Good grief, I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted. That was totally unintentional. For real. Lots has happened and that is one of the reasons it’s been difficult to sit down and write.
All the good things + all the things I didn’t want to talk about, of course. Silence is not always good. Especially from someone who shuts down when it’s all too much.
Anyway, here’s some of what’s been happening:
I’ve done 6 Races. 6! Of these 6, two have been Half Marathons. Exactly one week ago I ran the second half marathon, and I broke my PR (from Brussels- which I sadly didn’t write about, even though I was training for it all summer, which I PR’d from Berlin) by 5 minutes! FIVE MINUTES! And guess what? I wasn’t even trying. Another of the six races was a 25KM race. In my opinion this is completely nuts but of course there is a good reason…
Marathon Training!
Yes Marathon training is in full force. I’ve officially finished week 8 of 16 training weeks. To say I’m slightly freaked out about the marathon is an understatement. I ran 26K today, which is now my farthest distance and honestly, lots of kilometers actually hurt. It makes me sound like a jerk maybe, but I can just run a Half Marathon now. I know the distance. I know how to fuel for it. My legs and body understand the distance. It’s after 21 kilometres where it gets interesting. I still need to learn to fuel and hydrate properly. I need to test out compression. I need a new hydration pack that doesn’t sway back and forth on my back. Obviously this will continue to get interesting. I’ll keep doing races and organised training to keep up the motivation. Let’s face it, if you have to run alone and figure out a route of 30KM or more by yourself that’s pretty tough.
After the marathon we are signed up for several races, and there’s another reason for that as well!
I am officially a 2015 Rock ‘n Blog team member for the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon series!
So on top of Gothenburg Half Marathon in May (not part of the Rock ‘n Roll series, just something we planned a while ago), we will be totally rocking Liverpool (Me the Half, Hubs the full) and I will be doing Dublin (hopefully with some friends from NL but at least I’ll be able to hook up with some people from the Running the World Facebook group.
The cool bit… I get to GIVE AWAY an entry to Liverpool and I will be doing that very soon! The Rock ‘n Roll series is supercool; maybe you remember that the Hubs and I ran Lisbon in October 2013? Great organisation, live bands along the way and an awesome party afterwards! I an AWESOME discount code for my friends and readers to use, and believe me, you WANT to run at least ONE of the RnR races! Watch this space, the info will come shortly!
The thing I haven’t been wanting to talk about… my new job. I’m fairly miserable (to say the least) and even though there are brilliant side-effects (no commute, more sleep, weight loss), that’s about it. The stress is getting in the way of my training and makes me feel like hell. I am not certain how much longer I can take it. In the meantime I have to deal with it as much as I can, but it really is not a happy situation
So that’s the nutshell version of the last however-many-weeks. As of next week I’ll be back on the regular blogging circuit again.
So, what have you been up to in the new year?
SO VERY proud and inspired by your focus, discipline and determination, dearest Renée!!!
When Liverpool and Dublin be?
I would love to join! My brother lives in Ireland, as I think I’ve mentioned before.
Can’t wait to see you again, soon!
(HUGS – I am sorry the challenge at work is still causing you grief. Always sending LOADS of positive energy! XO )