Well.
I've not been blogging, but I have been running, at least for the last three weeks. So this probably makes me a bad running blogger, but not such a bad running runner. Or something like that.
The Timberline Half was my last race, at the beginning of June. I had really hoped to improve just a bit on last year's time, but it wasn't to be - I finished only about three minutes before the cutoff, which was a good 15 minutes more than before. This event was tangible proof that my training for 2011 overall has not been stellar. Between Timberline and the second week of July, I did zero running. Clearly, it's too easy to put running on the back burner whenever the rest of reality starts to close in. I imagine it's not an uncommon problem with many people. At least, it would make me feel a lot better if it is.
I've long since registered for Portland, so at this point, I have little choice but to start knuckling down if I want to finish. Thankfully, Jenn has managed to recover from the stress fracture she acquired a few months ago - the one that prevented her from running the Vancouver Marathon in June. It's great to have my running partner back, and as we've jumped feet-first into a very ambitious training regimen for Portland, running together been extremely helpful in keeping me accountable to the program. We're running three times during the week, doing Yoga sessions once a week, and holding our long runs on Saturdays.
Today was 7 miles on Fanno Creek - slow and steady, close to a 15-min. mile pace. My legs were crispy and well-done by the end, but as I sit here now typing this post up, about 8 hours later, I am feeling pretty darned good and the soreness is minimal. I really do love getting the miles in very early in the morning, even though I truly hate getting up, especially on a weekend. But it's all out of the way, for the rest of the weekend, and right now I'm strangely excited that it's Saturday, not Sunday - and I have a whole entire day before me to do whatever I want/need to do without worrying about fitting in the long haul.
This has been a pretty aimless post, but hey, better than nothing. Perhaps the spark that brought my running back to life will do the same for my blogging and other writing!
