Time for Me

Tomorrow marks 4 months since my last day of work. I really did think I'd be back at work by now, but I don't foresee a change in my stay-at-home status anytime soon. And that's okay. It's nice.

Greg started his third week at his new job today. It's quiet around here during the day. I never have the TV on, I rarely play music. It's odd not hearing him on the phone during conference calls and not eating lunch with him. I have a lot of quiet time to just think. That's sometimes good and sometimes bad. But I'm not complaining. Things are different, but it's not bad.

I'm trying to spend my time doing things that make me happy, that are low stress, and help out our family. Reorganizing the house, getting errands done, shopping, training, reading, relaxing...

Speaking of training....

Marathon training is getting REAL. I'm now 9 weeks out from Marathon #11, and in my heaviest miles. My first 20 miler of this training cycle is this coming Saturday, and I'm racing a half marathon in 27 days. How has my running been lately?

AWESOME. Strangely, crazy awesome.

I'm sure it has everything to do with the cold weather we've been having, but running has just been easy for me the past few weeks. I'm running faster than usual when I think I'm running slow, my endurance has improved dramatically, and it's making me very happy. A few weeks ago I ran back-to-back 9 mile runs, then a 16 miler the next weekend, then 10 mile and 4 mile runs this past weekend. And all were at a decent pace, particularly this past weekend. My interval runs are more effortless, too.

Basically, I'M THRILLED.

Does this mean I have plans to go for the 1:52:55 I need at my half marathon in order to qualify for the 2016 Houston Marathon? I don't know. That would mean running 8:37 pace and I'm pretty sure that despite my improvements in running I'm not quite at that level. Although if the weather cooperates, I might go for it anyway. I have 5 weeks between my half marathon and my marathon, so plenty of time to recover and regroup before 26.2.

I've also been thinking a lot about what I want to do next year with regards to training and racing. I know I will focus on triathlons after my April marathon, and will hopefully get comfortable with longer distance ones before 2016. I'd really like to do a Half Ironman in early 2016, which means my marathon season will likely be very different. I'm excited and eager to see how the year shapes up, how I'm going to change things up, and how it will allow me the "me" time I so desperately need. It's fun to have things to look forward to and it makes me feel peace in the chaos.