With the new year, there’s an inherent sense of rebirth and
renewal that makes me all reflective and soul-searchy. I have this blank slate
upon which I can make a fresh start, picking up more mature or beneficial
habits and dropping the not-so-great ones (looking at you, entire pint of Ben
& Jerry’s in one sitting).
Thanks to the dastardly concoction of laziness, cold
weather, and video games, I essentially took 2 months off running. After a
dismal race at the 13.1 Marathon of Trails in October and a ramp up in school
work, I lost all motivation (and free time) to train. Thankfully, the end of
the semester meant 2+ weeks off from my all-consuming classroom, and I used
that free time to jump back into that thing I missed oh-so dearly. Y’see,
perhaps the largest factor for me deciding to take this teaching job in
Colorado Springs was the simple fact that it
was in Colorado Springs. The mecca of trail running, Colorado offered ample
altitude and tremendous trails (and awesome alliteration) that was supposed to
take my running to the next level. And then school happened.
Fortunately, I’ve been able to start this new habit of daily
running, a devotion that’s been in my life (minus these past 2 months) on a religious
level. And so, with this new year and new semester, I’m making it a goal to
start training again. Now, don’t get any delusions – I’ve got months until I really get into some
serious running slash racing, but I miss that daily struggle, step by step, of
trying to physically better myself.
And what better motivation to stick with this resolution
than to sign up for the Colorado Springs Winter Series! Consisting of 4 races
over the course of the next two months, I’ll be able to race increasing
distances with fellow runners, injecting that bit of competition to really keep
me motivated. The Series’ first race is a 7-miler this upcoming weekend
(January 10th) at the Cheyenne Mountain State Park, and while I’m
not expecting much (heck, finishing without walking would be nice), I’m
genuinely excited to get back into this ol’ running thang.
So, expect some race reports in the near future! The race
schedule can be found here: http://www.pprrun.org/events/WinterSeries,
and I’ve begun to regularly use Strava (http://www.strava.com/athletes/3551024?utm_source=top-nav)
to log all my mileage, if you’re really
into stalking me.
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