What is next for me in the marathon? Well, today I did my 11 mile loop for the second time this week and felt pretty strong. Going from my goal of always being Olympic Trials to choosing Boston instead of Trials, to having Boston cancelled because of covid… I feel weird. Having devoted 17-24 on mastering the marathon to amount to nothing the year I thought would be the biggest is very confusing. Luckily, I still have the luxury of being young in my sport and having an established spot where I can race while I do my PhD + work my academic job +coach + knit. I wonder if instead of Olympic Trials next time around ( I’ll be 29) will they pick top three on the list or have an actual event?? We have the four year cycle to qualify for Trials, so how would it work if they go by the list? If someone runs 2:25 this year, and three women run 2:28 the year of the Olympic who will they pick? I am training with the ambition to run 2:30 and 1:10 in my next race season, hopefully I come pretty close to my goal and place top 20ish in whatever the races happen to be. Races may be official time trials with a group of elite runners, I am not sure yet. Nevertheless, after these ten years I am running my times in actual races or time trials with a company if it is the last thing that I do. My goal outside of actual racing is to be the cool assistant (honorary position or official) coach for events and team, have more blog interviews post epidemic, and publish my run book next winter so it is out for the spring season and summer events. I still have time to have my day, and so do a lot of runners.

I just ordered a new pair of spikes, and Pegasus 38’s, and black Flyknits. I have been changing the insoles of all my old sneakers during covid, and it was certainly appropriate for Santa to give me new sneakers this year (with matching earrings).

It hurts to lose a career you put your entire body and soul into for years, but I feel like all the work I have been doing during the epidemic will pay off in my races to come post epidemic. I will be flying like a bird in zero drop sneakers with a flock of elite runners before I know it. I truly do miss my training partners in crime, but I need to do my long runs so I guess I have to just keep running alone until things are normal again.

In addition to my running career, I have decided to become as flexible as possible again so I can really do my yoga like I could just two years ago. Let’s see how close I can get to the ground for splits a week from now. If I practice in the morning and at night every day, I bet it will make a difference. Strength, stretching and strides make such a dramatic improvement on performance in racing I need to remember to do all of them consistently, omg. Always the little things! It is always funny getting back into something, but I feel like after the awkward phase it will be worth it and I will still be making fun of myself.

What does everyone else have for a fitness goal? Professional running? Recreational running? Coaching? Splits?!

https://www.roadrunnersports.com/

There is a 20% off discount if you join the VIP club, which is always a nice a nice thing to have.