Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

See what I did there? Where's that casually whistling emojii when I need it?

This is like the time my coworker spelled my name wrong, I called him on it (mostly jokingly), and he then went back and corrected the original misspelling. But in that case there was no evidence. There is something here that will always remain ...
And I think we can both agree that the AL is better than the NL ... even though the NL isn't terrible
 
This isn't the running thread. College sports are not allowed here.
If you're looking for an NHL team to root for, I recommend the Rangers. Hopefully now that Alain Vigneault (the worst coach ever) is gone we'll get ourselves a drink from Lord Stanley's Cup.
And replaced with a College coach, Dave Quinn from BU. 1994 seems like yesterday for me, compared to the wait before that! I'll be rooting for John Gilmour on defense [refer to avatar].
 
This is like the time my coworker spelled my name wrong, I called him on it (mostly jokingly), and he then went back and corrected the original misspelling. But in that case there was no evidence. There is something here that will always remain ...
Well yes, but in my defense, I referenced that I had done something to your post so I stand by my statement. I like the NL better. But as always once my Giants are out of the race, I cheer for not the Dodgers to win the World Series. So I cheered for the Astros last year.
 
And replaced with a College coach, Dave Quinn from BU. 1994 seems like yesterday for me, compared to the wait before that! I'll be rooting for John Gilmour on defense [refer to avatar].

It may be no 50+ years, but 25 years is long enough for me :). I'm excited to see how Quinn does, especially because they do tend to have a very young team.
And so cool that someone from your school is on the Rangers! Hopefully he will do Providence College proud :)

Well yes, but in my defense, I referenced that I had done something to your post so I stand by my statement. I like the NL better. But as always once my Giants are out of the race, I cheer for not the Dodgers to win the World Series. So I cheered for the Astros last year.

I like the Dodgers...

---

In other news...
1 - I plugged the Garmin in with 1% battery left. I made it! That was like 30 minutes ago ... up to 49% now. This thing charges relatively fast.
2 - A few months ago, I decided to try to remove negativity from my life. I knew it would be hard, so one of the places I started was to remove myself from conversations that I felt were too negative (when I can), where I felt like my presence or input was not wanted, or where I felt like I was starting to become negative. In terms of the boards, that has meant unwatching some threads (and leaving at least one group private conversation, possibly more, I don't remember) ... but I think I may eventually get to the point where I'm unwatching more threads than I'm watching. Including this one, possibly. Which makes me wonder if the problem is the boards or me (it's probably me, honestly ...)
3 - Race suspense post coming soon, hopefully tonight or tomorrow. Was gonna sleep in before my run tomorrow, but life...
 


Back to Basics: Race Suspense

As some of you who have been around for a bit may remember, this training journal started as a way for me to force other people to make my race decisions for me. Today we go back to basics.

Here are the races I'm looking at for late October/November: (I may do none or I may do all three, so it's not necessarily a matter of choosing - comments should be made on each race's merits individually, not how it compares to other races on the list).

ETA: This is all for my post-Staten Island Half schedule. I'm still planning on doing that one as a supported training run. That's October 14th ... aka two weeks after the Bronx 10 Mile and 2 weeks before the first race on this race suspense list.

Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff – Sunday, October 28th
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This 5-mile race is the official-ish start to NYC marathon week. Since a lot of this year has been about getting myself guaranteed entry to the 2019 marathon, I thought this race would be a nice way for me to start transitioning into marathon training (even though a) NYC will not be my first marathon, and b) I will already be almost a month into training by then).

Race takes place in Central Park and ends at the marathon finish line (it’s one of three races that end there – the other two being the Abbot Dash to the Finish Line 5K the day before the marathon and … the marathon).

PROS:
  • Start of the marathon excitement
  • Last chance to get a finish line high five from Peter Ciaccia (NYRR President of Events – the marathon will be his last race before he retires)
  • Free Poland Spring Sparkling Water at the post-race festival (we usually buy it at Costco, but … it’s not free at Costco)
CONS:
  • I’ve finally come to terms with Central Park (although I still think there are too many hills), but I’ve run enough races there this year that I’m not dying to do another one.
  • I think that one of the reasons that I’ve been so meh about running lately is that I overloaded my race schedule. While I certainly wouldn’t not run any more races, I think I need to be pickier about my races, and this doesn’t feel like a “must do” race for me.
This might be a race that I decide to do relatively last-minute (if it’s available ... which it might not be since it's already near capacity).

