Everything is still new!

I've been running for more than half a year, completed two 5K's, a 10K, and my goal--the Santa Clarita Half-Marathon. And yet I'm still discovering new things about running. In fact, I'm discovering them all the time.

The most important discovery I've made recently is the post-race letdown. After training for half a year to do the Half Marathon earlier this month, I've struggled a bit afterward to continue my running. While a lack of motivation wasn't too surprising--after all, I just finished a goal and hadn't set another one--what did catch me off-guard was the physical difficulty in shorter runs. I guess I subconsciously thought that after running a 13.1 mile race, twice-weekly 2.5 mile runs would be easy. Even a weekend 5-miler should be a welcome relief after previous weekends of 8, 9, and 10 miles.

Turns out it isn't like that. Or it wasn't for me, at least. Instead, I'm finding that the 2.5 mile runs are still a lot of work. Just work for a shorter duration. But they still take a lot of motivation to get out the door, they still tax my body, and I'm still looking forward to them being over before I'm halfway through them!

Lucky for me, I picked up a subscription to Runners World. I did this earlier through my kid's fundraising magazine drive for school. This month, there's an article by Kelly Bastone called The Next Step, and it discusses the very situation I'm facing. It's a big help for me to know that what I'm going through is normal, and that if I keep plugging away (and being patient with myself) that I won't revert back to my pre-running lifestyle.