Updates, Celebrations, Thanks!
I’ve been using this blog to do a lot of philosophical musing recently, but today’s just going to be updates on my training and planning for the trip. More philosophical musings next week, I promise.
THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to this project. A few days ago, we passed the $1k mark, which is amazing. I really appreciate everyone who has been able to donate even a small amount to help. My overall goal remains $5k, but we’ve got a few months to raise that yet. If you’re new here, I’m training to run 5 half marathons in July as part of a road trip from Indiana to Washington state and back. This is a fundraiser for the National Diaper Bank Network. If you’d like to help out, please click the “Donate” button up at the top of the page.
I wrote last week about a nagging hip injury that was limiting my ability to train. I rested for three days and started forcing myself to stretch every day, and things seemed to have resolved themselves there. I have such a hard time motivating myself to stretch, which seems stupid because it is so easy and obviously beneficial, but it always feels like a chore. I’ve been stretching after runs instead of before, which seems to help, and the results have been great. I’ve also added another layer of injury prevention by trying to get my diet healthier— if I can lose a little weight that will take pressure of my joints, and if I have more energy when I run it should make me less likely to get stress injuries when my form breaks down. I’m not going vegan, but I’ve been eating smoothie bowls at breakfast and bananas for snacks, and that seems to be helping.
I did six miles at a 10 minute mile pace on Monday and felt pretty good the whole way. I want to get my long runs up to at least 10 miles a week before I go on the trip, so I think I’m in great shape there.
The winter weather has broken! We’ve had highs in the 70s most of this week, which is a welcome change from the single digit temps we were seeing only a few weeks ago. As part of my continued efforts to control my anxiety (see my earlier philosophical musings posts) I’m not going to sit around worrying about climate change and just allow myself to enjoy the sunshine. The only problem with the warm weather is that it starts to slow Mason down— he was really in his element running through the snow when the temp was in the teens. But, running with him is still much better than running by myself, and he keeps me from overextending/exerting myself.
So, lots of good news on the project! Again, thanks to everyone who has donated. More updates and/or philosophical musings soon!
