Running Bug

After running a half marathon, the typical "week after" is supposed to one of rest.  But I found myself with a bug to keep on running.  So, I went out and did, what I thought would be, a fairly easy run last night.  The route that  I usually walk through my neighborhood is 4.2 miles long.

I was happy with the time I ran that distance, showing that I'm continuing to improve my running times.  There's also a couple decent sized hills on that course that I felt pretty good about how I was able to handle those hills and recover afterwards.  

With those things in mind, I've already started setting goals for the Columbus Half Marathon in October.  Goal #1 is to finish in under 3 hours.  That would mean cutting a little over 8 minutes off of my time, something that I think is very doable.  I was going to make my "better goal" to finish in under 2:45...but after looking at my time for the Disney World Half Marathon that I ran back in 2010, I'm going to revise that goal and say that I'd like to finish is under 2:44:40, thereby beating my time for that half marathon.

I'm not shooting for a personal best (not yet anyway).  My personal best time for a half marathon is 2:19:29 in 2009.  But I was in the middle of training for a full marathon at that time and the majority of that course was either flat or a slight downhill grade.  I don't think I'll be back to that point by this October.  But I do hope to eventually get to a point when I can beat that time.  I don't know that I'll ever feel like running a full marathon again, I've already done two of those.  But preparing for, and running, half marathons will keep me motivated, will keep me training, and will keep me challenged.

I also want to get back to working on a goal I set a few years ago.  That goal was to run a race in all 48 of the continental United States. So far I've run races in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.  With the costs of runs getting more expensive, as well as the costs of travelling, it's probably going to take me even longer than I originally anticipated, but I hope to eventually be able to say that I've accomplished that goal.