Running Update

15 years. 

I realized today that I have been running and racing consistently since the summer I turned 13, during June of which I ran the William Irvin 5K in Duluth.  Yesterday I turned 28, so it's abundantly clear that I've been running for longer than 15 years - all of my teenage years and all of my adult life.  I've done a good amount - 6 marathons, several halves, and distances from 2 miles to the 10K in between. 

I'm currently on day 65 of my running streak, having completed a nice and hot five-miler an hour ago or so.  I'm finding that the streak is having positive and negative impacts - on the positive side, I feel really confident in my running, with few problems with injury (aside from my IT band, which I'll get to in a second), and I'm getting relatively fast, averaging in the low 8 min/mile pace.  Unfortunately, the frequency of running means that I'm not doing as much distance (I've not run longer than 45 minutes at a time during the streak), and - coupled with the heat and humidity - I'm finding it difficult to make extra time to run longer than that.  I have my occasional moments (such as the 5-miler today) but otherwise it's a lot of 2, 3, and 4-mile runs.  I'm also fairly tired, but that's more of a general thing (especially from having the dog). 

In doing the streak, several important aspects of maintaining the streak have come to light. 

1. Stretching.  I had some trouble sleeping in the days after getting the dog because my IT bands were so tight that I could not sleep on my side.  I've been doing the foam roller thing, and they feel much better.  I'm not sure if I would have had to worry about it without the streak, but now that I'm firmly entrenched in running every day it's become a necessity.  
2. Nutrition is also important, as I need high-quality foods to achieve my running goals... not that I'm always getting them, but I'm trying!
3. Rest.  I need to get more sleep, getting to bed earlier, because no matter what I do 5:45 am will be coming and my dog will be calling.
4. Prioritization.  Finding the time to run and do it for more than 10 minutes at a time has been relatively difficult, so I've had to make some changes to my schedule.  More short runs in the morning, more trips to the gym during the day, so that I don't have to worry about fitting in the run at the last minute.  

As far as goals go these days, I've been focused mainly on continuing the streak.  My thoughts about running a fall marathon go back and forth, with money and time being the hottest commodities that I don't seem to be willing to live without.  Thinking about it some more (and on the suggestion of one of my friends) I'm thinking of doing a few 5K's this fall to test out my speed.  I had a good race earlier this year, but I think I can do better, and the recent performances I've been having on the track are convincing me that this is true.  I also think I can turn out a half marathon without much training, so hey, you never know. 

Overall, it's going well!  I'm not doing a lot of long running, and (unfortunately) not a lot of trail running, but I'll have the opportunity to do both next week on vacation in Northern Minnesota.  Should be a fun time!

As a side note, for my birthday the wife bought me many, many pairs of socks, a pair of gaiters (which are geared more for winter hiking and comically tall, but I'm still going to use them on the trails), and a new, professional messenger bag!  I'm pretty happy right now!