Definition of the month of march = AMAZING! In march, I traveled to Tampa to run Gasparilla (5k) with the team, spent a week in my Melbourne house with my mom, aunt, and nana, had a lovely spring break, AND went home the last weekend of the month for my brother's wedding. I was able to see my family, boyfriend, and home, which I hadn't seen for three months. Being home was great motivation for me that summer was right around the corner, which means summer training with my running buddy, Shelly!
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| The team at Gasparilla with a runner dressed as a pirate! |
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| My two sisters and my brother's girl friend at my oldest brother's wedding. (Left to right, Colleen, Me, Melanie, Dianna) |
Since being new to running (and only training for the first time ever last summer), I have slowly learned that summer training and building mileage is so very important in order to better a runner's fitness and become stronger in general. Having learned this fact, makes me extremely excited for the possibilities this summer's training has to offer. I'm ready to put my big girl pants on and really pound out the miles this summer.
One of my main focuses and objectives for the summer is to build mileage, but avoid injuries. Having flat feet increases my chances of just about any foot injury one can think of (or so it feels this way). Over the past year of running, which turned into summer training, I have had tendinitis in the same foot. With a longer than expected recovery this winter, I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I was so excited to great a PR after my great training over Christmas break, but I then hit a road block and was forced to take a total of two months off. Yet, taking these months off left me to thinking about how important running is to me. I had certainly fallen off track; I didn't have my training friends to see everyday, being in the slums made me miss home that much more, and I gained a little weight just because it was hard to make it to the gym enough to cross-train the equivalence of a normal run, due to the fact that I was running around 50 mile weeks. Not to mention, school was kicking my butt. With all this extra time for reflection, it made me stronger. I proved to myself that I can battle these injuries and that nothing will stop me.
With this motivation coming off an injury, it's always hard not to get down on yourself the first or two or running. For me, this is like the first 3-4 weeks of running. Getting past this, I am finally enjoying 5-7 mile runs and will hopefully run my first long run this weekend! :) This makes me so excited and relieved I've overcome such a hard, and annoying, battle. I'm eager to share my training on my blog this summer; the ups and downs and how beautiful the weather is in wonderful York Beach, Maine!
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