Sunday, November 04, 2007

Falling Back

I'm sitting here on a Sunday morning trying to get motivated for a long run. I'm planning on running the Tecumsah Trail Marathon in about four weeks and I really haven't trained for it (this is becomming a theme for me!). I ran about 20 miles four weeks ago and it felt pretty good. I've been running minimal mileage since then. I'm up an hour earlier then usual because the time changed last night. We move our clocks an hour back and stay one hour different than most of Indiana and Michigan but the same as Chicago. What that means to runners and bikers is that afternoon workouts will be ending after dark. Many bikers have put their bikes up by now anyway. There's a chance of snow in the weather forecast this week.

Our high school cross country season ended a week ago. I always feel a little down afterward. Our team made their goal of running in the state meet-this year for the seventh time in a row. We return all but one runner in our top twelve so our future looks promising. Every year, I struggle to manage my time between cross country and my regular job as a counselor. I'm constantly rushing from work to practice or from practice to work. I suppose I should feel relieved that I can give this lifestyle up for awhile but I don't.

My bike commute miles have been lower the last couple of months, mostly becasue I need the car to get back and forth from work to practice. I have been averaging 2-3 days per week. I've also been doing some modest mileage on the weekends.

I watched a little of the web cast of the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials that was held yesterday in Central Park. I've run that loop a couple of times. That's a tough marathon and an imprerssive time by the winner. By the way I was saddened to learn of the death of one runner, Ryan Shay.


I guess I need to get in gear if I'm going to do this run. We're heading for the dark season.