November 6: Sunday, 7; November 7: Monday 6

I am trying.  Not quite the 7.3miles I need to average, but I’m having fun hitting the road again.  It’s amazing how quickly my body reverts back to wanting to run.  Yes, wanting to run.  It’s only been 3 days of running in a row, but there’s something missing in my day until I lace up my shoes and step out the door.

In my first 13 miles of my commitment to finish strong, I’ve been thinking a lot about setting goals.  I’m a big believer in setting realistic goals.  The truth is 1,000 miles in 365 days is not unreasonable.  After I ran the marathon, I lost focus.  I thought I was farther ahead at reaching the goal than I really was and assumed the miles would run themselves.  I forgot how hard I worked to train for the marathon.  I forgot that I made running (and finding people to run with me) my top priority.  I fell into a trap of letting other things in my life influence the decisions I made – namely, that I chose “easier” things (going to happy hours, meeting friends for dinner, focusing on work, wasting time fretting over things that didn’t matter) than making running – and meeting my goal of running 1,000 miles – a priority.  I allowed myself to make excuses.

In just 3 days, I am re-energized to finish the year with the same gusto I started.  I’m hopeful that I’ll find a few people as dedicated and fun to run with me in Madison as Bridget and Molly G. were in DC.