Rewind: January

Man, if every month is like January, 2013 will most surely kick my ever-lovin’ butt.

January came with a few ‘firsts’ for running and me. 

-First (and second!) 20-mile run.

-First long run in the rain.

-First time experimenting with energy gels (not bad, but not awesome. Trying raisins on this week’s 15-miler instead).

-First time running with water (i.e. a handheld water bottle). Up until now, I’d be okay to go on 10-13 mile runs without hydrating. Maybe not the smartest way to train but you live, you learn, right? Plus, I’m cheap and gear is not.

This past week of training really kicked things up a notch, and I finally started feeling it. Case in point: After a hearty (read: high incline, tempo) 6-miler last night, I almost ran into the sliding glass door at the gym because it didn’t see me walking up fast enough.

And then I found myself in bed at 9 pm.

So I decided to look back at my mileage; what was Hal-Higdon prescribed, and where I took some liberties. 

The magic number for January was 204; no wonder my calves and hamstrings have started twitching lately…

I love monitoring my own progress, however, and haven’t really kept track before, so I will now start posting my monthly mileage here. Whether or not it will be interesting to read, I’m not sure. Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.

Anywho, I’m kicking off February with 7 miles after work tonight and I’ve already got a playlist cued up.

On it?

Everything from Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown, to Miranda Lambert, to Jay-Z. Because that’s how I roll.

Cheers!