Of Mice and Marathons

I forget if I've asked you already, figured out any serious races for the future yet? Or are you more of a get-in-shape-then-figure-it-out guy?

I was supposed to do a marathon at the end of April, but a sickness took out any chance of running a decent time. I am looking to do a late fall marathon. Not sure if I will do anything shorter before then or not. My coach doesn't have me do a ton of racing, but late summer I might need a 5k or something just to bust the rust.

I used to do a lot of racing to get in shape, but now I don't. My next race will likely be a gravel bike race. Tentative plan is to maybe run a hilly half as a goal pace workout for the marathon. Then do a marathon in early November in Indiana.

What about you? I was just reading through your week. Seems like you are pretty busy. Cheers.

Just realized last night I haven't raced in nearly 3 years. With that kind of gap, I'm not entering a race until I'm in shape to run a PR regardless of whether it's a good race for me or not. Like I said earlier this week, I've had a few calf problems, but never in the same area, and never enough to REALLY sideline me, so I'm hoping I'll find time to do weights and that'll be the end of that. Even with that being said, I'm at the point in training where I'm starting to get glimpses of fitness here and there, so I'm getting more and more excited to train every day.

In regards to non-running things keeping me busy, somehow it hasn't been affecting me too much energy-wise. I love the feeling I get from helping people at the hospital, and after a year or so with a lot of trials in life affecting my schoolwork, I'm starting to feel like I actually deserve this full-ride of mine again and it's making me want to study and work even harder. Really I'm at a point where I love everything I'm doing and I feel like it's all snowballing to make me want to put even more effort into it. Even with all the trials I mentioned before, I feel like they've all been such good learning experiences I wouldn't be doing as well as I am in life now if I hadn't endured them. Most people wouldn't call being homeless a plus in life, but I look at it as a lesson in frugality in the future, even if that wasn't necessarily the problem that got me there. :)

Also, I didn't realize you had a coach!

I hear you on being in PR shape. I haven't raced a marathon in almost 4 years and I haven't done much racing since spring 2016. Sometimes it's good to get out and do a race just to remember the joy of it all.

You must have done something to deserve a full ride. Universities don't just hand those out. You'll do well in life if you aren't taking out student loans.

I needed some help getting back on track after some inconsistent training and racing, so I got a coach who coaches several former bloggers who are experiencing a good amount of success.