It's coming back (whew!)

Achieving my goal of running the half-marathon early last month was fantastic. But I never expected that to be the end of it. Instead, I wanted to keep exercising, probably keep running, and continue to make improvements in my health & fitness. Trouble was, after the half-marathon I didn't feel as compelled to run regularly.

Well, I'm happy to report that there's been an improvement. As I mentioned before, I really do think I pushed myself too hard in that last month to achieve my half-marathon goal. I was only doing the weekend long runs in my training program, because I was just too wiped out to do the midweek stuff. And I'd dropped the off-day cross-training a long time ago. However, I also wrote earlier that I'm experiencing many things about running for the first time, and one of those was the post-race letdown. I think that, combined with the overtraining, is what led to a (natural?) drop in my running afterward.

Which is why I'm so pleased now to report that I seem to be back on the upswing. There was that 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, and some more irregular running in the month of December. With a big upheaval in our main program at work, the hours were long and stressful. Combined with the holidays I found it difficult to run during the week. Still, I did so a few times, and I also got in one run most weekends, and usually a little longer. A treat was a midweek run on a cold night where I listened to the Charlie Brown Christmas Special soundtrack while running up Copper Hill to the incredible Wakefield Court neighborhood that sets out record-setting, award-winning Christmas light decorations every year.

A week ago I came down with a 24-hour flu, which interrupted some running, but when I got out there again I ran probably 4+ miles. (Lately I haven't been measuring my mileage, sometimes not even timing myself--just running to run.) Then last night I ran down to Saugus High School to use their track and attempt my first track workout. Following the helpful advice for intimidating newbies in John Bingham's book, The Courage to Start, I ran five 1/4-mile laps with resting in-between to establish a track baseline. My times were 2:07, 2:12, 2:10, 2:05, and 2:06, which looks consistent enough to me. When I got home I wrote that down in my new running journal, a gift from Molly.

We've got two 5K's already planned for early next year, the Firecracker 5K through LA's Chinatown district, and a 5K through the LA Arboretum in early spring. Maybe I'll even run one of those as a 10K, if that's an option. I'm taking my running gear to Hawaii next week, and am really looking forward to some runs in a new setting, one that happens to be paradise.

The fact that my running is picking up steam again--and that I'm looking forward to it--is very encouraging!

Just as exciting is the fact that I'm on-track for my weight-loss goal for 2009 already. I wanted to get down two more pounds in December to start the new year at 220, then try to get down to 200 by the end of that year. I don't know if I can do it or not, but that's my goal. My cheapo digital scale at home is always suspect in my mind because it only seems to report increments of 3 lbs. I was at 222 lbs for most of this month, but then just before Christmas it dropped (3 lbs--hmmm) to 219! Very encouraging, and though I ate well enough during the holidays, I still ate notably less dessert and treats than in previous years. It may well be that 24-hour flu that helped me drop the little bit more I needed to trigger my scale, but I'll take it! Now I just need to avoid losing lots of ground while on vacation in Hawaii. My plan is to cut back a little, but still enjoy myself on vacation, trusting that the extra exercise I'm getting will keep me on track.