Rangerstown 5K – Date Unknown
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Together we are Rangerstown.

When I was a young kid, one of the local high schoolers who babysat for us was a huge hockey fan. In fact, one of the reasons why he liked babysitting for us was because we had cable and he did not, so he could watch games on cable at our house. That’s how I became a hockey fan. This was in the early 90’s, and when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, they became my team. Over the past 10 years or so, I’ve found myself loving hockey more and more. So when they announced the first Rangerstown 5K, I wanted to be a part of it … but it was on a Saturday. So no dice. (Plus, it was in Westchester, so … meh)

Fast forward to September 2017. I see a tweet about the 2nd Annual Rangerstown 5K … and this one is on a Sunday. And not only is it on a Sunday, but it’s in Flushing Meadows Park, aka a 15 minute drive from my house. I signed up right away.

Fast forward to race day. After having seen advertising for the race while watching hockey games, I wasn’t sure what kind of crowd there would be. I didn’t know if it would be runners or fans, families or people running solo. It seemed like a mixture of everything. The vibe in the air was definitely “fan event,” but that didn’t seem to detract at all from the race. As a Rangers fan and a runner, I loved it. This was by far my favorite race of 2017.

And it certainly didn’t hurt that I shaved almost 3 minutes off of my 5K PR.

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PROS:
  • I loved this race so much last year that I would have done it again the next day if I could have. I’ve been looking forward to this year’s race since last year’s ended.
  • If the race is in Flushing Meadows Park again, I think I have a good shot at sub-30. Which is pretty crazy if you consider the fact that until a little over a year ago, my 5K PR was over an hour (oh runDisney...). But I was pretty close last year and I think that with a few changes (aka no water stop) and better training, I can do it.
  • I love hockey. I love the Rangers. Coach and I have had several conversations about the fact that I do better when I'm enjoying my run, and this a run I could really enjoy.
CONS:
  • It’s probably going to be the week after the NYC marathon. I’m not planning on running on marathon Sunday (because volunteering then spectatoring then celebrating with a friend). Sunday is generally my long run day. So that means two weeks in a row without a long run (I’ve tried the “mixing long run with short race” thing and I just haven’t been able to make it work … and I definitely wouldn’t do that for a huge goal race like this) ... unless I do another "long run during the week" thing like I did when I went to Philly.
  • I don't know when or where it's going to be. For all I know, it could be on a Saturday in Westchester again (although if it is the week after the marathon, I think they have a game Saturday and are off Sunday). So it's hard to plan for a race that I don't know the basic details.
Scheduling permitting, I'll most likely end up doing this one again.

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Prospect Park Track Club Turkey Trot 5M - Thursday, November 22nd
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In November 2015, this was my first adult non-runDisney race. I've done it every year since. It's a 9am race on Thanksgiving day in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. For the last two years, Beth has done this one too, but she doesn't know if she'll be home for Thanksgiving morning this year (late classes on Wednesday), so she's not planning to do it.
Here are some recaps: last year, and first time I ran it (2015)
This race tends to sell out very early, so I really need to make the decision ASAP.

PROS:
  • Tradition!
  • Nice medal. Plus, the giveaway is a hat ... so not just another shirt! (Although I already have 4 race hats...)
  • Decent course for a supported training run (I think I would not race this one)
CONS:
  • Last year I was kinda blah about it ... I didn't hate it, but I wasn't super excited to come back for another year.
  • Brooklyn. Sigh. This is the race that my dad always drives me too and I always feel terrible about it (although if I'm living in Manhattan, which is a possibility, the train might not be as much of a hassle)

So ... that's what's on my radar. Thoughts? Ideas? Recommendations? I'm interested to know what everyone thinks!
 
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Rangerstown. There was an excitement coming through the words that you wrote and you are crazy happy in those photos!
 


Why not do the Rangers one and the half? The half will make a great fully supported training run.

Which half? Staten Island? I'm still planning on doing that one. It just doesn't go in the race suspense post because I'm already registered.
Or is there another half that I was considering that I'm forgetting about right now?

You know what my vote is.

You should come down and join me :)

---

It seems like Rangerstown is a pretty unanimous yes ... which is what I was thinking too. If I end up only doing one race, that will probably be the one.
Thanks for all the insight!
 
Which half? Staten Island? I'm still planning on doing that one. It just doesn't go in the race suspense post because I'm already registered.
Or is there another half that I was considering that I'm forgetting about right now?

