Running Plans

we came home to muggy heat and a downpour- we're missing the dry heat of Idaho and Utah already!

Normally I post my weekly mileage on Monday mornings, but I didn't log any miles last week. We spent most of the week driving home and while we did arrive home Thursday afternoon, I didn't manage to get on the treadmill Friday or Saturday. That may or may not be because the treadmill is currently buried under camping gear that got pulled out of the closet but didn't come with us. Guess I should get that cleared off really soon...

I've got a post in the works hashing out my thoughts on my 40 by 40 goal, but in the meantime I want to talk about my running plans for the next few months. Back in May I talked about my half marathon plans (or lack thereof), but I didn't really talk about other races I planned on running. 

As you can see if you read this post, I'm not stopping running races, I'm just cutting back on how many I run. The big change is that I will be doing the half marathon in September after all. I'd decided I wasn't going to, but as I ran (and walked) the Glacier half, I decided I wanted to do it anyway. 

I've already paid the registration fee and the campground fee, and while I can defer my race registration, the campground fee is non-refundable. I thought about just ferrying my brother and sister to and from the race, since they're running it. My plantar fasciitis is doing better, especially after the last two weeks of being more sedentary, but it still flares up, so it's still an issue to consider.

Walking so much of the first five miles of the Glacier half reminded me that I can walk a half. I don't have to train for and run all of a half marathon. Obviously, the over-achiever in me would like to, but the realist in me recognizes that I don't have to do it that way. 

In fact, I completed a trail half in Nov 2015 without any training. At that point, I hadn't done much running since I'd given birth to Ocean less than four months previously. I'd planned on walking the race, but it was a small race and I was the only walker, so I ran as much as I could. And I survived, so it's doable :)

The races put on by Vacation Races are walker friendly and are big enough to have lots of walkers so I don't feel like I'm in danger of coming in dead last. Not that there's anything wrong with that- it's happened to me twice before- but it's not something I enjoy, especially when they've already packed everything up. 

In the end, I decided that I will do the race- walking the uphills and running the downhills. I will do minimal training between now and then since I don't have time for long training runs, but I will get on a running schedule that works for me- three or four times a week, ideally. Cutting back on my mileage should allow me to get my exercise in while still allowing my feet to heal. 

As for my race schedule, now that I've completed my 40 by 40 goal, I'm moving back to my one race a month goal. 

I ran the mud run in July, I've got a four miler planned for August, the half in September, a 5k in October (not sure which one yet, there's lots of options in October), the turkey trot in November, and one of two 5ks in December.

I think that will be manageable from a training perspective, as well as a time management perspective. Time is always in short supply and now that we're home I've got to figure out my schedule so I can get everything accomplished in a timely manner.