See J run: an update

I haven't talked much about running lately.  Or much about anything actually (bad blogger!).  But I'm coming back from a nagging injury, have acquired a new nagging injury, yet am loving my spring runs.

I signed up for a race series last fall -- three races between December and February -- just to give myself a reason to keep running through the winter.  It worked.  I even bought a three-month pass to the rec center near my office so I could run on a treadmill on those days when the temperature was in the single digits.  I ran in the worst possible weather -- wind, sleet, freezing cold.  I ran on streets when the trails were too muddy or icy.  I took running gear with me when I traveled for business, and found great runs all over the country and hit the treadmill in a few hotel gyms.  I was the Energ!zer Bunny -- I kept going and going and going.

Race #1 went great.  It was my first race ever, and I finished faster than I expected to, which really got me excited.

Then I got hurt.  I'm not even sure exactly what I did, but my medial hamstring hurt like a mother for weeks.  I ended up skipping race #2.  I quit running for about ten days, but it didn't seem to make all that much difference, so I started back slowly.  That didn't make it any worse, so I kept going.

Race #3 was even more fun than the first!  Once gain, I finished faster than I expected to (although I'm sure my time would have been even better if I hadn't taken off those 10 days in January).

Unfortunately, while the hamstring has been feeling better & better, now my right ankle hurts.  I gave it a two-day break, but it hurt again after the very next run.  I'm going to keep going as long as it doesn't get worse.  If it does, I guess I'll go to the doctor.  I am resisting this, because I know the first thing she will say is that I have to stop running for awhile.  I don't want to!

So now I've finished my race series, and rather than be left without goals, I've come up with some new ones:

Mother's Day -- I'm running a 9K.  An odd distance, I know, and it will be a bummer not to have a 10K PR to work off of.  But it should be a fun race -- all women -- and there's a kids' race before it for the monkeys.  B is already psyched for it and has been doing some backyard training.

September -- I'm either going to do a half-marathon, or a full marathon.  I haven't decided which yet; it'll depend on how many miles I am able to get in over the spring.  I have to decide which race to enter by May 31.