Back in the game

I've been quite absent from the blogosphere lately. By quite absent I mean thoroughly non-existent and by lately I mean for the past 3 months.

As it turns out, even if you can, it's not actually fun to run with tendonitis. It also turns out that it becomes very difficult to run outside when daylight only lasts from about 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It seems that it's preferential for me to be at work during that time. Go figure. I'm not willing to run outside in the dark. It's not safe on many accounts.

I had put a freeze on my gym membership while training for the marathon. I just wasn't using it so it didn't make sense to pay for it. I held off unfreezing it because I wanted to continue running outside. Unfortunately that did not work out due to the above mentioned reasons I finally came upon the opportunity to unfreeze the membership when I started a new job in late December.

On December 21, I left my over 3-year position with the MS Society. After much deliberation and discussion with my husband, it was decided that I take advantage of an opportunity at the University of Minnesota. At this point, it's not for schooling (but eventually will be, more on that later) but for employment. I'm now working in Alumni Relations and planning events for the University of Minnesota Alumni Association. I am still staying in touch with my friends at the MS Society and am still planning to volunteer for them in the future. In case any of you were worried, I am not cutting my ties with the organization.

Starting up at "The U" opened an opportunity to carpool with a close friend. After a couple of days, it was decided that we'd start going to the gym before work. So, for the past 4 weeks, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we get up early (well before the sun) and make our way to LA Fitness.

Since it's morning, the time we have to workout is fairly minimal; around 30 minutes. We do still have to shower and get ready for the day. I feel that I really need to push myself during those 30 minutes and for the most part, I have. I've really been focusing on speed during these early morning sessions. I'm running a 5K in March (The 100% Irish for a Day 5K) so I'm hoping this pays off. A time under 27 minutes would be ideal. I'm fully confident this can happen. I was at that point in October. I should be able to get it back. The only outlier will be the weather. March is a finicky bitch when it comes to weather. You never know what she'll bring to the table. If it's really cold and windy, all bets are off for my time. But, if this winter is any indication of what to expect, I should be just fine.

Now, what has my esteemed gym-partner been doing all this time? She is on track for the Couch to 5K program. Now Jenna, like my friend, Jill, is not a runner at heart. In fact she doesn't really like it at all. How these people are such good friends of mine, I have no idea; but they are. She's been doing so fabulous and recently ran longer than she's ever ran in a single bout in a long time. So far she's 3 weeks into the program and is progressing beautifully. I'm really proud of her for sticking with it and for not getting grumpy or discouraged. Though, I'm not sure why she'd be getting discouraged considering she's been incredibly successful. She's tired at the end of a workout, and that's how it should be, but she isn't letting it get in the way of her goals. So, shout out to Jenna and her awesome work. I'm hoping she'll truly convert to being a runner. We'll see though.

In addition to our morning runs. We've been getting into strength training on the weekends. It's nearly impossible to fit in during early morning sessions and while I'd prefer to strength train more than one day a week, it's better than nothing. I can certainly tell that I haven't done strength training in about 9 months. I'm significantly weaker than I was and am sore longer. I know it'll come back though. I'm excited for that to return.

The upcoming 5K isn't the only race I have to look forward to. I have another planned for October. I will not be running a full marathon this year, however I will be taking on a half. I'll be participating in the Monster Dash Half Marathon. It's Halloween-themed so it should be incredibly fun. I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to the less crazy training. The new job will be a lot slower in the summer and I'm looking forward to having more time to relax and enjoy myself. I have a feeling the months to come are going to be a lot of fun and full of surprising challenges as I work to increase speed.