September is usually one of my favorite months (October is my #1 favorite), and this year that holds true, sort of. The weather in Virginia has been awesome, but so many other things have been challenging, that it’s hard to appreciate the weather. I’m joining up with Marcia for a few runfessions (and maybe a few “lifefessions” as well.)
I must runfess that I’ve been struggling to increase my mileage. Some of it is physical – I’ve never completely gotten rid of the upper hamstring issue that started last summer. Some of it is mental – even though I have “races” coming up, they are virtual and I can’t get myself to care enough to really stick to a training plan. I even downloaded Hal Higdon’s “training for geezers” to at least get sort of on track and have totally failed to follow it. To be honest, I’m not sure I’ll truly get back to distance running until I have an actual, in person race to run. (I know some races have started happening. For various reasons, I can’t risk that right now.)
I must runfess that despite my lack of training, I have a lot of races to do this month. I’m doing the Marine Corps Marathon trifecta – 10K, Marathon, 50K. I *may* have bitten off a bit too much there, but apparently I’ll do anything for a bit of bling. My current plan is to choose two Mondays (the day my kids don’t have virtual classes) and just spend the day walking the distance. I also have ZOOMA Cape Cod to do this weekend, ZOOMA Amelia Island to do in mid-October. and I’m doing Ragnar Michigan this weekend. Thankfully I’m still doing the Circumpolar Run Around the World, so all these miles will count towards that too.
Speaking of CRAW, I must runfess that I am really enjoying adding bike miles. My body appreciates a lower impact workout and it’s an easy way to balance my poor eating habits. Turns out that running isn’t my true favorite method for coping with stress. Apparently it’s eating simple carbs. I swear I start every day planning to eat healthy and then something happens to increase my stress and suddenly I’m shoving naan in my face. Thanks to all my activity, this has not had an effect on how my jeans fit, but I’m sure the empty nutrition is not really helping my energy levels. (And we may have space on our CRAW team if you’d like to join for a region or more.)
Not much else going on here. Both boys are learning virtually and some days are better than others in that regard. Beer Geek is still working from the basement and will for the foreseeable future. ZOOMA is keeping me busy (are you in our Run Club? It’s free!). But I must runfess that all those projects I thought I’d do when this started? Not a single one has happened. But we did vote already, so that’s something.
How are you? Have you voted yet? What’s your favorite month? I’d love to hear what’s going on in your life right now.
Cockroach mask for the win! I runfess I ran the Lobster Trap mile and the 10k earlier this week because they weren’t going to happen this weekend. Better early than never right? The early voting lines here are running with a wait of 2.5 hours right now so no. I’ll wait for a shorter line. Thanks for linking!
I have not really done all of the projects that I planned either but this last week has me motivated to start again. Hello pantry. October is my favorite running month as well and usually my highest mileage. Right now I am just trying to get back some semblance of a base without getting injured again. Both of our kids are now out of the house again so that is a stress reliever for all of us. Hang in!
I had an ambitious list of projects at the start of the shutdowns, but most are still in various stages of incomplete (or not started!)
I’ve got a couple of virtual coming up, but I doubt I’ll doing anything that resembles “training” until there is an in-person race on my calendar.
Good for you for getting your vote in. I’m waiting for early voting to open here.
Well, my life wasn’t really affected much with all the shutdowns because my place of work was deemed essential (manufacturing…usually signs, but we also have been mass producing face shields and counter/desk shields in every shape and size in the past six months). So, in other words, there were no grandiose at-home projects on my roster…but I still have tons of down-sizing I’d like to do and a major de-clutter overhaul needs to happen at some point.
Yeah for voting. I plan to figure that out in October. Last I checked Alexandria was still getting it plans together. Honestly, I think life is so hard these days, running needs to be easy — no rules, no plans, just do what feels good — unless you need a push out the door to get started.
I ended up with too many races on my plate for October thanks to my spring races being deferred. Two halfs and a 10 miler each spaced two weeks apart. Plan A is to honor the real race days, plan B is that if I need to run the races more spaced out, I will absolutely do that.
I’m ok. Some days are good. Some are miserable. I just ride the wave as best I can, but there’s a lot of crying.
I am registered to vote, but will do so on 11/3 in person. I also want to be available to anyone who needs helps or support when they go to vote.