Three months later...

I thought I'd drop in and post an update, three months after the marathon. It's fun because people are still talking to me about it. They haven't seen me since it happened and want to extend their congratulations, even if they had already done so on facebook. This is so humbling...that they have my accomplishment on their mind enough to remember to say something to me about it when they finally see me 2-3 months later? Wow!

The other fun thing about this is they pretty much always say the same things:

Well Wisher: How was it?
Me: Hard! The hardest thing I've ever done. But amazing.

WW: I could never do that.
Me: A year ago I literally laughed at the idea. I never thought I could, either. You'd be amazed what you can do with training.

WW: I hate running.
Me: I used to. I  made myself do it because I needed to. Now, I don't always love it while it's actually happening, but I love it all the rest of the time. How I feel after running, being in training, feeling fitter, getting faster.

So what have I been up to, running-wise, for the past three months? Well, I am still doing it. I hurt my foot two days after the marathon (dancing, ironically. No injury from running 26.2 miles, although perhaps the fatigue played into it). So, I took about a month off to recover from that, and once I started back to running I was amazed at how much fitness I'd lost. I got tired, I got winded, I was slow. So aggravating!

So I put myself back on a schedule and got back to work. Since I don't have an event planned until July (need to spend my money on other things), I'm keeping the distances shorter (2-3 during the week, 6 on the weekend) and trying to get my speed up. Now, I'm about back to where I was before which is great. Speedwise, anyway...for distance, I'll have to build up again.

I set some goals for myself:

1. I want to run CIM in 5:50, which is :30 off my time from 2014. 

2. I want to run a 10:00 mile. Just one, that's all I ask!

3. I want to do a half marathon in 2:45, which is about :20 off my best time from 2014.

4. I want to work on my general fitness to help with the above, so I've added weight training to my regimen twice per week. I also swim and hopefully I'll be getting some biking in at some point. Trying to be just a little more careful with the food choices...

I still want to do a triathlon, but the expense of the bike and associated accoutrement is holding me up. If I'm able to get one in time for a sprint distance in the fall some time, that may go on the list. 

So that's my update. Doing great!