It’s been awhile since I last wrote about running, so let’s catch up quickly…
After my sub-par experience in the NYC Marathon in November, I felt like I had unfinished business. I had ambitions to run a December marathon to prove that I could run much faster, but my feet and left knee had other plans. For about two weeks post-marathon, my feet wouldn’t stop doing this strange creaking thing. And when that finally stopped and allowed me to “start” running, I’d get sharp knee pain after about one mile of running. Blah. Everyone’s different, but after two marathons, I’ve figured out that no matter how slow I run a marathon, my body takes at least a month to recover. Two months to be back to normal, solid running. Oh, well…
Holiday Races
About a week after strange knee pain subsided, I ran my first post-marathon race. I’ll tell you this, going from the NYC marathon to a local, no-chip, 5k race is just about as 180 as you can get in running races. Still, it was nice to be able to run again, and at a fairly decent pace (21:17, technically a PR but the course was short).
I trotted along aimlessly through the holiday season, randomly running whenever I felt like it, and however fast (or slow) I wanted to run. I love training, but sometimes it’s really nice to just to be running for the heck of it… you know, just running so that you can come inside and resume holiday cookie eating. You better believe I did a long run on Christmas Eve to justify eating mega chippers.
I ran another race/run on New Year’s Day in Syracuse. I’m not really calling this a race, because there were no official times, and the distance was not normal (4.7 miles?). Anywho, it was a nice way to start 2012… I ran the first 1.25-1.5 with my sister, then picked it up and ran the rest on my own. We should mark this in history, since I had never and probably will never again finish an athletic contest in front of her! She’s a quick one. She may or may not be in the midst of an injury, explaining my finishing ahead of her, but who’s keeping track?
2012 Running
So, that brings us to the present. 2012! Gah, we only have 12 more months to live…
I’ve never really been big on New Year’s resolutions, but this year I’ve “resolved” to run one race per month. This may not seem like that big of a deal to other runners, but for a girl who historically has not run many races (I’m now up to 12, including 2 marathons and 3 half marathons), this should be a pretty good challenge. I know that I’ll be a better, more mentally tough runner in the long run if I run races more frequently, so that’s the plan. I think it’ll also keep me from having “all my eggs in one basket” like I sort of did with the NYC marathon this past year. You can have one off race, but having 12 (or more) off races is pretty unlikely (knock on wood).
So with that, I’ll finish this post few of my “penciled in” races for 2012:
- January: Resolution Run, Chilly Chili 5k (weather pending!)
- February:
- March: NYC Half Marathon
- April
- May: Mountain Goat 10 Mile Run, possibly Buffalo Marathon
- June
- July: Utica Boilermaker 15k
- August:
- September:
- October: Chicago Marathon (?)
- November: NYC Marathon (?) or Richmond Marathon (?)
- December:
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
The Richmond Marathon is AMAZING. You spend miles 7-12 running along a beautiful river through the woods, they have three party zones for the fans, where folks start drinking around 7 am and get pumped to cheer for everybody. They have TWO official junk food stations with gummy bears and cookies, and the whole city comes out. People set up a table to hand out beer around mile 22, and there was a gospel choir singing at mile 24-25 (things get fuzzy). COME RUN RICHMOND.
Food stations with gummy bears?! That’s probably enough to make me sign up, ha! It’s really dependent on if I get into NYC, if I decide to do Chicago, etc… but I’m definitely keeping Richmond in mind!
Lake Effect Half Marathon is in February in L’pool.
Whoa, a half in February up here? Crazy! Although, I say that as it’s almost 50 degrees out…
there are 130 spots left. register! i’ll be honest though, the course is a double loop. BORING. i signed up to do it. apparently i like to punish myself with boring runs.
Hmmm, I could think about doing that as just a training run!
I’m actually unable to run for three weeks. It’ll be a disaster for me I’m sure. It’s a new half to the area, and if it sucks, I just won’t do it again. I got another email from the race director today and they have about 100 spots left. I think it’s a bit odd that it got such a great response for a February half that is a double loop along OLP. Whoopee. I’m running the 13.1 Series Half the weekend after yours in NYC.
Oh, June has the 7@7 Endurance run at Green Lakes. I did that last year. It takes you up into the GL Serengeti. AWESOME trail run. Small race, just started last year.
And December– if you’re looking for a festive 5k run~ It’s a Wonderful Run in Seneca Falls is a very well done race. I did that for the first time this past December, and it will make my race roster each year now. Worth checking out.
I love your blog! A friend of mine forwarded it me after she found your peanut butter pie recipe on the chobani website; which I can’t wait to try. I am also a runner, but not a very speedy one. I saw you have the Buffalo Marathon as a tentative race in 2012. I ran the marathon last May. I was hoping to PR, which for me would have been a goal of 4:30. But the 80 + degree, humidity and my I.T. band had a different plan
. However, besides the unbearable heat and horrible pain I was in, I can still say it was a great course. The people of Buffalo were amazing, including the fire department they were at every few miles to hose people down. So, definitely good race to consider.
Thanks, Lori! And thanks for your input on the Buffalo Marathon. I’m definitely keeping it in mind – I wouldn’t want to do one sooner, because that’d mean I need to a lot of winter long runs, which isn’t really my cup of tea