Hey everyone. Long time no post...mostly because I fell out of running this summer due to some mental health issues. Things are better now on the brain front, but I feel like I've lost whatever base I had. I did manage to get out for a couple of 6 mile walks this summer, but overall it's not been a great season. Now, too, we've had sudden onset of winter, so as I get back into things I'll mostly be rowing for now with longer walks or runs on weekends when I can wait until the sun comes out before I start.
Been looking at the 2020-2021 schedule. The 2021 marathon has been my 'A Goal' for a while now, and that's still on my radar. I'm thinking, though, about adding a runDisney race in 2020 to give myself more motivation. I'm doing a solo, non-running trip in late January 2020 and was already considering upgrading my ticket to an AP to also cover the 2021 Marathon Weekend--I'd be out about $100 more versus buying tickets for each trip separately, and I'm confident I'd at least make that up on discounts, not even counting Memory Maker (which I might want for the marathon). Figured out that if I had an AP, that would drop the cost of a short mid-2020 race trip to where I could afford to add it to my calendar--I'd have to tighten the belt a bit on day to day expenses at home, but it's doable.
The longest race I've done is a 10K back in June, and I barely kept it under 16 minutes/mile. With that in mind, and with the limitations of winter training on my mind, I'm looking ahead to next summer and trying to decide how soon I should plan to run my first half--I want to run at least one of them next year before my first marathon, hopefully two. I'm nervous because that 10K this past June was supposed to be my first half but I wasn't ready in time, and I'm afraid it'll happen again if I try for one too early in the season and kill my confidence...again. My options for running a half next year are pretty much:
April - Star Wars Rival Run Weekend
June - several semi-local half marathons available
August - local half marathon in my own city
November - Wine & Dine weekend
I'm really leery of shooting for April--I'd only just have time to work through the Galloway training plan for the half by then, and I'm not sure I'm even in good enough shape to start that plan. Thoughts? I want to have something closer than the marathon to shoot for to keep me motivated, but I'm not sure how to lay my race calendar out for best effect.
Edit: I talked it over with my housemate, and with her insight into the other stuff going on in our lives, I'm thinking of aiming for the August half marathon and just focusing this winter on building habits and baselines. The house needs a lot of work and it's hard to split my attention--and hard to row regularly when the room where the rower lives is full of junk. So that comes first, then training in earnest starting in the early spring.