Ever-Changing Reflection

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding... It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.
~ Kahlil Gibran

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Keep your fingers crossed for a big running year!




Photo credit: Real Simple
I haven't talked about running in a while because I'm injured, and I haven't run in over two months. I believe an old injury to my left foot is coming back to haunt me, as I get some intense pain when I run now -- and the pain has extended into other activities such as Yoga and skiing. I have an appointment with a podiatric surgeon on Valentine's Day (romantic, I know), so I hope I will get some answers then. And that those answers don't involve surgery.

Obviously my training has been on hold, and I have been terrible about getting myself to the gym for non-impact activities to maintain my fitness. I miss running, and nothing else has motivated me in the same way. Regardless, I have made running plans for 2012 -- not going so far as to register for any races yet (I don't have that kind of money to just throw away should this be something serious) but mapping out the races I would like to run.

My BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal) for this year is to run a half marathon. Run. Not walk. Not just finish. Run. Without stopping.

Due to this pesky injury, I have scheduled a backup half later in the year in case I can't start training in March.

Without further ado...

April: B.A.A. 5K
Image credit: B.A.A.
I just found about this new race medley from the Boston Athletic Association (the organization behind the Boston Marathon) yesterday, and I am extremely frustrated that medley registration closes January 31st (read: before my doctor appointment). I'm hoping there will still be space in the individual races for me to register for each one (and pay more, grrrrr).

The medley begins with a 5K on April 15th, the day before the Boston Marathon. This will be a good gauge of where I am in terms of running early on in the year. But I'd love to run it in 32:00 or less.

May: Harpoon 5-Miler
This is my team for the Harpoon Brewery Annual 5-Miler last year. As you can tell from our beaming beer faces, we had a great time. This was my first race, and I don't think anything will compare to how I felt crossing that finish line, but I really hope I can run this race again on May 20th.

My goal for this race is to simply beat my time from last year, which was 53:26. Shouldn't be too difficult, right?

June: B.A.A. 10K
The second race of the B.A.A. medley, the 10K, falls on June 24th. I wanted to run this race last year, but I didn't feel ready to tackle a 10K yet. If this is the only race in the medley I can do, I'll be happy. I ran my first 10K back in October (when my foot really started bothering me), and while it was tough, I loved it. This might be my sweet spot distance.

Oh, my time for that painful 10K was a pitiful 1:14:38. Yeah, pitiful. Therefore, I'd love to kill the B.A.A. one within 1:05:00.

July: Harvard Pilgrim 10K
Photo credit: Harvard Pilgrim 10K
Another race I wanted to run last year but didn't feel ready for. I ran my town's 4th of July 4-miler instead, and it was brutal. Not too mention I wasn't really thrilled about the race in general. So, this year, I want to be like this guy and run through a giant, inflatable Patriots helmet in Gillette Stadium. What's more patriotic than running through a Patriot helmet? 'Nough said.

Goal: Beat B.A.A. time.

August: Providence Rock & Roll Half Marathon
After what I hope to be six full months of training, I will run my first half marathon in August, on the 19th. I was a spectator at this race last year, cheering on four of my friends in the pouring rain. I was dying to run, but I knew I was in no way prepped for 13 miles with an UPHILL TO THE FINISH. Yes, these race organizers are a bit cruel, but I want to run in my city regardless.

Goal? Well, we already established I am running the whole thing, but I didn't say I would be running fast. 2:20:00 would make me happy.

October: B.A.A. Half Marathon? Tufts 10K?
What happened to September? Well, I didn't race in September last year, and I don't have anything planned this year either. I just didn't find anything that interested me that much after a summer of racing.

October 7th is my second shot at the half distance with the B.A.A. Half Marathon. Goals will be the same as for Providence -- unless I run Providence, in which case I'd obviously want to run B.A.A. faster, even if it's only by seconds.

I am assuming the Tufts 10K for Women that I ran last year (see pitiful time above) will fall on Columbus Day again this year, which would be right after the half. Ugh. But I really liked this race last year, and I really want to do it again. October's a bit up in the air pending foot results and Providence.

December: Norfolk Annual 5K Jingle Bell Run
A lot of my running friends ran Jingle Bell or Santa races this past December, and I felt a little left out. So, this year, I want to run a very local Jingle Bell 5K in the town I cover as a freelancer for a regional newspaper. As my last race of the year, I just want to have fun and enjoy not running in crazy hot temperatures.

Well, there you have it. I've written it down. I've shared it. I'm committing. Well, assuming my foot cooperations...

By the way, I totally stole this post idea from Aron of runner's rambles. Thank you, Aron!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You can do it! These are great goals to go after! Hope your foot heals soon!

Nat said...

All of these races look great- fingers crossed nothing major with your foot!
You can definitely do a half marathon!! Trust me when I say I'd never run more than 4 miles and I trained and ran one in 10 weeks. I used Hal Higdon, I LOVE his training schedules.

Nat said...

Oh yeah you can find them at www.halhigdon.com if you didn't alreay know :)