Feelin' funky...

Unfortunately not in a good, groovy 1979 kind of way. No I'm in a funk. Which, I guess, was bound to happen. Running-wise I've just completed 2 hard cycles of training, more or less back to back. I've run 2 marathons this year where I totally, absolutely put everything I had into the race and hit the wall physically (London) and mentally (Berlin). My motivation to train hard and well for London was fed by pulling out of the race the year before and then by increasing success in shorter races leading up to this year's race. It was one of those times where you just know you're moving away from a plateau and onto the next level and I loved it. Coming so close to a Boston qualifier was unexpected but incredibly encouraging. So for Berlin I had my goal clearly in mind. To Boston qualify. And we all know how that went.. But, as many of you pointed out - I did it. Something that I had never deemed possible became possible and in the crappiest race I've ever run I managed to run the fastest I've ever run and to achieve something that even 9 months prior to that had seemed impossible. All good stuff.

And now I've just received my Boston entry confirmation. Which is great news after all that angsting - I know you all told me not to but still I did, of course - over the 13 seconds to spare and the "unofficial" results.

So all is good. 2 marathons in one year done. PBs achieved - for 10K, for half mary (twice), for 30K (first time doing it), for 20M (first time racing it) and for full mary (twice). Job stress dealt with by resignation (hrrrmm - not ideal but had tried every other avenue) and house move partially accomplished (the next stage is not in my hands).

Not to mention a fantastic trip to California with my parents which was wonderful - they are such great company, Sequoia and Yosemite are stunning, we had such a lovely time - and then to top it all off I went to stay with the wonderful Marathon Maritza for 2 nights, met up with Tara and Aron, ran a 14 miler with Maritza and generally had a wonderful time.

happy hour at Lodgepole camp in Sequoia

my lovely parents in Kings Canyon

A bear near the General Sherman tree

My mother and I

those mornings were cold...


The view from Nevada falls

The rohos after brunch in Walnut Creek

me taking crappy pictures of Maritza and I - was it the beer?

So why am I am I feeling so bleeugrgh? Reading the above through the answer is obvious - because all the goals set earlier this year have been met, the various events I had been looking forward to have happened and I now have to start afresh... I've come back from a marvellous holiday and now have to deal with various domestic duties of varying tedium, have to pay my taxes and deal with all sorts of financial responsibilities, have only just recovered from my jet lag which had me sleepy in the day and awake at night, and have a sick child who I think has passed on her bugs to me. Uggh.

Running has been pretty haphazard since Berlin - though I initially launched into Pfitz recovery schedule with gusto it all got a bit messed up on my trip (running up the trails in Seqoia and Yosemite was very hard although I did manage to get 14M in with Maritza which was fabulous.) Overall I took the attitude that it was a good idea to not have much of a schedule for a while, before launching into it again for Boston. 5 weeks on from Berlin though I think it's time to pull myself together - if only because the rest of my life seems to flow better when I'm running. At the advice of my osteopath I'm running a 10K in early December so that I will spend November doing 2 or 3 speed sessions a week, with a hilly long run at the weekend to keep up the distance. That schedule is due to start on Monday - pray with me that this achiness and loginess I'm feeling are just the end of jetlag and not the beginning of flu.

That's it folks - nothing very inspiring, nothing very exciting. It's how I'm feeling right now though and sometimes I just need to get started again - even if it is a very unexciting blogpost - to get myself back into it. I hope your running is going well - I have hundreds of blogposts in my reader to catch up on! - and I'll be back. I think.