Running Since the Freedom Run Marathon

Three Month Running Recap

Since I completed the Freedon Run Marathon, my running has not been as consistent as I would like.

I took a couple days off, but ran fine for a couple weeks. On Sunday, October 18th I came down with a virus (possibly swine flu) that I caught from the the rest of my family. I was only sick for two days. I did not run from from October 18th thru the October 23rd. When I started running again, it was shocking how much endurance I had lost. On October 23rd I did not make it 3 miles and the the next day I was only able to do 4 miles. My runs during the week had to be built back up to 5 miles. It took several weeks until I was able to get my long runs back to double figures.

In November, I progressed pretty steadily, running up to 15 miles on my long runs. Around Thanksgiving I went through I rough stretch where I was not running well. This was a combination of minor leg issues and lack of motivation. Then after a horrible run on Saturday, November 28th, I felt much better on my run the next day.

My running obstacles in December have been the weather, time constraints and motivation. I have not been able to run on the C & O Canal in quite some time. I cut my run short on December 13th due to ice. I was not able to run at all the weekend of December 19th due to the major snowstorm. I got my exercise from shoveling. Due to time constraints I did not do a long run this past weekend. As a result I have not run more than 7 miles since December 6th. However, I feel pretty good now and without the holidays out of way, hope to increase my workload significantly in January.

2010 Race Plans

Before race plans, I made a few decisions on the type of race I wanted to select.. I wanted to focus on a few big races rather then race in a bunch of smaller races. I realized around Thanksgiving, that I did not have to sign up for a Turkey Trot, I could get as much out a simple run around neighberhood which does not involve any travel time and I can start when I am ready. In addition, I decided that in 2010 I would focus on the marathon distance. The aspects of the Freedom Run Marathon that I did not like, really shaped my plans for 2010. I want to focus on marathons with a relatively flat course with a lot of crowd support.

There were two races that I considered for March, the National Marathon in DC and the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach. After researching both, it was clear that the Shamrock Marathon would be a lot of fun. The race has great reviews, is flat and should make a nice mini vacation. Since this is a resort area in the off season, the hotels are reasonable. The National Marathon is a relatively new race, that has gotten mixed reviews. After thinking about it for several months, I decided to pay the extra money and sign up for the Shamrock race. I also booked a beachfront hotel less than a mile from the start and finish line for about $65 a night.

I am excited about the Shamrock Marathon, but also have catching up to do in my training since it is less than 90 days away. I am planning to run between 15 and 18 miles during the week, between 7 and 10 on Saturday and get up to 20 miles on my long run by the end of January. I plan to run 12 miles this Sunday and increase by 2 miles each week.

I am tentatively planning to run the Frederick Marathon. Frederick is my hometown marathon so I would like to continue to run it. It is not the flatest course and the crowd support is only good for the first half, but it is convenient. It is six weeks after the Shamrock. Since I have only run two marathons, I obviously have not run them so close together but think this is doable. I have not signed up and since the price does not increase until March 31st, I will hold off registering for now.

For the fall, I am planning to run the Marine Corp Marathon. I want to run a big city marathon. For 2010 I chose Marine Corp over Baltimore because Marine Corp is bigger and I have run Baltimore before, the half in 2008. The registration for the Marine Corp opens in April. I know that one fills up pretty quickly.

I may run a few other minors races that I have run in the past, but the marathons will be my target races. I am very excited about the marathons, especially the Shamrock and Marine Corp.