That's the one I meant. I read the suspense as you were dropping it for something else.
 
That's the one I meant. I read the suspense as you were dropping it for something else.

Okay. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. That one's definitely still on the schedule. I need it for my 2019 NYC Half guaranteed entry. The suspense is for what happens after that race. I probably could have been a little more clear about that...
 
And ... I just discovered that bib pickup for the Bronx 10 Mile starts on Thursday. I thought I would have to wait until the middle of next week. So now I have lots and lots of options for when to go. It will probably depend on when I'm not running late for work.
I also just sent an email to NYRR about the medal engraving (due to yet another random holiday that nobody's ever heard of, I won't have time for medal engraving and I want my medal engraved) ... I don't think they'll do anything for me, but I had to try. If the answer is that they can't help me, one of you may have to come to NYC to get my medal from me on Sunday morning and then take it in to get it engraved for me, and then you'll have to stick around until Wednesday (October 3rd) so that I can pick it up from you on my way to work. Any volunteers?

Also ... literally no idea what I'm wearing to that race. But more on that in the pre-race update, which will be coming at some point between now and the race.

Also, they released the medal for the Staten Island Half (which I am definitely running ... I need to go back and edit the race suspense post to avoid any confusion) on Friday and I think I like it. I will post a picture in with the weekly recap, if I ever get around to writing that.
 
I like the Dodgers...
No worries. One of my best friends has been a Dodgers fan from birth. We both love baseball, just happen to cheer for each other's archival.

but I think I may eventually get to the point where I'm unwatching more threads than I'm watching. Including this one, possibly. Which makes me wonder if the problem is the boards or me (it's probably me, honestly ...)
I've understood most of your potentially "controversial" posts here to be semi tongue in cheek and trying to make sure that discussion stays reasonably on track. It can be so difficult to understand tone online. I wouldn't worry about it. You're so very supportive to so many people in this community.

Fast forward to race day. After having seen advertising for the race while watching hockey games, I wasn’t sure what kind of crowd there would be. I didn’t know if it would be runners or fans, families or people running solo. It seemed like a mixture of everything. The vibe in the air was definitely “fan event,” but that didn’t seem to detract at all from the race. As a Rangers fan and a runner, I loved it.
I felt the same way before the Giant race. I think it had a similar atmosphere. It was definitely a more serious race than runDisney with the only "costume" being a guy who attempted to set the Guiness world record for competing a half marathon in full baseball uniform.

If the race is in Flushing Meadows Park again, I think I have a good shot at sub-30. Which is pretty crazy if you consider the fact that until a little over a year ago, my 5K PR was over an hour (oh runDisney...).
Granted I've only run one 5K and it was at runDisney, but that means that my 5K time is only 6 minutes slower than my 10K PR.

I'd definitely go with the Rangerstown unless it has a scheduling conflict. You clearly really love that experience and I think it's important to make sure we have experiences that make us want to keep doing this so we can look to them when it gets difficult. And it always will.
 
Granted I've only run one 5K and it was at runDisney, but that means that my 5K time is only 6 minutes slower than my 10K PR.

When I started doing local races, one of the fun things was setting new PRs. I cut my 5K PR in half and shaved 54 minutes off my 10K PR. If I do end up running the NYC marathon, that's going to be another one of those - my goal will be to shave 2 hours off my PR.
runDisney PRs are fun.

I'd definitely go with the Rangerstown unless it has a scheduling conflict. You clearly really love that experience and I think it's important to make sure we have experiences that make us want to keep doing this so we can look to them when it gets difficult. And it always will.

Thanks for the input! I totally agree - in life and in running, it's important to have those great experiences that help keep you going during the rough times and remind you that there are things you love out there.
 
runDisney PRs are fun.
I'm starting to refer to those races as "character PRs."

I totally agree - in life and in running, it's important to have those great experiences that help keep you going during the rough times and remind you that there are things you love out there.
I think this can be why training for your first race is so difficult. You may not really know why you're putting yourself through all this as you have not experience the fun and exhilaration of race day. Because in the end, I still think we feel good about finishing a race that didn't go our way. But without that experience, we're not really sure what we're doing.
 
New Balance Bronx 10 Mile: Training Week 6 Recap
Taper-ish

I'm in that weird point where I'm a little bit in taper because I did my longest run already, but I still have one tempo run to go, so I'm not fully in taper. Taper will be coming soon. Probably sooner than expected, actually. Because life.
Also, I usually take notes during the week so that I know what to write in these recaps. I didn't so much do that this week. So this will be either very short or entirely made up.

