Back to running...back to blogging

It's true...the time has come for me to start training again for the Philly Half Marathon.  I never in a million years thought I'd be able to say that I was training for my FOURTH half marathon, but here I am.  I will say...this morning was rough.  All first mornings are rough though, and that is what I keep telling myself.  I started off with what should have been an easy three mile run, and well...by about 1.15 miles in, my stomach was a mess.  I ended up only going about 2.18, with a horrible pace, etc.  But...it's the first time I've ran in months, give or take a few random times here and there.  I'm ok with this start.  I know I'm a horrible trainer, and I know that I've run this race three times already and my time has gotten considerably better each year.  I also haven't worked out with my trainer in about a month and I'm just getting off of vacation, which means I'm definitely not in the best shape.  All of this put aside...I know that as long as I stick with it, I'll make it through.  For the first time in my racing history, which obviously is a long and storied history, I made a running schedule for myself.  It's a bit ambitious, but completely doable.  I have never ran more than 10 miles before I run the official race, and I am determined to break that streak this year.  I don't have any big plans in the next two and a half months that would disrupt my training, and with a few new angels watching down from above, I have even more motivation.

Now...back to this first run of mine...while it was a hard run, it still came with some observations, such as the woman who had her shirt on inside out.  No, I wasn't the Good Samaritan...I didn't stop and tell her to jump into Starbucks to switch it around, I kept on running.  I have a race to train for, come on now.  And of course there was a TV or movie shoot in Central Park this morning, so there was Kraft Services lined up along the sidewalk.  That never makes running easy...couldn't they be so kind as to spare a danish?  And then on the way back, running through the cigarette smoke of those nice gentleman stationed on their bench really helped my already tired lungs.  

Now we just have to wonder what Thursday will bring.