It's That Time of the Year

Okay...in the south about all you can say for the first of the winter months is nothing less than it's soggy and windy accompanied with days of 75 degrees followed by days of 40 degrees all within 48 hours! Wind is usually an element to deal with on a consistent basis for now. It can just be miserable at times. And it's not until the cooler weather decides it wants to hang around for a couple of months that it becomes decent and stable; that is, to me. On top of that, there's all the travel and hecticness that kicks you out of getting in a decent run here and there with increased goodies of all kinds that you do NOT indulge in any other time of the year that adds to your misery. Yeah, all in all, it's kind of a miserable time of year. I admire all my running friends that brave the weather...REGARDLESS...of what it is. Let me tell you right now, you're an inspiration to me and PLEEEEASE keeping posting on FB or letting me know how and what you are doing. Treadmills become a closer friend during these not-so-friendly days but even those tend to be sparingly available some times.

So with all of that said...and maybe they're more excuses than anything or maybe I don't have the drive at this time or maybe I'm a sissy. Okay, everyone deserves a pity party once in a while especially when it comes around your birthday. But whatever it is, I've NOT stopped running yet. It has been interrupted some but not stopped.

I'm still so put out with my last half marathon I can hardly stand it!! To me, it's one of those "why me?" runs. And I have no idea why it happened and there's no way to prevent it from happening again. Being the last half before my birthday and for the year I really wanted it to be good. And, I had been running pretty good to have a strong outcome. But it just wasn't meant to be.

During the last couple of weeks, I've only gotten in one long run, 11 miles and at a good pace. But this week I hit the treadmill 3 times and had very good, but shorter, runs on it. I've had the incline set to 2 and 2.5 which gives me a harder workout and I'm trying to maintain my usual pace and/or speed intervals.

For now, whatever you do, do it the best you can. This is a tough part of the year to maintain a schedule of any kind but DON'T stop. It's only a short time to work through. Soon look back over the year and if you keep a log (and hopefully you do) look through it and see how far you've come from 2010, where you need to improve, and how much fun you've had. Think of all the new people you've met and now have as running buddies in some form or fashion. And, finally, start getting your thoughts together to make 2012 running goals. This IS really a good time of the year. I'll be writing a final post summarizing the great year I've had. So for now...just Run 4 It...there's not a better feeling!