Running Seasons

I was out for a late run last night and I was really enjoying this run. It's my normal 3 mile default course so I wasn't taken by the scenery like I usually am on my less frequent routes. That's one of the great things about a well known course. Your mind has the freedom to wander all over the place. Instead of wandering away from the run mine was engaged in the pure endorphin high of the moment. I thought about how much I was enjoying the warm night air on my face and the hypnotic rhythm of my Nike clad foot falls. I was in my zone.

It was in that moment I was thinking about my current running season. I've come to the realization that my running goals have changed a lot over the past 6 months. Prior to this year I was only interested in running faster and faster 5K's and as many as I could squeeze in. Then in February I started training for my first 1/2 marathon. The beginning of this new season in my running. Because of the demands of longer races I'm sticking to training plan. Instead of running 5K's on the weekend I'm running long training runs. Part of me misses the 5K's and the old routine, but I know that season shall return.

I had a moment of fear while I was running last night. A fear that I might grow tired of running, that perhaps this is just a phase I was going through. That may have been the case if I didn't discover the depth of running. Last night I really started thinking about the whole spectrum of running. There are just so many facets. Running will be a part of my life for the rest of my life. Just to give you a feel for the depth of running here is a list of running life as a whole. You have your sprint races everything from a mile to a 5K. You have middle distance 10K - 25K then you have your endurance your marathon up to ultra marathons. You can become a running travel and try to run a race in all 50 states. Think of all the different places you could go that you normally wouldn't have a reason to. You can train and run all of these, or you can run with no set goals and just enjoy the night air, the wind in your face and the chewed up asphalt/concrete/trail behind you. Then there is the volunteer side to running. Races don't happen without volunteers. I'll blog on this subject later as I think it deserves it's own topic.

Keep running friends!