in. And it’s not as if anyone shovels their sidewalks, so if you dare to run in the road, you have to be prepared to hurl yourself sideways into the occasional snow bank because a car will most definitely come within a foot of clipping you at least a few times during your run. And even if you don’t get hit, you will step in several “mush puddles” of snow/ice/salt/dirt/water and arrive home with shoes a different hue than you started out with. And you can’t get your runs in early in the day (too dark out and bitterly cold) or too late in the afternoon (not as bitterly cold, yet still too dark) so that leaves you with middle of the day and I rarely get that luxury. Mostly I had to save my long runs for the weekends and during the week, suffer the treadmill at the gym (another beast entirely).

No, no more long winter races for me. I’m going to take advantage of all the other seasons as much as possible and leave the winter for more cross training and a more relaxed running schedule. I’m planning to register for a Mother’s Day 5k a few towns away. It’s enough to keep me motivated, but not too daunting a training schedule to have me frazzled.

I don’t know about all of you but I am looking forward to running in some real spring weather. Tomorrow is supposed to reach at least 50 and I’m going to take advantage of that. I imagine I’ll see more than the usual number of runners out on the road. Now I only have to figure out what to wear. Not exactly compression clothing weather. Maybe this spring I will be brave enough to wear one of these. Or maybe I’ll wait until I’m fast enough so that people won’t confuse me for a lady jogging over to the tennis court.