Catch Up

Seriously, where has this year gone? I can't believe my last blog post was a 2013 year in review... So Manitou's Revenge was this past weekend, and before I post my race report from there, I figured a little catch-up might be necessary for those of you who want the blanks filled in.

So much has happened this year - the best news being, David and I got married! A month ago today too!

But let's go back a little further. Last year ended with a little bit of a break from running, and it was nice and much needed. Other great news - I joined the inov8 team, which was so awesome! They sent me out to a team retreat in February to Big Sur, CA, where I learned a lot more about the company and respected them even more - I couldn't ask for a better sponsor!

So anyway, this year started with running, and great training plans, but a lot of inconsistency. I had some good runs on some weekends, but it just fell apart during the week. School was ridiculously busy for whatever reason this semester, and I had a lot of trouble balancing school, and work, and trying to keep up with our new house, and wedding planning, and of course, running. So all too soon, it was Bear Mt. weekend, and I wasn't ready. I'd stood undertrained on start lines before and had things work out, so I deluded myself into thinking that I had a chance to defend my title. Everything went wrong that weekend - and I went home humbled.

Next up, was Cayuga, but I had less than a month to get ready with the wedding the week before the race. I planned out my weeks, but again not much went right. Pacing 40 miles at MMT was supposed to be a big training run for me, but there was some confusion with communication, and I ended up waiting hours before I knew my runner dropped. I scrounged some good runs that week, but nothing of the caliber I needed.

So again, it was race weekend, and I wasn't ready - but I didn't waste time deluding myself this time. Instead, I took it easy out the start, I didn't get caught up racing girls I really wanted to race. I focused on the finish, because I really needed it. It was a tough day; it was hot and the miles were about twice the distance I had run so far this year at one time. But I finished and was finally starting to feel closer to my old running groove.

Next up was Manitou's Revenge, not the kind of race you want to go into underprepared! I had three weeks in between and I tried to make use of them as best as I could to run some hills.