November. What happened?

For some reason or another I was a running failure in the month of November. Here I am, gearing up to run a freaking :: marathon :: in January and I am logging a measly 25 miles in 1 month. That is less that 1 mile per day. I was running more than that per month when I just started running after a full year off. fail.failure.failed. And don't tell me I am being too hard on myself. I am just trying to figure out what in the hell happened this month that kept me from doing any sort of 1 foot in front of the other. Sure, life happens but was I really that lazy to not run off stress and life? Ugh.

There is this awesome runner that I follow on Twitter (@runnersrambles) and I watch her blog and I think she is totally awesome. I don't know her or even know her name but she seems to know what she is talking about. But one thing she did for '09 was set some goals. So... I will do the same for 2010. But for now, how about some goals for December 2009? And here we go.

1. 50 miles in December. five.zero.
2. 5k complete on December 19th. Finish it in 33 minute.
3. Run at least 4 days a week in my scheduled running time 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
4. On the other 3 days - hit the elliptical 30-45 minutes each day.

Those are my goals. Now, I gotta stick to them. I need an incentive program. Like, I complete all 3 and I get to buy a new purse. Like the brown Marc Jacobs bag I am coveting from Bloomies. :o)

10k - cannot check off list.

You read the title right. The 10k did not happen yesterday. I am so bummed about it you have no idea. Race start was 7:45 am. I thought leaving my house by 7:00 would give me plenty of time to get there, park, get on a shuttle, stretch, and be ready to run up some hills. But, I really never venture to that part of Atlanta and I got insanely lost. Roads were closed. The directions included in the packet sent to me were less than stellar. And at 8:00 when I was still on 285 and now crossing over Cobb Parkway I could see the hundreds of runners descending the first hill and I felt defeated. I know I know... you can normally start races late and with my Garmin I could have accurately known how long it took me... but with the sense of failure and still being lost and knowing there were killer hills I figured it just was not meant to be and headed back home. I am a true believer that all things happen for a reason and there must have been some reason why I was not to run that race. There is always next year right?

....however. I am running the Big Peach Sizzler 10k at the end of this month. And there is no way I can get lost since it literally starts in my backyard. So I have longer to train for my first 10k and it won't be such a butt kicker. Or so I hope. I kinda want to finish that run with a grub meal from Flying Biscut. Barbie, let's just try to get to the starting line before the race starts this time.

Last blog I was talking about how I am stuck at a 12-13 minute mile. And my twitter, dailymile, and blogger pal Tammy mentioned speed work and how long my long runs are currently. I felt like discussing my lack of long runs because honestly, the farthest I have run is a little under 6 miles. I think I could go farther but it just gets so dark earlier and I don't want to be out running alone in the dark in Atlanta so I tend to pack up shop and head back to my car. Yeah... and I have to run 13.1 in a little over a month. I have no excuses I really have not taken this half marathon nearly as serious as I should have.

She also mentioned that I need to be running 3-4 times per week to really work on it. I run at the least 3 times per week - life just seems to get in the way sometimes. ....And then there is speed work. Which I do not think I quite understand what it is or how to do it so I have been googling it (I found this article which gives some insight). I am wondering if this is something that I need to do on the local high school track or do I need to incorporate hills since I am running in San Francisco.

I guess I really am a newbie at this running, racing thing.

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