74 Miles of Races

The last of our Christmas company departed this afternoon-- which left me with a very empty house! This was the first year ever David and I didn't spend Christmas and/or New Years in Florida. It was wonderful spending it with family at 'home!'

So what have I been doing with my time lately, you ask? Well, certainly not running 20 mile training runs! Alas... my long run before my 50k in two weeks was 25 miles... spread over three days. This week I'm going to hit it with medium-long runs and lots of weight lifting and then take next week as my taper week. I'm hoping my lack of a (recent) long run will be mitigated by the somewhat high running base I've built up for the past 3-4 months (40 miles a week is good, right?).

No, instead of running I've been registering for races. Again. Some may recall my recent proclamation of not planning too ahead for future races. All in the next six (and a half) weeks, I'll be racing: half marathon, 50k, 8k, and a marathon (yay!!).

Now before you go thinking I'm crazy, let me explain myself. The half marathon is this weekend down in Greenville/Spartanburg (about a 2 hour drive). I've got a feeling it's going to be hilly, so I'm not going to push myself for a huge time goal (though if it's flat, I'm totally going for sub 2!).

The 50k is over the MLK weekend down in Florida. I'm not really planning on 'racing' it- just treating it like a nice and easy trail run. Plenty of slow running (I refuse to call it jogging) and a bit of walking.

I registered for the 8k because it was cheap and I'll get a long sleeve tech tee. Yep, that's as much thought that went into that decision. Maybe I'll bring Crazy Face to run it with me.

And... my next marathon! I'll be returning to the Gainesville 5 Points of Life, but this time I wont be doing the half marathon. You read that right- save the date 'cause marathon number two is in the works! February 19th is when I hope to run a 4:30 marathon. We'll see how that goal unfolds.

In other news, it's gotten really stinking cold here. So cold that both dogs were shivering enough to warrant dressing them in hilarious sweaters. Little Paws would live in a sweater (under a blanket) if we let him, but Crazy Face doesn't leave them on. Not tonight- it's going to be cold enough even Krazy Kujo will keep covered up!

Dogs! In sweaters!

What's on your race calendar?

Do you have crazy cold right now?

Have you recovered from Christmas yet?