What's Next?

The last 5 months have been insanely crazy for me.  I've had races 18 of the last 23, for a total of 23 races.  And sure, I'm tired.  I "slept in" yesterday and today (which means 6:30am for me, but trust me, I'll take it!) and have thoroughly enjoyed having no races this weekend and knowing I have no races next weekend either.  My next race is the Champagne Runch 10k in Long Beach, on March 6th. Yeah, that's only 2 weeks away, but it'll be a fun run since I'm doing it with a friend and it includes a 5-course brunch complete with glass of champagne (I paid $5 for an extra glass, hehe) AND still comes with a medal.  In fact, my next 3 races are fun runs!  Saturday March 12th I'm doing the Corral Country Music 5k with my bestie (in Anaheim) and the San Diego Hot Chocolate 15k the following weekend.  

I am a huge fan of fun runs and while I think all runs are fun, themed runs with friends are a great way to shake up the training a bit and keep things exciting.  My mom will be doing the Hot Chocolate 5k (her 2nd 5k ever!) and I'm so happy to have her participating in this event instead of just spectating!  Granted, she's doing it for the copious amounts of chocolate you get at the finish line, but that's besides the point.  

I have spent the last week recovering from the LA Marathon, which included rest, easy walks, and a nice long massage.  The week was also spent mentally processing the race.  As you may have read from the recap, it was an emotional one, and a week later, still stings a bit.  But I've allowed myself the down time and am ready to regain focus and look ahead to what's next!  

My next 3 big races are the Ragnar Relay So Cal on April 1-2, the OC 1/2 Marathon on May 1st, and the SF Marathon July 31st.  I think they're spaced out enough and offer a good bit of variety (3 totally different race types and distances) that I can remain focused on SF and finish strong that day.  I think part of the problem with LA Marathon was that I was burnt out.  That's a lot of races with very little recovery time, and although I made sure to rest when needed, having so many races simply took a lot out of me.  I want to take it down a notch this year with the race schedule and really focus on quality training and running.  Training starts back up tomorrow and I'm so excited to regroup and get going again!  As much as I don't mind being a "slow" runner and really try to enjoy every step of the journey, I have some strong goals this year and want to see what I'm really capable of!