Sunday, December 10, 2017

Holiday Run Streak, Day #18 (plus Goal setting for 2018)

Long nap today, which was very well needed. Have had some muscle soreness, and the toddler is going through her two-year sleep regression a little early. Out for five and a quarter miles tonight, which brings the streak total to just shy of eighty-five and a half miles. Not too shabby.

Thinking a lot about goal setting for next season. I'm feeling like I need to pick between much more volume and distance, and speed. I already have a few half marathons on the calendar, which isn't too big of a deal because they can take the place of a weekend long run easily enough, but I'm fighting the desire for the "next big thing" in my running by introducing more speed work, and tempo runs.

It's not a great time for that, of course, because we'll have another baby around late May. While I'm sure I'll be able to carve out the time for workouts (because I'll run before everyone's awake if I have to, or late at night once everyone's asleep) I'm more concerned about my nutrition. I've really let it lag in the last year or so, and it's a lot of work to prep really solid meals for training. That wasn't a big deal before we had kids, but now that pulls me away from the family unit more, and I hate that.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I entered a drawing to run the Boston Marathon with a group that was looking to sponsor some teachers.  I told myself early on in this that if I was going to run Boston, I'd run it by qualifying. I wasn't sure I could pass up the entry into this thing, but I immediately felt ashamed after submitting my entry. I felt like the whole thing of equating teachers to the less fortunate, in need of aid and recognition, hurts my cause far more than it would ever help it. I also dreaded the idea of any interview because I run for me, and I teach for other people. The two are connected, sure, but I don't like exploiting my work to do something like that.

Anyway I didn't get picked, so it isn't really a big deal. But it did start me thinking about running Boston someday, and the amount of work I'd need to put in to be able to give the marathon that good of a performance. I've talked to my wife and I think I've settled on a Spring marathon for next year, details to come. I'm not sure I'll do a fall marathon next year, because the baby will be so young still, but we'll see. I've got a whole summer run streak between now and then to see how I feel, too, so you never know.

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