Monday - Rosh Hashanah, Day 1
  • Running: None
  • Cross Training: None
  • Food: Ate okay, not great.
  • Life: Rest Day #1. Spent the morning at services ... was a little tired, but otherwise okay. Took a nice afternoon nap.
Tuesday - Rosh Hashanah, Day 2
  • Running: None
  • Cross Training: None
  • Food: Did not eat okay.
  • Life/Work: So, last year the day before Rosh Hashanah I bought two new pairs of heels, and I wore those shoes on the two days of Rosh Hashanah and was fine. Planned to do the same thing this year (the same shoes, not new shoes). Was fine in my navy pumps the first day, but wore my brown heels on the second day and couldn't stand in them. My left ankle kept rolling out. I had to wear my mom's sneakers. I haven't had problems in those shoes before, so I'm really nervous that something is wrong with my leg. We'll see what happens. Stress level 10 ... but I only wore my watch for a few hours.
Wednesday
  • Running: None
  • Cross Training: None
  • Food: Did not eat all the chocolates at work. Did not eat anything at work ... I was fasting. Fast ended around 7:45, and I was actually okay after that - didn't do the post-fast binge that I sometimes do. Nice.
  • Work/Life: Meh. Not being able to drink water at work is hard. I was a little grouchy and a little headache-y all day, but I took out my contacts when my eyes started to hurt and I survived. I'm pretty sure nobody noticed that I was gone for two days. Stress level 12 ... I didn't have the energy for a higher stress level.
Thursday
  • Running: 1 mi WU + 20 minutes 10K + 1+ mi CD - 4.01 miles, 48:08 minutes, 12:00 min/mi avg pace
    • Tempo was originally scheduled for Friday (this was supposed to be 4 miles EC), but I switched because I didn't want to tempo on the treadmill (Friday was a 5am treadmill run).
    • I've started tracking my tempo by time instead of mileage because I set up the workouts by time (x repeats of intervals of 2 mins running and 30 seconds recovery/walking), and while theoretically that should correspond to the right number of miles, it doesn't because I'm slow.
    • 10K pace was about a minute slow. I struggled a lot. I think I forgot how long it takes me to recover from fast days. This tempo was scheduled for Friday for a reason. I cannot do tempo the day after fast days.
    • Stopped for a few minutes in mile 1 to vote in the NYS primaries. Yay democratic process! I gotta remember this situation when making the marathon plan ... no matter where I'm living, I'll have to be in Queens on election day because that's where I'm registered to vote.
  • Cross Training: barre3, 1:00:45 hours
    • Instructor was the studio manager, Dino. Last time I had him I was unsure how I felt about his penchant for 4-letter words. I don't know if he used fewer such words this time or if I just didn't notice them, but I really liked his class.
    • Went into class a little bit murder-y because of work. Didn't think I had it in me to push myself. Somehow ended up doing almost all of the hardest levels of everything ... that one hit me by surprise. But it was a pleasant surprise. Exactly what I needed.
  • Food: Ate all the chocolates. I didn't really want chocolate, I wanted iced coffee, but I didn't want to leave the building, so I had to settle for what was there.
  • Life/Work: Work was okay but ended badly. AM weight was very low (it's the "day after a fast" effect), so I started off in a decent mood, but it was mostly an unexceptional day. My scrum master was back after missing two weeks post-surgery (she broke her foot ... can't run the half she was gonna run in October), so it was nice to see her. Stress level 21.
Friday
  • Running: 3.5 mi EC (Treadmill) - 3.51 miles, 41:27 minutes, 11:48 min/mi avg pace
    • Originally scheduled as 1 mi WU + 2 mi 10K + 0.5 mi CD (3.5 total mi), but since I did tempo on Thurs, I did this as 3.5 mi EC on the treadmill.
    • I wanted to leave for work around 7:15ish, so I wanted to be done with this run around 6ish, which meant starting by 5:15. I actually didn't start until 5:23, so I was a little behind schedule. Went a drop fast just to get it done.
    • I woke up in the middle of a dream where I was trying to be quiet on the treadmill so as to not wake up my family. So I tried to be quiet on the treadmill. I wore my lighter shoes, even though I had worn them the day before and I don't love them on the treadmill. I kept the volume on the TV low. Watched the end of Legally Blonde and then a rerun of PM SportsCenter. Wasn't in love with either one. Just a blah run overall.
    • I realized that I hate the 5am wakeups. They do not work for me. I want to limit myself to at most two 5am wakeups a week starting in October, and since one of those may be Friday (because I get to work early so that I can leave early and I do my hair before work), I will have to figure out how I want to balance running less and getting to work later. I will definitely need to do a little of both. But I have some time to figure it out.
  • Cross Training: None
  • Food: Probably bad.
  • Life/Work: Weight was down. Good commute. Got to work early. Work was meh because things were slow so I couldn't do everything I needed to do. But mostly fine. Stress level 32. Saw a picture of the Staten Island Half medal on my way home from work. I think it's the ferry. I like it. The post-race Ferry photoshoot will be interesting ... trying to decide if I'm willing to ride the ferry multiple times to make sure I get the good pictures. #Millenial
Staten Island Half Marathon Medal (October 14th):
DnFVWKqXgAEISRA.jpg:large


