So You Dreamt of Being a Pilot

I'm still in the in-between training blocks, but quickly coming up on the start of the new marathon build. I've signed up for the Maine Marathon October 3rd so that's the goal. The husband is running Chicago the week after and I think, for me, I need to be before or well after. For now this is the goal with some possibility of switching to something a bit later if things progress differently.

During this period, I am looking to get into a groove and find/keep joy in running and light training. I'm trying to do some work in the AM especially as summer creeps more and more present these days. I am also trying to not get uber-annoyed with the summer weather and, instead, embrace it and hope it assist in the fall. 

Which will also hopefully be cooler...

Overall things are going well. The runs feel good, a bit slower than usual, but that's okay. I still have some legs issues here and there but I'm trying to be more proactive to varying success. All in all, I'm using the in-between as set-up and I think it's going well.

I look forward to starting the block with its speed work and increase in mileage. I hope to run some of those harder efforts with the husband which will hopefully prevent the little fits of last block. I'm optimistic and that's kind of a fun place to be especially because I feel like some of the optimism is about the block and not the result. 

As I live this in-between, I am also trying to be aware of the fact that my goal may be different than it has been for years. There may not be a BQ at the current time in my future and I need to find a way to keep the motivation high and the I've strong. I think I'm building a pretty good foundation with that and, in a lot of ways, listening to Sara Hall's book really helped in that regard.

She aimed big so many times and she often missed out on the big goal of the Olympic team. But she was so amazing and successful and that one miss shouldn't define her to herself or anyone else. And that's for someone whose job is the sport. For someone like me it makes even less sense to be defined by what I didn't do instead of what I did in running.

So, that's my goal: to fall in love with the sport once again and the block and just... see what happens. We'll see how well I stick to that as things progress since it is easy to say that when I'm just sort of putzing around, but I'm also optimistic in that.