My Sisyphus Goals...

...Or Really I've Been Under the Boulder, Instead of Pushing It...

I realize that I've abandoned this blog for nearly SIX (6!) months and many of you probably thought it was defunct, or I had given up my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

Well, basically I had. I became completely discouraged after breaking my toe in December. I've been running, but I've been remiss about blogging about it and painfully remiss in participating in any kind of real training program. So far, this is what I've been doing since the beginning of the year:

Anderson Creek 5K, February 4: My first race after the toe break. It went surprisingly well despite the fact that I did ZERO cross-training while I was injured. I actually won my age group. Total surprise.

Pittsburgh Half Marathon, May 5: I didn't really train very hard for this race. I logged mileage, but did minimal (read: zero) speedwork. I ran a 1:56, which isn't a PR, but not horrible given the circumstances.

Fort Bragg Army Birthday 10-Miler: I did not train for this race. I basically just ran it based on what little training I did for the half in May. I ran 85 minutes. Not even close to a PR, but commendable.

And then there was nothing, with no race on the horizon and an uptick in the pace of my personal and professional life I let my running routine basically vanish. Also, I found myself again dealing with transition on all fronts and I let running fall off the plate.

I just became so disgusted with my performances and repeated failures that I took an unplanned sabbatical from running. I did enjoy having a lot of extra time on my hands. I chose to fill it by eating and watching television. Did I miss running?  Not exactly.  Did I miss feeling fit? Absolutely. I also missed fresh air, the time to myself and feeling strong. I also missed pushing myself toward something and my existence started to feel...numb.

So, I decided to hit the pavement again. It tried just running a bit to rebuild my base mileage.  This was only mildly successful and I really didn't get into any sort of running routine until my annual vacation in Italy. I slowly I logged some miles despite copious amounts of wine and jet-lag. I felt slightly better reintroducing the routine, but struggled upon my return to North Carolina. Between my jet-lag, work and oppressive NC humidity it was really difficult to find the motivation to get out there. I had only casually looked into some marathons. I began to realize without a goal, I just wasn't going to push myself back into a running routine. So I reignited my goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I after some research I decided it would be best stick closer to home.

So I've officially registered and have begun training for The City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, NC. November 4.

I'm working hard to not get discouraged as I've lost a great deal of speed and I'm a little intimidated by some of the mileage that is on the horizon. I am terrified of an over use injury. I figured that I have to look at City of Oaks as a spring board and work from there. I may not BQ but I hope to at least set a personal best.

I also hope to maintain this blog again. I'd like to get back into a weekly blog routine to help chart my progress, and hopefully get some tips and motivation from my fellow runners. So we will see!

In Summation: Running Sabbatical=Makes You Unfit; NC Humidity=Oppressive; Lack of Goals=No Essence of Life; Running=A Bit of a Struggle at the Moment; Faith in Mankind=Maybe at the End of the Tunnel