Back! And (Arguably) Better Than Ever

What, a four-year gap between posts is like nothing! Cosmically or geologically speaking, it's barely a tenth of a second, really.

OK, so yeah, resurrecting this blog after a presidential term seems random, but it's truly not. Back in 2012, I'd been running for a while off and on, but consistency was a big problem and so I never really got back to the constant, scheduled running I enjoyed back in 2007-2009, to be honest. Without consistent running, there was little reason for me to consistently write, and so naturally the decline of one led to the decline of the other.

But, a lot has changed in the intervening 4 years. First, we moved from our crappy, small one-bedroom apartment with rodent problems in a busy, urban neighborhood with no parking. We bought a house, still in Baltimore City, but in a less busy, MUCH quieter part of town. It's got three floors, three bedrooms, and plenty of space for us. Plus, we pay $300 more per month for 3x the space and something we own outright. For us, that was huge and our rowhouse truly feels like home. Plus the house came with all-new everything from the studs up to the furnace and roof and two-level(!) deck. Plus a parking pad which, if you live in a city, you know is a life changer.

Second, I got a bit fatter, which actually was not a positive change in itself, but did provide the motivation to return to running with renewed commitment. Before moving,
I could walk to work via a decent 1.2 mile trek. Now, we live ~3.5 miles from my office and so it's faster (on most days) to take the bus. However, losing 10+ miles of walking each day immediately brought on extra pounds. We spent the holiday with my family and then spent a few days with my in-laws between Christmas and New Year last year. By the time we got back, I had hit 215 pounds! I felt lethargic and my waist had gained 2 inches. So I needed to do something and I hate going to the gym, especially since we own only one car, which my wife uses primarily. That leads me to the third event:

My wife got me a Fitbit for Christmas. She had one before me and it had helped her lose 30+ pounds since 2015 (closer to 40 pounds from her highest weight!) so I said I'd give it a try. That gave me the motivation to get my steps up which dovetailed nicely with wanting to get back into running.

So, on January 3, the morning after we got back from the in-law visit, I got back out running, doing a painful and depressing 1.5 mile loop around the neighborhood. It was terrible, but also wonderful. I realized how out of shape I'd become, but I also remembered why I had gotten into running way back in 2007. And I made a commitment that I'd not give up so easily this time around and I wouldn't get so discouraged with slow, but steady progress. I resigned myself to taking it slow in rebuilding my mileage, but I also set some long term "soft" goals for myself:

1. Avoid injury. I can be impatient and want to see results from something too quickly. That's generally not an approach that gets rewarded in running, so I had to keep focused on the long term goal of better fitness and constant progress. This had sidelined me before, as I tried to increase my miles too quickly, only to get injured and have to stop running all together.

2. Use the winter to build fitness and get to running 3-4 times per week, no matter how far. The summers here in Baltimore are misery, and this one has turned out no differently. Running in the early morning is horrible because it's 5am and the humidity is actually at its worst. Running in the evening is terrible because the temps are high, making it tough for your body to cool itself in the high humidity. So, I wanted to use the dry, cold winter to  get to the point where I could run a couple miles without dying and do a "long" run of 5-ish miles. Then even if I could just maintain that through the hot summer, I'd be in good shape for the fall.

I've been able to surpass that goal so that I can complete 4-5 mile runs during the week and 8-10 milers on the weekends. But that was gravy once I reached this soft goal above. 

3. Depending on how I felt in late summer, think about doing a couple races in the fall, mainly 5k and 10k distances. I felt fairly confident that I'd be able to try the annual Celtic Solstice 5 Miler in December, but even being able to complete a 5k by fall would be a win. I huffed and puffed through a 5k on Memorial Day as a test, and it wasn't terrible, so now I'm lining up several races, including the Run to Remember 11k here in downtown Baltimore next weekend.I had held out some hope of completing the Freedom's Run Half Marathon up in Shepherdstown, WV in early October, but it's a super challenging course, so even though I feel I could stretch to complete a flat 13.1, there's really no way I could hope to do that very hilly 13.1 in a couple weeks' time.

4. Don't get discouraged and stay focused on consistently running 3-4 times per week. I haven't always hit that goal, but more times than not I have, and that's really made my improvements stick.

So that's where I stand, roughly speaking, now. I'll write up a post about the races I'm hoping to run this fall (looking to do ~1 per month) as well as medium term training goals for the fall and winter.