Time to blow the dust of this puppy. No, not my running shoes. I meant my blog. It's amazing what can happen out of the blue. As a result, I've either been unmotivated, too tired or too busy to post.
Work has been very stressful for the last six weeks. Jobs were at stake and revenue was lost. My company represents many manufacturers selling to the commercial heating and cooling business. Out of the blue one of our manufacturers gave us 30 days notice that they were switching representation. Not based on our sales mind you. We were doing the same great job as always. But there were two "targeted" products they demanded we sell. Oh well. They have been replaced by a great new manufacturer. We are now eager to make the original supplier pay for their mistake!
But I write this blog for my running addiction primarily and on that front things are better and better. I've have been adhering religiously to the 10% rule trying to build up my mileage. I only ran 3 days in February due to my PF. Dr. McNeill to the rescue! She diagnosed and assisted me with some Mobic, arch supports and stretches. Ever since, the PF has been disappearing microscopically each day. I ran 9 miles on Wednesday and another 6 today. I have my longest run of the year scheduled for tomorrow (12 miles) and will end the week at 33.5 miles. I've come a long way since the stress fracture last August.
My paces have also been dropping. Although I need to remind myself to slow it down. Average of 8:19 per mile should not be the norm on those mid-week runs right now. I need to back it up to around 8:40.
My first race of the year is coming up. I'm excited. The North Shore Half Marathon. I also get to break out my Brooks ID uniform and get on the Brooks race series scoreboard. It was between this race and the 13.1 out of the South Shore Cultural Center on the South Side. You get more bang for your buck at North Shore and don't have the parking hassles. It was a no brainer. I'll be this with two other friends. One of them is a multiple marathoner who has struggled to break the 4 hour barrier in five attempts. The second is only doing his second half and will attempt his first marathon in Chicago in October. I'm clueless about the pace I should target. I don't expect to PR (1:38:54) but I want to give it an honest effort. I will use this race to determine my training paces for the Chicago Marathon. So I guess I need to do some soul and runners log searching to determine my pace for North Shore.
I plan to be more regular in my posts. Stay tuned as I start my quest to qualify for Boston Part Deux.
