Happy National Running Day!

Today is National Running Day!  Running is a somewhat significant part of my life but I also have a serious love/hate relationship with the sport.  I have run a bunch of races and in the past month I have run three (you can read about them here, here and here) but that doesn't mean that running and I always get along.  Spring and summer is when I seem to love it the most.  Living in the Northeast means that it is hard (and miserable) to pound the pavement during the later fall and winter months, so during those months I tend to focus more on spinning, yoga and other indoor fitness activities.  Right now I am in the 'love' portion of my relationship with running.  During the summer months I tend to shift my workouts to the afternoons.  The weather is nice and the town where I work has very 'runable' sidewalks and neighborhoods so it is easy to head out for a run after work.  But the truth of the matter is I don't run fast, or for very long (3 miles is sort of my standard) and I would like that to change. 

 

After my last 5K I really started to think about my past races and how it seems like I have become a lot slower than I was last year; I realized that I am not dedicating nearly enough of my workouts to running and that I should be taking advantage of the summer and my opportunity to pound the pavement.  That being said I have only ever run 5Ks, 3.5 and 4 Milers and I would really like to attempt something longer.  I want to run a 10K!  This goal is not necessarily new, one of my goals for 2013 was to run a 10K, 15K or half marathon and while I would love to one day run a half marathon I think a 10K is much more realistic at this point.  I have been looking at a couple of races and there are a few 10Ks in mid to late September that I am considering.  I also need to implement a training plan.  I can run 3 miles relatively easily but anything beyond that at this point is tough and overall I would like to increase my speed.

 

So there you have it - my new running goal announced on National Running Day!  The next step will be to register for a 10K and start training! 

 

If (when) I complete this it'll be such a major accomplishment for me!