I’ve beefed up my jogging a bit in the past few weeks. Over the Winter, I was able to get in some frequent jogs despite the chilly weather. Around that time, I started investigating the possibility of trying for a Half Marathon sometime this year. Based on how long I’ve got available over the Summer, and distance to travel, I decided the Kansas City Half Marathon in October seems like an appropriate option. As such, I upped my nearly daily jogging time from 20 minutes daily-ish to 25 minutes whenever I could get around to it. In the last few weeks, I’ve consistently fit in 3.5 mi runs on a semi-regular basis.
Over Spring Break, the weather wasn’t particularly pleasant so I had to go jogging at the Malcolm Center on campus to get some treadmill time in. Meg was in school, so I had plenty of time available to push it a bit further, hitting 8 miles on one occasion (in ~75 min) and the next day, another 7 miles (in ~60 min).
That second run (literally the day after I ran for the longest I’ve ever run…) got a bit painful, so I’ve tried taking it a little easier since.
This week, put in a few more 60 min runs, hitting 7.21 mi the first time (Sunday) and 7.44 mi today. The extra rest between days helped my feet (though I threw in a short-ish run yesterday), but I also picked up some new shoes late last week. I broke them in yesterday, though I wore them around the house this weekend to flex them a bit.
As I alluded to, today’s run went significantly better than Sunday’s did, despite the temperature being a little colder. The new shoes are certainly “bouncier” than my old pair, though I’m sure I’ve put enough miles into the old ones that they’re past their prime. This is my third pair of Asics and they’ve been serving me well enough.
I’ve got a few months to keep pushing, and once school’s out in early May, I should have plenty of time available. I’m hoping to try running for 13 miles sometime next week when the kids are out of town for their Spring Break, just to see how far I can get. If I can actually maintain my pace, I should be able to do 13 miles in under 2 hours (a valiant goal!)…but as I’ve never actually run for that long, who knows what my legs will feel like when I’m done (my guess: probably bad).
Still, I want to give it a try when I have fewer responsibilities to take care of during that 2 hour period of time. If I can do 13 miles in a semi-reasonable amount of time next week, a half marathon in October should be a piece of cake!
Or I’ll wreck my legs and quit running for awhile. Whichever comes first.
Proud of you, son. Never would have seen this one coming — you, a runner! Even if you don’t do a half-marathon, or don’t make your goal, getting exercise is the important part. Keep moving! 🙂
Thanks, Mom! 🙂