I haven’t had much to blog about in terms of running the last couple of weeks.  I haven’t been running much.  Work has taken priority.  I hate that.  I haven’t even been able to read a book at night.  That’s the way it is sometimes.  There’s no debating priorities – work always comes first.  But I’m concerned.

I registered for the Austin Marathon, purchased my flight, and quite possibly set expectations of running fast because it will be at sea level.  But I’ve dropped my distance down to 4 miles and am only getting out 4 days a week.  Not a good January.  I committed to the marathon to challenge myself over the winter.  I’m still glad I did it – I doubt I’d be doing anything had I not set such a goal.  I’ll accept the fact that work got busy and I’ll just do my best to finish the marathon without walking.

One good thing is I haven’t let the recent cold and snow slow me down.  I’ve got the right gear and winter running experience to deal with the weather.  In fact, I really enjoy running on snow and ice packed trails with my YakTrax.  It’s warming back up into the 40s and now that I’m acclimated – that’s down right balmy.

I expect work to continue to dominate my schedule for the next 2 weeks, but I should gain some bandwidth in February.  The marathon might be brutal, but I’ll be back on track for the Moab Canyonlands Half Marathon in March.  I didn’t care to run too hard in that run, just keep up with my neighbors – we have a big group going.  As far as measuring improvement over my running last year, the Bolder Boulder in May will provide the best apples to apples comparison.  Running fast isn’t everything.  In fact, it isn’t even close to some of the other pleasurable benefits from running.  But it’s hard not to be somewhat competitive about it.  Hopefully I’ll get some good training runs in soon.  Something I can blog about.