Monthly Archives: June 2013
Moved.
It’s been one hell of a week with getting out of my apartment and seeing boxes of stuff from there, storage here in Richmond and from my mom’s house in Bedford come together.
I feel overwhelmed by these strange things that I have kept my whole life, and by what my wife and I taken from place to place.
Enough is enough.
I’ve given myself a deadline for several things with this move and with running: July 1. It’s the new Jan. 1.
- No boxes in my house that I have to go through. Some boxes – just a small handful – may have to go to the attic to be unseen, but my wife and I are making tremendous progress de-cluttering our lives. I have to go through these things so they don’t just continue to collect dust.
- Pick a paint color for the baby’s room, or at least have it narrowed down. The project to finishing his room also will have a deadline soon.
- Refocus on my diet. Moving in the past week has led to some really bad choices to eat quickly. The reset process has started this week; the major focus comes in a couple of weeks. I have to at least celebrate my birthday next week before I eliminate some things, right?
- Develop a training plan to get to the 5k PR mark. I’m signed up for a 5k on July 4 in Ohio (that I know is a 5k since I’ve done it before), but I know that I’m not in PR shape. That race will really be the benchmark to see where I stand.
- Read blogs again. I miss my virtual running friends, but as a way to stay focused on other things, I had to make a cut to blog reading temporarily.
As for some other things going on, my 35 “streak” was going great until the move. It wasn’t that I didn’t think about it, but I was so exhausted at the end of every day Friday through Sunday that nothing else got done.
It was a nice challenge for a little while, but it wasn’t such a great goal with what I had going on. That doesn’t mean I won’t stop doing some things related to that number this month though.
I also slipped in an extra soft drink this weekend, which once again dampens my “13 goals” for the year. Just as I did in April, though, I think I can get through July before I have another one. I simply wanted an extra caffeine boost on Sunday to keep opening boxes.
The 5k that wasn’t
If I were to run a 5k right now in 23:21, I’d be thrilled. It would mean I’d be very close to once again getting to a PR in that distance.
I ran 23:21 in an advertised 5k today.
Only problem is that was for 2.9 miles. And no, it wasn’t a Garmin issue or a weather issue causing watch problems. It was less than 3 miles, no doubt about it.
This race has problems with getting the distance right — read this post from my friend Jeremy who did the inaugural running of this event with a different course route. (And yes, I totally stole his title for this post.)
What I was hoping for today was to test where I stand with a 5k. I’ve done very little in the way of speed work lately so I knew heading into it that I’d probably be around 25 minutes. Maybe, in the right conditions, be a little closer to 24 minutes.
With this pace, I would have hit 3.1 in 25 exactly. I’ll never know though what I had left in the tank to close it out strong, or if I could even close it out strong.
I’m not going to sit around and obsess about my time and how I’ve gotten so out of 5k shape — it is what it is. And it’s what happens when I run without training for something.
Now, the work begins …
Grateful.
There’s a new baby on the way. My 4-year-old is more and more active each day and interested in doing more things. I started a new job. I’m getting ready to move in a week. Potential freelance projects require my attention.
Through life’s changes, there’s a still one constant thing that remains the same – running. There is always time for a run.
It may not be as fast as I’d like right now and I may not get as many miles as I would like, but I find myself feeling grateful for the opportunity I do have to run nearly every day.
Happy National Running Day everybody.
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