Where Does Time Go?

Wow, here November is nearly over and I have barely written in this blog at all. It doesn’t help that I am not doing Team in Training at this moment. I have been blogging a lot in my Oh, To Be Hiking blog, trying to catch up with posts about my Alaska trip and also some of my fall hikes and my recent backpacking trip up Priest Mountain in the George Washington National Forest.

I just returned from a week in Michigan. I took my running gear with the best of intentions. But I ran not a bit. It was always so dark in the morning, with daylight coming close to 7:30 each day. It was cold every morning, and rainy – even a little snowy – more often than not. I could find one excuse after another not to run or work out – too dark, too cold, too wet, too much going on. But now I am back home in Virginia, and the excuses are wearing thin.

So I ran yesterday for the first time in a while. It was a beautiful day, the sun was bright, and the fall colors still brilliant. I ran in shorts and a tee shirt. I ran and walked 4 laps around Echo Lake near my home, which translates to about 3 miles. My combined run-walk pace is in the 10:30 range for that distance. I was a little tired at the end, but would have done another mile or so if I had not forgotten my water bottle. Now, three or four miles is a long way from being able to run a marathon again, or even a half marathon, but it is something. It will be five months this week since the Seattle Half-Marathon. It is time to get going again, to start thinking of the next race – whatever that will be.