JANUARY 2024 Monthly Running Challenge

@tarun_yadavA nice gloves 😆 As long as your hands are warm, I say keep wearing them.

@shanaber those pictures are gorgeous. Thank you for sharing. Hobbes also looks great, as usual. I hope the time away was restful and that you can regain your full health and strength. You're on my mind.

I've been able to sit up a bit more this week, did some sewing/quilting. Cold tub is my main "activity". Walked around stores yesterday, it might've been a bit much. But I vaguely remember dreaming I was running last night.

Hi everyone, I’m back! I need to start tracking my food again to shift the 3kg that have crept on in the past couple of years and to focus more on my running. Still running regularly but our move to the country has meant more hills and more trails so my speed work has suffered, and consequently so has my race pace. I decided to run the year, figuring 40km a week would see me to my target. I then promptly came down with a horrible virus and haven’t been able to run since the 6th. The non-stop coughing is probably doing wonders for my abs! I’m coming right though, and hope to test out the lungs in a day or so. It’s very hot and humid here at the moment (I’m in New Zealand where it’s mid-summer) so not really conducive to running, but we’re due a southerly change (south is cold at this end of the planet) on Wednesday, so will definitely head out then if not before. Anyway, I’m glad to be back - and happy to see so many familiar names still here.

Dang it, lost my post that was all typed up 😔
Summary....
@emptydog sorry for your car troubles and hope you get it sorted and are able to get back with us.
@ContraryMaryMary great to hear from you again! I know you will be back in race shape as soon as you can get some consistent training in.

Too cold (for me) to run outside for the last few days so have been on the treadmill.

Jan 1 - Walked 2.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 2 - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 2.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 3 - Walked 2.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 4 - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 5 - Walked 2.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 6 - Walked 2.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 7 - Walked 2.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 8 - Walked 3.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 9 - Walked 1.50 miles - Ran 2.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 10 - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 11 - Walked 4.10 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - driveway laps - actually a slow wog
Jan 12 - Walked 2.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 13 - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 14 - Walked 1.50 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 15 - Walked 1.50 miles - Ran 2.50 miles - treadmill - Speed Play
Jan 16 - Walked 1.50 miles - Ran 3.00 miles - treadmill - Foundation run
Jan 17 - Walked 3.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill
Jan 18 - Walked 1.50 miles - Ran 2.30 miles - treadmill - intervals
Jan 19 - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 3.00 miles - treadmill - recovery run
Jan 20 - Walked 1.00 miles - Ran 6.00 miles - treadmill - Long Run 1
Jan 21 - Walked 4.00 miles - Ran 0.00 miles - treadmill - cross training

60.40/85.00 mile goal

Since I'm still iced in, I walked on the treadmill while I watched my church service on FB live. The services are usually around 45 min, so I had planned on 3 miles. This one ran long and was almost exactly an hour. Since I already had 3.8 miles in, I decided to walk a couple extra minutes and get in an even four.

Jan total: 69.1 miles
YTD: 69.1/1200 miles

1/1: 8 miles
1/3: 7.3 miles
1/4: 6 miles
1/5: 4.5 miles
1/6: 8 miles
1/9: 5 miles
1/11: 6.1 miles
1/13: 3.2 miles
1/14: 13.2 miles - La HM
1/18: 4.2 miles
1/20: 3.6 miles

My kid and I went to a getaway house this weekend, a tiny house glamping thing. It was too cold to tent camp but I had planned to get out this weekend following my race. The getaway house was a good solution and we had a good time. I got a short run on Saturday and then we went for a walk on the nature trail.

It's warmer this week but very wet and windy so might end up on the treadmill. I don't mind the rain but the wind might make the tree fall pretty bad and I don't need to fall again before I'm healed from this one!

@ContraryMaryMary - welcome back! Hope you kick that cough soon and feel well enough to get out for a run.
@tarun_yadavA - so happy to see your son wanting to get out to run again with you. Hope you told him we all have times with a stitch and sometimes you just have to walk it out and sip some water.
@emptydog - what is it about PT Cruisers? My husband had one (2007 or 2008?) that was gifted to him from a dear friend who passed away. He drove that car until it became too expensive to fix it. It had well over 100,000 miles and he really didn't want to give it up. I always found it so uncomfortable to drive or even ride in.
Hope your cold clears up and you can get right back to us in February!
@daria0919 - great job getting 2 walks in. I wish I could get my hubby to go out with me.
@quilteryoyo - I hope you get defrosted soon!
@martaindale - I love the idea of camping in a tiny house. I think my daughter would have loved it too when she was younger.

I finally got out for a neighborhood walk. It wasn't supposed to rain until much later today. Fortunately I took my rain coat just in case and had put Hobbes jacket on as well. He hates to get rained on and it also keeps him warm (not that it was really 'cold' here at 59F). Well, it started pouring pretty much the minute we started walking but since we were already wet I just figured we would keep going. The sun came out for just a second (still raining though). It rained the entire time we were out and really started pouring again as we headed home. I love a good rain run but why does that feel so great but walking in the rain seems to take forever and is just wet, cold and miserable?
It does look like I will be able to hit and maybe surpass my nominal 20 mi goal this month! I am also hoping to get clearance to start running a little if I feel up to it, from the doctor on Tuesday.

@emptydog my parents also kept a PT cruiser well beyond when they should've. I think Dad's plan was to fix it and drive it for fun. That's not gonna happen now, and it's occupying space in the garage, with deck furniture cushions stored inside 😆 P.S. good luck trying to leave us - actually you don't even have to run to be here.

I had another dream about running... was trying to run a 5k race. Got there, parked, went to look for packet pickup. It was in a long hallway in a school building. I kept walking, past marathon, HM, 11k, 7-8k (yes, that was a race distance) so many rooms, until finally I reached an unmanned counter with a sign for the 5k, that said it was a virtual race on Thursday, so I had missed it. I was confused, checked my phone and figured out I was signed up for the 11k. That sounded like too much for me, but I started back through the long hallway. Got to the right table with 2 minutes to go before start time. Volunteer there gave me an extra keychain in my packet. But when I asked how to get to the start line, she pointed in the opposite direction and said I had to go all the way around. I was going to be late for sure. Stopped at my car to leave packet and put on bib. Gave keys to my daughter. It's now 9 minutes after start time and people are already running by where I am. Start running opposite direction from them, towards start line, but the road keeps curving around and by the time I finally get to the start line, I just give them my number back and say I'm a DNS because I already ran too much. The End. 😆 Welcome to my life. I am stressed out even while sleeping 😆 Sympathetic nervous system ("fight or flight") gets stuck sometimes.