100 miles and runnin'

I completed a 5K today to wrap up my first 100+ mile month since June of 2022.  I finished September with 101.16 miles at an 8:30 average pace.  I ran 23 out of the 30 days.  Longest runs were a pair of 8 miles.  I ran ab 8 miler at 7:54 pace and a 7 miler at 7:47 pace as my "hardest" workouts and a handful of fast finish progression runs but mostly just easy running.  Legs are tired but no pain.

Between June 2022 And September 2024 I logged slightly over 1000 miles, sort of treading water miles with some starts and stops.  I'm certainly the most motivated I've been in quite a while.  Hope I can carry this motivation into winter.  

Why not post?

 I can't say I've been exactly interested in maintaining or publishing a running blog lately but I got a bit of time to kill and am not motivated to do anything else so, why not post?

Speaking of motivation...  Motivation is like a fire; Hard to start but once it gets going hard to put out.  I haven't been truly motivated in a couple years.  The embers are there but I just haven't quite been able to get that fire back going.  But the fire hasn't been completely quenched either...  I ran 370 miles in 2023.  That averages to more than 1 mile a day.  It's not a lot and not enough to be in shape but its not zero.

This year I'm up to 436 miles.  That's progress!  And I won't be sure for another few days but I might even break 100 miles this month which would be my first 100 mile month since June of 2022.

I've actually had a reason to be motivated though (besides exercise induced endorphins, feeling fit, and my own personal health).  My 12 year old twin daughters are well into their 7th grade XC season and they are doing amazing.  My daughter Maya is in her 3rd season and she ran a PR in her first race of the year and is only getting faster from there.  Just in the last 10 days she ran the following PRs for 2  miles:  15:15...  15:03 (2 days later),  14:45 (2 days later), and 14:32 (2 days after that).  Then 14:50 the next day at practice and 22:30 for 3 miles the day after that...  Her PR from last year was 16:18 for 2 miles... I'm like "where the heck did this kid come from".  For the first time, when I pick her up from basketball practice, she tells me what she did at XC practice before telling me all the great things she did at basketball practice.

But back to me (it's my blog that I write primarily for my future self to read after all)...  I might hit 100 miles in September!  and then if I can follow that up with 100 miles in October, November, and December then I might be on to something.   

And while most of the miles have been relatively slow (I've averaged 8:30 pace this month), I did run 8 miles at 7:54 pace last Sunday which is a sign that maybe I'm starting to build some fitness.  And also I've lost maybe 7 pounds in the last few months which means I'm trending in the right direction.  I've never been that concerned about my weight (not enough to stop eating delicious food anyway) but It definitely helps my running when i'm closer to the 160s than the 200s.