Running goals

Last night I realized that since I know where we're moving to, I can plan which races I want to run this year. I did some research, and found several in the next couple months that I'd like to run, but since I haven't exercised in quite awhile, those aren't on the list for this year- I'll have to wait till next year. I need several months to gradually increase my mileage and properly train, so I won't be ready till summer. There's no local half marathons in July, but I found several in August. That gives me 6 months to properly train and prepare and avoid injury. I'll also be training for the same marathon I ran a year and a half ago. That's in September, so the half in August will be a prep for it. There's also half marathons I can run in October, November, and December.

LMS and I after my first marathon in Sept. 2008

If I can get in shape and keep running, despite the weather, I could conceivably run one big race a month year round, starting this August. The key will be to avoid injury. That's why I need to take my time getting in shape and increasing my mileage.

My goal in running the marathon again is to complete it without the massive amounts of pain I had the first time, and to cut my time significantly- by at least an hour, more would be better. My goal in running the half marathons is to gradually decrease my time and lose weight. I've lost some weight since going gluten free, but I still have quite a bit to lose.

This morning I got up and went for a two mile walk with LMS. It felt good, and I iced my shins afterward while I stretched. I think I'm going to try really hard to ice my shins morning and night, regardless of whether I went for a walk/fun. Hopefully that will help prevent shinsplints from taking over again. Now I need to make sure I keep getting outside so I can build my mileage base.