Looking ahead

Nothing much to report for last week.

I watched way too much Olympic coverage. I overdosed on Bell and Royal Bank commercials. I ate and drank too much. Loved every moment (except the commercials, which I used to get more booze and food).

As far as running is concerned, I did start running again this week. I ran 3 times: a short 25 minutes on Wednesday, 30 minutes on Friday and a whopping 45 minutes long run on Sunday. My legs feel like they have only one speed. My feet are still pretty stiff. Still, those runs were quite enjoyable. I'm told that the spring is going to slowly come back to my step in the next few weeks.

I am now introspecting a lot, trying to figure out what I want from running.

Is speed important to me? I think it is. I'll never be a gifted runner, but I think that I'd like to see how fast I can run the 50 miler at Sulphur Springs. We'll see how I recover from Susitna, but I think I have enough time to train and give it a decent try. As for Haliburton, where I would like to go for 100, I won't be as aggressive but still, I'm going to start with some kind of time goal.

Is there a marathon in my future? The fact is, I've run only one marathon (2008, 3:27) and I often wonder how fast I could run that distance if I trained real hard. Still, I don't like big crowds and running on pavement is so hard on my legs, compared to trails. Last year after the Niagara 50k, which is on streets and sidewalks, my hips were killing me and my legs felt worse than after a 50 miler on trails. So I don't think I will run a marathon this year. I'm sticking to trails. No Niagara either.

As for the rest of the season, I will show up at as many OUS races as I can and have fun, talking to whoever happens to run next to me. Can't wait.