Saturday
  • Running: None
  • Cross Training: None
  • Food: Meh
  • Life: Life was life. Nothing much happened. Went to bed late because I was watching Pitch Perfect 3 on the HBO West Coast feed. Stress level 12.
Sunday
  • Running: 6.5 mi Easy/LR intervals - 6.54 miles, 1:27:09 hours, 13:19 min/mi avg pace
    • This was scheduled for 7 miles, but after the late bedtime, I woke up later, and then I just wasn't in the mood. I decided to do whatever felt right ... it felt right to turn around at 3 miles and then plan to do a loop around the ballfields to get in a little extra distance. All things considered, this was a decent run and I'm happy with it.
    • Miles 1,3, and 5 were over 13 min/mi. Miles 2 and 4 were not. I was expecting mile 6 to be in the 12s like 2 and 4 ... but it was 14:08. I'm weird.
    • Had some pain in my left leg. I'm really starting to wonder if something is wrong. I hope not. It's two weeks to race day ... ain't nobody got time for injuries. Sigh.
  • Cross Training: None
  • Food: Not great. Probably ate too much. Don't really care. Drinking my last Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner right now ... I gotta figure out what I want to get next, but since I don't know when my brother will have time to go to the beer store, I don't know when I need to figure that out. Sigh.
  • Life: Started off as a pretty good day. Some stress later in the day. Stress level 26, which seems low, since I was wearing my Garmin while dealing with the treadmill (see below).
    • Spent some time trying to figure out how I want to set up the data fields on my Garmin for my race (I created a separate activity called "Race" where I will have all these settings so that I don't have to mess around with my regular run settings). I'm trying to find a good race predictor and/or pace-band-like thing, but so far nothing I liked. I tried that Race Screen data field some people seem to like and it just didn't feel right to me ... the info is good, but it's not what I want. Right now I have one screen that just gives me time, distance, average pace, and time of day (which is fairly similar to the first screen on my regular run), but I feel like I want one or two more metrics, I just don't know if I know what. I dunno. I gotta keep trying things. (Also, somehow all my widgets got messed up and I just noticed and now I have to fix it ... sigh)
    • Lubricated the treadmill, which was harder than I thought but fine, but then wanted to realign it because it was off a little and I overcorrected and there was a giant mess involved in fixing it. Very stressful and frustrating.
Overall Week Stats:
Running: 3 runs, 14.06 miles, 2:56:44 hours, 12:34 min/mi avg pace
Barre3: 1 class, 1:00:45 hours
Weight: Down 0.5 lb from last Sunday (yay!), but also up quite a bit from earlier in the week. I have another fast on Wednesday, so the key for this week will be to figure out how to keep the post-fast weight loss.

I'm currently scheduled for my last tempo run on Tuesday, but I have to leave mad early on Tuesday, so I want to get to work early, so I'm thinking that instead of 5am treadmilling again, I'll run tomorrow (but Sarah, what about no Mondays???) and take Tuesday as another rest day. Yom Kippur (another religious observance day, also a fast day) on Wednesday, 3 miles EC on Thursday, and 5 mi Easy/LR intervals on Sunday. And then it's race week!
I'm currently scheduled for barre3 on Monday and Thursday, and barring anything new coming up, I will likely go to both ... unless I decide to take one night to go shopping after work because I need shoes and dresses. Sigh.
I can probably start checking weather pretty soon ... not that I have any idea what I want to wear, other than maybe a "Boogie Down Bronx" theme (I'm not entirely sure what that means, just btw). Thinking about maybe doing a Yankees theme for the Staten Island Half, but not sure how I'd do it, since I keep not buying the Yankees running headband when I go to Trenton, and I didn't see it at the Stadium or in Staten Island. I suck.

