This week is the Cleveland Marathon Week! It’s crazy to think about where I was this time last year. I had just finished my last long run and was ready for the race … and then found out that I couldn’t run because of the foot and tibia stress fractures.  As you may recall, this year I did not sign up because I’ll be out of town – but I do plan to run this week AND give you all a running update. It’s been a while since I gave a running update – I have no idea where May has gone. I am embarrassed that May is halfway through and I haven’t told you all about how I’m meeting my goal. Spoiler alert – I am!

My goal is to get to 1,000 miles this year. I won’t tell you where I am now (since we are in the middle of May) but April was a good month, as you can see by my training screenshots (thanks Dailymile!). It’s actually even my best month thus far – I beat January by 3 miles.

Year To Date Monthly Miles:

January	136
February	111
March	113
April	139

Some April running highlights:

• I can’t claim the weather helped me too much this month – April 1 it was flurrying out and later that week it was in the 20s. Which isn’t my happy running weather. I’ve decided my happy running weather is 55-65 – that’s the weather I enjoy the most to run in.
• If I bring my phone, I can’t stop taking pictures while I run. I love it. As long as I’m not running for time, I don’t mind stopping and taking a photo.
• The week of the Boston Marathon was rough for me. I had a few days where I just felt really down, emotionally, as a runner, a former Bostonian, and a human. Still, I made it my goal to run at least 26.2 miles that week (my typical goal is 20 mi/week), a goal I met easily.
• I got in a few longish, unplanned runs – about 9 miles – over the weekends. I tend to only do these sorts of runs when I’m training for something, but with the weather being nice (toward the end of the month) and my motivation being high, I couldn’t help myself.
• I did NOT run the Cleveland 10 miler. And, go figure, the weather wasn’t rainy and chilly as it had been in years past. I was out of town that weekend, but still was able to run 12 miles that weekend on my own.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for – the mileage charts:

First week in April: 26 miles total

Second week in April: 37 miles! Holy cow. Not sure HOW that even was possible without a training schedule?

Third week in April: 30 miles

Fourth week in April: 35 miles

Last week in April: 38 miles. Some of which will go in May’s mileage number.

Some thoughts to ponder:

• Are you still keeping up with your resolutions or goals for the year?
• What’s your happy running weather? Do you have a certain temperature that you prefer to run in? Yes- 55-65 degrees. I don’t even mind a little drizzle. 40-70 degrees isn’t that bad, but once it gets colder or warmer, I don’t enjoy it as much. Plus it depends on the time of year – 40 degrees in December is much more enjoyable than 40 degrees in June!
• What do you to track your mileage- a Garmin? A running app like MapMyRun or RunKepper? Or do you measure it out after the run? I do it all! B has a Garmin that he uses when we run (I bought it for him). I tend to just measure after the run using Dailymile unless I know I want to go out for a certain distance – then I use MapMyRun.

PS – Not running related, but HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD 🙂