The Lull

The holidays had arrived.  Oh how I love the holidays.  People being a little more courteous than any other time of year.  The holiday music.  The lights.  The Christmas trees.  The snow.  Gatherings with family and friends where famous recipes make their yearly debut and we all eat a little too much and drink a whole lot more.  This season is also murder on your training schedule.  If you do not belong to a gym and can have use of a treadmill during this time, you are running in the cold rain and snow.  Blech!! That crap is hardcore!


Not that I like treadmills, I hate running on them actually.  I never feel like I'm running, I don't feel like I get the same workout.  With that being said, I still prefer them over running through driving cold rain and frigid snow.  Brrr...I'm getting shivers thinking of it now. That's the runners life in Seattle, you have to have your winter running gear and your spring/summer running gear...and all that gear is expensive!!! 


So since I didn't have the money to get appropriate gear, I would put together items I had and brave the cold and wet runs.  No wicking gear, or base layers, just good old cotton items.  Yay, or something.  Now I would have to run during my lunch time at work because by the time I was out from work, it was far too dark to go running in my neighborhood.  Therefore I would get hot and sweaty and wet from running, I looked like a hot mess when I would get back to my desk after running.  It didn't matter to me though, I didn't want to stop training, I didn't want to stop running.  I had tasted the fruits of my labor and I didn't want to give up on the progress I had made.  Not only that, but my body was transforming and I was losing weight.  Feeling and looking good, great combination from any workout!


I had started to research other races and my next year started to take shape.  2012 was going to be a running year.  I had made the schedule out in my head of what I wanted to accomplish and where I wanted to go.  The one thing I did know for sure is that I wanted to run and I wanted to get better.  I wanted to be more consistent in my running, I wanted to run longer distances and I wanted to run without stopping in a race!  I had goals and I wanted to accomplish them, now how do I train for these?  That's gonna be the tough part.  Or is it?  Never underestimate the power of friends who run, that is my first lesson in this long list of lessons I will eventually learn.  Friends who run are motivation indeed...and just the motivation that I needed.