I didn't necessarily plan on taking a few months off from running, but I ended up taking off the late summer. Travel, my hip feeling worse before it felt better after my PT visits, and general busyness/laziness equaled a lot of sub-10 mile weeks.
After March or so, I didn't run more than 5 miles at a time. After the past few years, I started to doubt whether I'd ever be good at running again. Guys, running is hard. And it seems so much harder when you remember how fun long runs used to be, and how terrible even short ones are now.
The Bull City Race Fest Half Marathon approached, and I made the call to switch down to the 5 miler. I doubted that I could even do that without embarrassing myself. If stopped going to group runs because I felt too slow. Not a real runner, my inner doubter would say.
Well, the Race Fest went well. I held a sub-8:00 pace for the race, without a watch, which was a nice surprise. It wasn't difficult. I was tired later, but the race reinstalled my faith that I am not incapable. Just untrained.
With a few months of PT under my belt, and a pretty solid adherence to my exercise regimen, I decided to start a schedule after I returned from my trip to California. I ran an easy 15-20 mile a week plan on Smart Coach, ending when I am supposed to start training for the Big Sur Marathon in December. With pretty much no base, this will be key to not immediately failing at the first few weeks of marathon training.
I've finished my first week of consistent running, topped off with a well-paced 8 miles alone on Sunday. (I didn't bail!) I have a few weeks to pick a training plan for Big Sur, and then I'll be off on my 18 week journey to my 7th marathon!
