What am I not doing in 2010? I’m running the Big Sur marathon in a matter of weeks, I’m signed up for the Chicago Marathon, I learn if I’m in for the NYC marathon this week and then there are the bike rides. I’m signed up to do the Tour de Pink again, plus a few other bike rides. I’m also on a RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa), but I’m trying to figure out how I can pull that off with my vacation time. Not to mention there are the 5Ks, half marathons and century rides I’d like to do… Oh did I mention I’m doing the bike portion of an Ironman 70.3?
And all this after making fun of runners just a few years ago. I realized two weeks ago that it was just a year ago I ran my first 5K all the way through – no walking. I was soooo proud of myself. But then I saw the time on the finisher’s clock and realized I had ran one of my slowest 5Ks – those Galloway runners are on to something. But nonetheless I finished without walking – finishing in 32:01. This past Saturday I ran my fastest 5K finishing in 28 even. I just knocked more than a minute a mile off my time in a year!
My training for the Chicago Marathon has been the EXACT OPPOSITE of my training for Big Sur. Due to long days commuting into the big city, I only ran the long runs on the wknds for Chicago, no weekday runs. Therefore I would run every Saturday or Sunday with a group only to hurt myself about every three weeks. My body was like, are you serious? You want me to go from nothing to 16 in a week? I don’t think so… This year I’ve been getting in weekday runs, pilates, etc, but without a group to run with on the wknds and some injuries I’m not getting in my wknd long runs. It’ll be interesting to see how I do. Chicago was flat; Big Sur most certainly will not be.
What I do know is I’m stronger. When I’ve run I feel good this year – cardio wise. Last year I did not.
The point of this year’s blog is to help beginners or serve as a place for people to read about a run they were thinking of doing. Of course most of my info will be Midwest based.
Posted by Trish Taylor 
