Vacation, training and hello 2013

We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Florida, where we saw family and enjoyed some sunshine. I actually have a tan now, which is much welcomed - the older I get, the more having a tan helps:) Aside from a nightmare trip back, with a cancelled flight,  a 7 year old sleeping on the floor in the airport and a luggage that arrived more than 24 hours after our flight, we had a wonderful time. We managed to avoid Disney, and went to Legoland, Wet & Wild, the Science Center and a few mini golf places instead - my son's preferences! We spent a lot of time with family and my mom, which was truly the highlight of the trip.

The moment I stepped off the plane and felt the 80 degree weather I decided that I will completely abandon my training plan. I did not want to wake up before 8am (to avoid the heat) during vacation, and generally wanted to be relaxed and not concerned about fitting training in. The weeks before I had run 65 and 70 miles, so I felt comfortable looking at this week as  recovery. I still ended up with 61 miles and 3 solid progressions with last 3-5 miles sub 7, and last mile @ 5K pace. Good enough.

I ran on concrete the entire week. By the last day my L knee started hurting a bit. I guess going from doing 50% of my runs on trails to 100% on concrete pissed my knee off. So I took it to the elliptical on Thursday, and then ran 8 slow miles on trails yesterday. Today I wanted to do 13 (my longest run the past week was 10 miles), with 6 miles @ 6:30. Last night I used some KT tape on my knee, and by morning I felt awesome. The knee was fine during the run, and I ended up running 10 miles @ 6:55, with 5 @ 6:25 followed by 2x800m @ 6:05. I had to stop at 5 miles bc I got to an intersection/stoplight, and then .5 mile after I stopped to talk to a friend. Still happy with the run. Then ran 3 miles easy back home, for a total of 13 @ 7:05. Pretty happy with this. Now if only my knee would not give me grief!!!!. Running in the 30 degree morning felt so good compared to the 70-80 degrees of Florida. I think I am a cold weather girl at heart:)

I spent some time thinking about 2012. Not much racing for me due to 3 injuries, a bitter sweet 19:00 5K PR, but a lot of knowledge gained when it comes to running, and some great friendships through this blog. This year, particularly the last half was parenting heavy for me, as my son moved more into academics, and I've become the parent responsible for that. Running took a bit of a secondary place in my life - I do not need it as much to cope with things, and this has given me freedom and confidence. At the same time, I do want the PRs, and I do want the fast running. I just want it for different reasons now. The thrill of running fast, and the feeling I carry with me for the rest of the day is, for me, better than any PR.

Thanks for following along and have the 2013 that you want to have:)