Where has the time gone???

So I have been so focused on running long distances this winter on my treadmill that I have totally neglected my blogging.  I have not actually run that many races so far this year.  But here's a quick recap of January, February, and so far in March.

January started out with the Boston Strong 10K Virtual run which I completed on my treadmill.  I wasn't going for a PR or anything, I just wanted to run the miles.  I mean it felt really good to run for such an awesome cause and my medal is fabulous.  It has to be one of my favorite medals.  

My obsession in January and February was to see how many miles I could run on the treadmill.  I started off with 10 miles, since I could do 6 or 7, why not 10.  Once I hit that mark it was, let's go for a half marathon (13.1).  It only continued to 15 miles but that is beastly on a treadmill.  I became totally obsessed with increasing my total mileage each week, that it was all that thought about and it got to the point about 2 weeks ago that I freaked when I didn't reach double digits on my weekend runs.  It didn't matter how slow I went just that I ran double digits. I have totally worn out my legs and have found that my speed is deteriorating.  Really it's not by much because I'm not really that fast to begin with.  I can tell that my legs are stronger, but it takes me a lot longer to get into the groove and find my happy pace.  Lately when I go for a run it takes me until about mile 4 or 5 to really find a groove.  I'm going to try to take it easy until Marathon training starts in about a week.  This week I ran to just enjoy being able to!  It felt amazing!

So on to February.  This month I ran another virtual run for a wildlife park.  This was an any distance run so I ran 8 miles outside with my yak tracks which was awesome!  I love my yak tracks.  They are really nice on ice and snow.  I felt much safer in them.  I got a really cute medal for this run also.  It has a groundhog on it!!!

Ok so after my obsession with mileage in January, February, and the beginning of March, I ran one of the most fun 5Ks.  I ran in the Shamrock N Run for the Boys and Girls Club of Janesville (my home town).  I was signed up for the 10K but this was cancelled due to the conditions of the trails.  I ran pretty well for the actual race and then joined a local running group to make the loop again!  They were much faster than me, but I managed to keep up for the most part and the "father" of the group kept pace with me and we talked about running and joining in on more runs with this group.  I had so much fun running with other people!  I always thought that I was a loner when it came to running, but what I have found out through racing is that I run much faster and push myself farther when I am with other people.  I'm excited to run with the Run Janesville group more often.  

When we came back from our run it was time for the awards.  Since my hubs and kids were Eagle watching, I decided to hang out and see who the winners were.  I'm all about supporting each other so I wanted to be there to cheer for them.  Well come to find out, I WON THIRD PLACE FOR MY AGE GROUP!!!!  Wow!!  I never saw that coming! It was awesome!  I also won the Blarney award for being the middle of the pack runner!  Two awards in one day!  Boy was I especially glad that I went for that extra run and that I stuck around for the awards!

My Blarney was made by the kids of the Boys and Girls Club.  I love it!!! Can you tell I was just a little excited about my awards????

This was my bib for the race.  My mom's friend Diane passed away in January from cancer.  She had been fighting cancer for many years.  She was a Colonel in the United States Army and an avid runner and Volksmarcher.  When she passed, I vowed to run all my races this year in her honor!  I will be writing this on all my bibs this year.  She was such an inspiration to so many.  She will be greatly missed.  

After this race, I vowed to work more on my speed instead of just distance.  I still want to increase my distances, but I want to push myself to run faster and be able to maintain that speed for a longer period of time.  This is my goal for the rest of March and April.  I start my 1/2 marathon training in about a week which includes speed work and hills so that will really help.  I thinking heading out on Sundays for group runs will help also.  I'm loving being able to push myself beyond what I used to think I could do.  

Here's to a speedy rest of March and a fast April my fellow runners.

Run on!