halloween update

Happy Halloween!  For some reason this has always been my favorite holiday.  I haven't dressed up in years, but there's just something about seeing little kids trick-or-treating that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.  I also am a sucker for Halloween decorations as well as the month of October.

Anyways, I've been on a little blogging hiatus since the marathon.  I was feeling down mentally and physically the following week, and then was going through some personal things that caused me to take a small break from reality, and definitely left me with no desire to write.  I did however, spend a lot of time snuggling with this guy:

He's a good snuggler (is that a word?) 

And drinking many of these:

Unfortunately, I guess bad things have to happen so you can learn from them and see the good things...?  I definitely learned a lot in these past couple of weeks.  I learned a lot about myself, as well as others, and the importance of good old communication.  It was a rough ride, but I had a lot of incredible support.  Thankfully, things took an unexpected turn for the best and are moving in a much better direction.       

I am now in my third week post-marathon and back in to training.  The first week after the marathon was somewhat of a rest week, although I did not take it off completely.  I went for a walk the day after to try to loosen up my muscles a bit.  I was sore.  Very sore.  That week I ran three times, very slowly, starting at 20 min and ending at 42 min on Saturday.  The soreness slowly subsided, along with the feeling of disappointment from not doing as well as I had hoped at the marathon.  I was beginning to feel ready to look ahead at the race calendar, instead of focusing on what had already happened.

I have started training again for what's to come, while still trying to take it somewhat easy by taking an extra rest day each week.  I am excited to be back but also don't want to push it and do too much too soon and risk an injury.  On today's agenda: 15 min warm up, 2 mile tempo, 2 min rest, 800 @ 10k pace, 3 min rest, 2 mile tempo, 15 min cool down.

What's next on the race calendar?  I am running the Seacoast Half Marathon on November 10 in Portsmouth, NH.  I have never done this race before and am excited to see what it's all about.  Tomorrow, the registration opens for the Vermont City Marathon and I am planning to register.  I know it's not exactly the flat course I was hoping to find, but I LOVE the city of Burlington and feel like I can't pass up the opportunity to run through the streets.  Who's with me?!

for some reason I really liked this little quote.