Saturday, January 31, 2015

A New Normal for My Running?

The month of January has been an interesting one for my running.  Thanks to the challenges of work and family and icy roads as numerous snow storms have blown through (and sometimes past) the mid-Atlantic region, I have accumulated only 109 miles in the month.  

Last year I ran 2222.2 miles total.  That translates to an average of over 180 miles per month.  

In fact, I would have to probably trace back to well before my training for the Boston Marathon (so at least to 2012) to find a month in which I ran less than 110 miles.

The first question for me to ponder is whether this is the new normal.  And the second is whether I am okay with that fact. 

So, first, I think it may become the new normal.  Although I do hope to get more like 120-150 miles in each month for the rest of the year.  Those long Saturday runs of at least 10-13 miles will help a lot and they will be much easier to do after ice hockey season ends this winter and even in the early parts of ice hockey season next fall.  So, I don't expect to run 2222 miles again.  But I do hope to run more than 1300 miles.  We'll see where I end up.  So far, this is a year of trying to figure out how to rebalance the many aspects of my life.  And January and February are often challenging months to run anyway.  

Which leads me into the second question.  As long as the reason for the smaller number of miles is a healthy rebalancing--more sleep, more family, more writing, and maybe even more work, that is fine.  If the work is because there is a crisis rather than because I have the opportunity to do what I love that would be a problem. If family is to do fun things together and not some crisis then, of course, that is a good thing.  If the sleep is just to bring myself up to a healthy level rather than because I am unhealthy and my body needs repair then that is a good thing.  And as long as my writing continues to bring me joy that is also a good thing.

And I have been doing more writing, although the readers of this blog will not necessarily see it.  Instead, I am making sure to write more in my professional blog, I am writing for students, and I am writing essays that are not showing up here yet as I try to put together a series that is tentatively called Spirituality by Number.  We will see where that quest takes me.  

So, the new normal of 30 fewer miles a month is just fine as long as I continue to put that time to good use.  

How has your year been so far?  

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