Why did I "leave" on such a good note? It was a combination of being burned out from running, and wanting to spend time doing other fun stuff. After I graduated college in 2009, I ran my first half marathon. Before that, I really hadn't run much since track season my senior year in high school, or more than 6 miles. Over the next year and a half, I ran my first, second, and third marathon as well as quite a few half marathons. I was doing a race every month, and it was a lot. Uffdah. At the same time, I had just moved out to California from Minnesota, where I still hadn't met a lot of new friends...most people I knew my age were out on weekends and week nights playing coed sports, hanging out at the beach, partying at the bars, or all of the above. Although I was having a great time, all I was doing was running and passing on most of the socializing...until this year. dun dun dunnnn.
So what have I spent all my time doing these first 9.5 months of 2011? Well...
1. I learned how to play ultimate frisbee, and met a bunch of fun new people. My third season started this week and I'm proud to say that I do not suck, regardless of having very unreliable disc throwing skills.
2. I continued to play kickball every Monday night, and was appointed team captain last season. In a few weeks we're going to Vegas for the national kickball championships. That's right, we're kind of a big deal. However, after playing kickball for almost 2 years, I'm retiring for a while after the Vegas tournament.
...but I'm only retiring to try a new sport: Dodgeball!
3. I did manage to fit in one running event, a 4ish mile mud run at Irvine Lake. It was a blast with Gavin's Groupies!
4. On a whim, I was convinced to join a bunch of guys from work on a 100ish mile ride down to San Diego. After not biking more than 6 miles over the course of a few months, and about 75 miles being my longest ride ever, I'm not sure why I thought this was a good idea, but it turned out to be a great trip! I may have slowed everyone down more than they're nice enough to admit, but we'll blame it on my bike being heavy :-)
5. I was in two weddings this year. I was a reader for my step-brother's wedding in April, where I got to spend some quality time in Iowa.
And I had my bridesmaid debut in my good friend/college roommate's wedding a few weeks ago. I spent lots of time and had a ton of fun helping plan the bachelorette party, and had a great time spending about a week on my old stomping grounds in Madison! Although I now feel ancient because college kids look 12.
And I had my bridesmaid debut in my good friend/college roommate's wedding a few weeks ago. I spent lots of time and had a ton of fun helping plan the bachelorette party, and had a great time spending about a week on my old stomping grounds in Madison! Although I now feel ancient because college kids look 12.
And all the time in-between was spent living it up in SoCal with new friends as well as old, doing anything from having a sangria-off (mine won), to dressing up as the Goonies at an 80s party, to shenanigans at the 6-man tournament.
See, I haven't just been sitting on the couch...at least not most of the time :-)
That being said...I [finally] MISS RUNNING. I'm not sure how much I miss all the required time needed to train well, but I miss having goals and impressing myself when I achieve them. I miss how refreshed and strong you feel after completing a long run. And most of all, I miss races, with all the people and the sense of accomplishment after crossing the finish line, especially with a surprisingly fast time.
So that I have something to work towards, I signed up for the Surf City Half...my comeback race! I'm going to be starting over from scratch with the mileage and speed, and don't plan on doing any fulls in the near future, but I'm looking forward to see what I can do. Time to remember how to create a training plan...is there an app for that yet?
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I had a 1.5 year forced break (injury) from running after my sophomore year of college. Was probably the best thing that ever happened to my running though. I came back more excited and ready to really enjoy it because it's what I loved, not because I was being told to run. Running will always be there, just get to it when you want and don't stress over it. Just enjoy the training for the half and you'll fall in love with it all over again! Glad you're back :)
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