On Expiration Dates and Unfinished Business
For a long time, I had an expiration date on my running. Not like "I have to stop running on January 5th, 2021" expiration date, but more like I knew that when I hit a certain stage of my life, I wouldn't be running anymore. For reasons I'm not comfortable discussing (I know I overshare a lot, but there are some things I just can't talk about), that's not really a factor anymore. And I think not having that expiration date was a contributing factor to all the running-related stress I've been experiencing lately. I never wanted to be someone who runs until she can't run anymore. I know many people do that and that's awesome for them, and I will be there screaming and cheering the whole time, but ... that's not who I am. And not knowing when that end was going to come was a little stressful.

I have an expiration date now ... but not entirely. I realized last week that it's either NYC Marathon 2019 or Coast-to-Coast, whichever comes later (meaning that if C2C comes back in 2019, I'll do it then and NYC marathon will be my last distance race*, but if it doesn't, I'll keep training for distance until C2C comes back). But that's just for distance running. As of right now, I will probably continue to run 3-5 miles 2-3 times per week, and maybe run the occasional 5K or even 10K if something interesting comes up (*cough*Rangerstown*cough*), but after that expiration date, I think I want to stop running longer distances.

But ... unfinished business. I want to do more runDisney. I want to run in cities all over the world. How can I do that if I stop running?
But I realized today that while I would enjoy those things, I don't have to do all those things. I have to get a C2C. I'm not sure I want to, but I have to run NYC. But other races ... if I get to do them, awesome, but if not, not. So the way I see it ... if I have the opportunity to register for a half that interests me, then I'll train for that race. And when that race is over, I'll go back to shorter distances. Just because I'm not always training for distance doesn't mean I can't occasionally train for distance.

So ... that's what's been up with me and what's been going through my head for the last week.
 
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Hi Sarah, am I too late to vote? It sounds like you'll end up doing the Rangerstown race, which sounds fun! I wanted to also put in a plug for the Poland Springs run. I live in NYC and have done that one before, and it's fun. Even though I run in Central Park all the time, there was a different feeling that day for that race. For someone like me who has never done (and never will do!) the NYC marathon, it's pretty exciting to run in Central Park and cross the same finish line where the marathon will take place. There's a really exciting vibe. I know you are planning to do the NYC marathon in the future, so it may not be the same, but for me it was pretty cool. Either way, you have three great options! (And on a separate note, I admire how you plan and do a great job of sticking to your training!)
 
The post-race Ferry photoshoot will be interesting ... trying to decide if I'm willing to ride the ferry multiple times to make sure I get the good pictures. #Millenial
Whlle not a millennial, I also sometimes think "I really wish I had taken that particular photo with a race medal." I enjoy seeing the different fun medal photo ideas runners come up with. I saw somebody do one of those distance jersey photos where the guy was standing far enough behind his Giant Race photo so that it looked like he was wearing his medal as a jersey.

I never wanted to be someone who runs until she can't run anymore. I know many people do that and that's awesome for them, and I will be there screaming and cheering the whole time, but ... that's not who I am. And not knowing when that end was going to come was a little stressful.
I've sometimes registered for races because the future is so unknown at times that I wanted to take advantage when the opportunity arose in case it never comes up again.

But ... unfinished business. I want to do more runDisney. I want to run in cities all over the world. How can I do that if I stop running?
But I realized today that while I would enjoy those things, I don't have to do all those things. I have to get a C2C. I'm not sure I want to, but I have to run NYC. But other races ... if I get to do them, awesome, but if not, not. So the way I see it ... if I have the opportunity to register for a half that interests me, then I'll train for that race. And when that race is over, I'll go back to shorter distances. Just because I'm not always training for distance doesn't mean I can't occasionally train for distance.
I think this a very healthy attitude to have. You need to enjoy running on your terms and for your reasons. That also means enjoying it at the distances and time duration that you want to. Like you said, you can always train for a longer distance if you find a race that you want to run. And there may be plenty of shorter races that fit your needs.

I think we're happier as runners when we run on our own terms and for our own reasons.
 

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