What A Great Week...

Rest is good, of that there is no doubt.  I was on a set training schedule from my birthday (8/9) until the Louisiana Marathon (1/15); that's 5 full months.  This time period also included two 5ks, one 8.5 mile trail race, one 27 mile race (duration event), two marathons and one 50k.  Yep, after Louisiana I was ready for a much needed break.  My body was tired and my mind was tired.  Being on regimented training for that long is tough, mentally & physically draining.  In the 9 days since the Louisiana Marathon I have only run 4 times for a total of 18.96 miles; for me that is practically no running!  My next marathon (the newly renamed Garmin Marathon) is not until 4/21 so I have plenty of time to relax a little.  My plan is to take the 3 weeks following the marathon to just run without a plan.  If I feel like running I will, if I don't I won't.  After that 3 weeks I'll get back to getting ready for the next round of events.

The first week after the Louisiana Marathon (1/16-1/22) I ran 4 times for a total of 18.96 miles.  That's very low mileage for me.  I ran once in Shreveport, LA two days after the marathon with my wife; we were staying there with my grandmother.  It felt good to run in the heat; it was about 74* and humid.  That suits me much better than the weather here even with it being such a mild winter.  That Friday I did an easy 5k on the treadmill, Saturday I did a nice 4.88 miles with the Olathe Running Club and Sunday I did a very nice 6.77 miles on a trail run with two good friends.  I ran when I felt like running, didn't run when I didn't feel like it.  No schedules.  It was kind of nice; I got a chance to recenter a little.  I love running very much, but we all have to slow things down a little from time to time.   That was a nice week to do just that.

The next week (1/23-1/29); last week; was a very interesting and good week!  I still didn't run much.  I did 3 runs totalling 19.65 miles.  I went to the ORC Wednesday Night Run and ran a fast 4.03 with Janee'.  Saturday I decided to try running with another trail running group I hadn't run with before; the Lawrence Trail Hawks.  We met up at Clinton Lake Park in 22* temps with a windchill of 13*.  With such cold temps it was a small group of us running (pictured), it was a fun morning.  I did 9.42 miles with Justin while many of the others went out for another loop to total 19 miles.  Sunday I went to a run I've been meaning to get to for a while; the Sunday RUNday group.  This is a group that several of the ORC members run with.  It was very nice; Dina (the leader of the group) sets up a different 12 mile route (6 out and 6 back) each week and marks the course.  She also puts up water stations every 2 miles.  I did 3.1 out with a couple ORC members then 3.1 back with another ORC member.  It was a very nice morning.

Running and resting were not the only good things about the week though; my race budget also got a lot easy to manage!  On Monday the Hospital Hill Run' FB page asked people to describe themselves in 6 words.  This is a half marathon I plan to run this year.  I typed in "Doesn't always win, always tries hard."  Tuesday they put up 4 of our responses and asked people to vote on them and the winner would win a free entry!!  Thanks to friends from many of my running groups there was a three-way tie that got me and 2 others free entries!!  That was great!!  It got even better after that.  I figured I'd use the money I saved there to find my first trail marathon to run.  That's how I found the Trail Hawks that I mentioned in the last paragraph.  They have an event called the Hawk 100m/50m/marathon.  It takes place at Clinton Lake Park (a trail I had run once before and will run more between now and then) on 9/8; so I decided on doing this one.  After winning the entry to Hospital Hill I was offered entry into 3 other events for some volunteering that I am going to do.  Four race entries!!  Here's my race plan as it currently stands (ever changing):

• 1/15 - The Louisiana Marathon - Baton Rouge, LA
• 3/3 - Mrs. Robinson's Romp Trail 10k - KC, KS
• 3/4 - Pi-Day River Rotation (πR²) Trail Half Marathon - Lawrence, KS
• 3/17 - Aggieville St. Pat's 2 mile Fun Run - Manhattan, KS
• 3/17 - Aggieville St. Pat's 10k - Manhattan, KS
• 4/21 - Garmin Marathon - Olathe, KS
• 5/6 - Lincoln Marathon - Lincoln, NE
• 6/2 - Hospital Hill Half Marathon - KC, MO
• 6/16 - Summer Intro 2.8 mile Trail Run - KC, KS
• 6/29 - Rock The Night Away Trail Half Marathon - Meriden, KS
• 7/4 - Freedom Run 10k - Lenexa, KS
• 7/14 - Psycho Psummer Trail 50k - KC, KS
• 8/3 - Psych Night Trail 10k - KC, KS
• 8/11 - Deanna Rose Farmstead Stampede 5k - Overland Park, KS
• 9/1 - North Shore 8.5 mile Trail Run - Lawrence, KS
• 9/8 - Hawk Trail Marathon - Lawrence, KS
• 9/11 - Patriots' Run (9hr 11min duration event) - Olathe, KS
• 9/23 - Omaha Marathon - Omaha, NE
• 10/13 - Pumpkin Run 5k - Olathe, KS
• 10/14 - On The Road For Education Marathon - Mason City, IA
• 10/20 - Kansas City Marathon - KC, MO
• 10/21 - Des Moines Marathon - Des Moines, IA
• 10/28 - Blue Springs 50k - Independence, MO
• 11/10 - Pilgrim Pacer Marathon - Lenexa, KS
• 11/11 - Veteran's Day Fantastic 4 mile Trail Run - KC, KS
• 12/8 - Alternate Chili 10 mile Trail Fun Run - KC, KS