It's Been Awhile

Well, I am back. After a very long hiatus, wondering if I would ever type on this thing again, I have decided to post an update about how my running has been going, and just life in general.

First and foremost, I have recently changed employers. After over eleven years at my last place of employment, I decided to switch to another agency. So far, this has been an awesome change and hope it will continue to still be as enjoyable later as it is now. I had also recently promoted at my last employer and was really liking my new job, but, I was not around much at home, which I didn't like. It felt like all I did was commute, work and sleep! So far, my life is much less stressful now than it was previously and the late nights don't seem to be too frequent anymore.

My running has really been going well for since roughly mid November. The Temperature is starting to warm up here in Utah, and the sun is becoming more prevalent each and every day.

I have participated in four races for the year so far, thanks to the Striders Winter Racing Circuit here in Northern Utah. So far I have run a 5K, 10K, 10 miler and a half marathon. Each race has gone quite well and I am happy with where I am at physically right now.

My 5K was the exact same 5K as I ran last year. I was excited to see how I would fare this year as compared to last year. I ran a nearly identical race, coming in about 17 seconds (21:18) slower is all despite not being in quite as good of shape as I was the previous year. I was excited to see I took 16th overall out of about 320 people.

My 10K came just two weeks after my 5K and too was very happy with my results. I placed 18th overall out of 309 people, running a time of 46:39. This too was about 16 seconds slower than the previous year.

My ten miler came just a few short weeks after the 10K. The conditions for this race really couldn't have been worse as it was blizzard like conditions for the entire race. Despite the less than desirable conditions, I actually ran faster this year than last year, placing 18th overall.

Last weekend, I had the chance to run my first half marathon of the year. I knew I was in decent shape, but knew I wasn't in good enough shape to get a PR in the half marathon. The weather conditions were really good, though I did overdress as I had been expecting a fairly decent rainstorm for the race (picture at top is from this race). I was able to run a 1:37:59, good for a 7:29 pace, placing me 27th overall in the race. Despite a pretty strong effort on my part, I feel, just goes to show you how "in shape" I was last year when I PR'd in this distance. Last year, when I PR'd, I ran a 1:33:59! This is four minutes faster exactly than what I ran eight days ago. It should be noted though, I was in the thick of marathon training last year when I ran this time. I haven't started marathon training yet for this year.

So far this year, I have run a total of 370 miles, and have already got my first trail run in for the year. I recently have been able to get a loaner GoPro and made a short trail running video of this run with it. You can watch it below if you feel so inclined. I am very excited about starting marathon training here in about a month from now, and with a good six months of base built up beforehand, I hope to be able to get yet another PR in the marathon distance.

Anyways, that is my running update so far, I am hoping I will be back more regularly on this blog, but, can promise anything. Cheers.