I've definitely been out of the posting loop for some time. I'm really sorry about that. I really did try to get excited about posting my rides and swims, but for some reason, I just couldn't get into it. I think I was just really disheartened about not being able to run. I kept telling myself that it didn't matter that I had terrible race at the Country Music Marathon. I reminded myself that the race was about raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Team in Training. I did raise a lot of money and I did have a great time meeting new friends in a fabulous city, but I was down on myself about gaining an hour. I was angry about getting injured after the best 14 weeks of a training cycle I had ever had. I just didn't want to talk about running.
However, now it's been almost 3 months from that race and 2 months since I had to defer my Vermont City entry. I've been back to running for about a month and I'm finally starting to feel good about it again. I was afraid to try running again, I was annoyed at how slow I was, and I wasn't finding it as fun as when I was hitting a pace of 8:18 for 18 miles... I'm definitely still not there yet. I'm working at trying to stay below 9:30s on my runs. I've had a few runs that I've kept below a 9:00 pace; it's just a very slow process.
This week I should finally hit 30 mile/week again. I figure I'll just move on from there. Is there a fall marathon planned? At this time, no. However, I'm still working with Team in Training and the Hartford Marathon is a race I could be prepared for. Plus it's only 30 minutes away and usually doesn't fill up until the last minute. I'd love to do Philly, but don't feel like I can sign up for it at the risk of not being ready. So for now, it's play it by ear and read Ironman recaps to get inspired and get back at it.
In other news, I took a new teaching job in my town. Now instead of an hour to hour and 30 minute commute each way, I have a 2.5 mile commute. It's going to be amazing! I will miss my old school a lot, but I'm feeling like I'm going to fit in here. It helps that I was a student at this school and two of the teachers I will be teamed with are teachers I had when I was in school!
Feels good to be back and blogging again. Thanks for inspiring me to get back to running, get off my debbie downer kick and get back to writing. Happy Friday!
