Training and Life Updates
Some of you have been asking about my upcoming race- I’ve been training for the Forgotten Florida 50 mile race, and I can say that I feel completely ready to run it on February 3rd! Unfortunately, that’s not when the race is. That was the original date of the race, but a couple months ago we were informed that it was changed to February 17th. At that time, my long runs were going great. I felt invincible! I didn’t tweak my schedule at all to accommodate the change- I just figured it would give me time for one more long run. Well… I no longer feel invincible. After my long run on Sunday, something was telling me that I’m done training. That “something” could be my achy right hip and low back, or my two heels that hurt when I get out of bed every morning. Whatever it is, I don’t think I have another big, long run in me before this race. That’s fine- I’ve done numerous runs over 20 miles, and back-to-back long runs totaling 36 miles. I don’t need another long run- but the problem is, if Sunday was my last long run then I’ll have a four week taper before the race. That’s… a long taper. I’m thinking I’ll do another semi-long run? That’s probably what will happen- but I haven’t decided yet. In some ways, life is mirroring training (or is it the other way around???). I feel burned out and tired. January is always a hard month for me. I normally get sad when Christmas is over, but this year the festivities didn’t end with Christmas. My daughter went to Rome, we had New Year’s (when I did my back-to-back long runs, which was such a fun adventure) and then we went to Tampa. It was nonstop fun, until we returned from Tampa and my son went back to school the next day. It felt like the official end to all the holiday and post-holiday fun, and it’s always so hard to say goodbye to him. It was like Christmas was ending all over again, and I’ve been feeling “blah” ever since. I know- we all have hardships! I’ve been through worse Januarys. When I lived up north, I could hardly get out of bed in the winter (which is, once again, why I now live in Florida.) It just takes time. I’ll feel better soon (I always do) and I do have a race to start planning for! (Did you notice in the top picture, the town where the race starts is “Christmas, Florida? It’s the perfect race for me!) Thanks for listening to me whine. How is your January going???