High Five By 55

I'm terrible about taking time off from running after races. I usually take two or three days a little easier, then jump right back into a structured and disciplined training pattern. I am committed to not doing that on this occasion. So, I've set myself a little challenge. I have a short 3.5 mile loop in my neighborhood that I often run as a double or on recovery days. I'm challenging myself to see how many days in a row I can run nothing more than this 3.5 mile loop. Nothing longer. No joining the Sunday long run group. The only exception would be the short runs I take with my dog. I'd love to make it to through the month of December doing this. I have not had an unstructured running period since I took 10 days off after Ouray 100 in 2022. I'm just three days in so far, and I'm feeling real joy in having no running focus or structure. But I know I'll struggle to make it nearly a full month. I do really enjoy the structure of a set plan and having to practi...

Today I ran the California International Marathon, regularly called CIM, in Sacramento. About 18 months ago, I had decided to see if I could take the next leap in marathon finishing time and find out if I could finish in under 2 hours and 50 minutes. I decided I’d do all the things and take one big moonshot at the time, chasing a time that seemed probably too big for me. I hadn’t thought I’d be able to run under 3 hours, but did so a few years ago and fairly comfortably. So I wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaving that next big 10 minutes improvement on the table before I gave up marathon time chasing. I picked what is often considered one of the fastest legitimate marathon courses in the country. I worked through a variety of shoes to pick just the right pair. I tested lots of nutrition options. And I followed my training plan almost perfectly, missing only one workout in about 16 weeks. I did the work. And I failed. But even more so, I succeeded. And I’m totally satisfied, even happy, ...