We’re coming up on one month post-Tam 50k, which feels like it was both yesterday and about a hundred years ago at this point. That, combined with CIM being over the weekend and seeing tons of friends and teammates absolutely crush it, has got me excited to begin training in earnest again. The difference, of course, is that instead of going for a hilly-as-hell trail 50k, I’ll be returning to the good ol’ road marathon. Can’t wait!

That said, I still am holding on tightly to my plan of not committing to anything during this post-Tam down period. Some days, it is harder than others. Needless to say, it has been refreshing to run “as the spirit moves me” each day, and some days, that means not running and simply going for a walk – usually at nighttime – and usually with a daughter or two. It is actually really reinvigorating; who knew? Running with Janet again as she begins to build postpartum fitness is also really exciting, and I enjoy being her hype girl for her postpartum run/walk sessions. It’s exciting.  

I also stepped outside my comfort zone this week and went to my first Pilates reformer and chair class at the gym, and I actually really enjoyed it and have signed up for subsequent classes. I am consistently, predictably horrible when it comes to doing cross-training or really, any ancillary work to speak of, in the throes of heavy marathon training, so I am hoping that by piquing my interest in something new-to-me now, that I’ll be more inclined to keep up the habit (or at least try, even a little) in the course of training. For much of this past year, even though I have a gym membership for my kids’ swimming, I rarely used the gym, myself. I’m trying to change that and become more consistent with my strength and core work, particularly because I want to keep doing this stuff for as long as I possibly can. In my dream, it is going to help set me up for a strong ’22 of racing.

One week closer to beginning training-for-something and one week closer to my kids’ winter break. Looking forward to it, all of it.