Bold Moves

There are so many reasons why I run.  Too many to list!  Two of the major ones though, is to stay connected with living a healthy lifestyle.  Running forces me to be more aware of what I’m eating because it’s fuel for my body and  I can really feel it on a run when I’ve been eating junk.  Second, running relieves the stress that builds up in my body from the pressures of work.  It allows me to tackle each day with fresh energy.

Races are a great way to hold myself accountable to that healthy lifestyle and my training.  Plus, races are fun! I enjoy planning out my races for the year and now that I’m in my third year of endurance running, I now have a history to fall back on and race times to best.  This year, for the first time, I ran a half-marathon in February, which is way early for me.  I thought it would be a good thing to do as it would be sort of a tune-up race, giving me a gage of how my winter maintenance plan is going and also help keep me honest with my food choices.  It was 26 degrees out the day of the race, 18 degrees with wind chill.  I’m not a cold weather person so it really took some energy for me to get psyched up to run in those conditions.  It ended up being a great race!  Yes, it was cold and the course had more hills than I expected, but I ended up setting a new PR!  What an awesome way to start the year!

My “race season” begins in earnest on April 13th when I run the Rock the Parkway half-marathon.  This is the second time I’ve run this race so I want to beat my time from last year but it’s also a good course to PR so I’d like to do that too!  I have two half-marathons in April, two in May, and maybe one in June.  Training for the KC Marathon starts in June as well; that race is in October. 

Each year I learn more about the sport I have come to love.  This year I’m really going to do speed work.  I did some tempo runs last year but never really did much speed work.  I’m striving to do that this year.  My goal is to break 5 hours for the marathon, and I’m using the half-marathons as training for that.  I found a pace calculator at McMillanrunning.com so I now have a good idea of pace and goal times for the 10k, half and full.  This also helps to add variety to my training plan and keeps running fun.

If you are having trouble sticking to the goals you’ve set this year, think about what you’re doing to hold yourself accountable.  Set realistic goals, share them with your friends, and then commit.  Races are a great way to commit!  So dust off that resolutions list and pick 1 or 2 goals to really stick with.  I hope one of them includes running; now is the time to sign up with Team-in-Training (TNT) for a summer race so check them out!  You’ll get experienced coaching and support from the team to keep you on track; plus you’ll be helping Leukemia & Lymphoma patients — how cool is that?!

And now, it’s time to get my run in!