bikram

Sometimes I think Bikram Yoga is more intense than long runs... So different and so the same.

The New Year

This year I will qualify for Boston. Each day grows sunlight by a few seconds which means that each time I actually build up the courage to rush home from work and put my painfully embarrassing reflective tights, neon orange Remmington hat, head lamp, gloves, my blue wind-shirt, wool anklets, spiked running shoes, and pepper spray it gets a little bit easier. Knowing that each time I get dressed for a winter run, each time I sprint against dusk to get back in the dark, I am one time closer to making my summer runs better, I am encouraged.

Though things have not gone exactly as I imagined since my race, my training will be more refined, more powerful, more decisive, more committed and hopefully more fun than it was before. It will not get easier because running has changed or gotten easier but because I now bring just a little bit more experience and wisdom to my long life of running. I can better navigate what I want to bring to the run and what I want the run to bring to my life.

In my fantasy land, I would have picked up with a somewhat structured running schedule within the month after my race. Sometimes life doesn't allow or encourage you to prioritize the things that aren't bursting with need. When there is no race on the horizon training does not need as much attention so the issues you have put off for too long rear their their ugly heads.

I feel like I have made leaps and bounds just to make it running 3 days a week. Though through October and early November I was logging a healthy and leisurely 20 miles / week, the rest of my life would not tolerate leisure. Through lots of twists and turns, I survived the holidays which to me made maintaining a running schedule seem like a cakewalk. I can now let my log look respectable. It's been 3 weeks of running 45% of the days and I am beginning to recognize myself again.