I'm NOT Running a Turkey Trot This Year

Nope. Not gonna do it. I ran a 10K turkey trot last year and honestly, it sucked, and not just because my ITB flared up like two seconds in. The organization of the race was not that great, there were ZERO mile markers, and virtually no spectators, less the hunters out in the woods wondering wtf was wrong with all these people, running about, screwing up their gaming.

Also, this year I'm going to cook! yay! I'm excited to play a bigger role in cooking the family meal, lounge about with my sister as she reflects on her first semester at college, and continue to try to talk my brother into moving out of my parents' house. haha.

I'm done racing for this year, and I'm ok with that. After the half in October I toyed with the idea of signing up for something small and local, but I have decided against it. Instead I've been analyzing - perhaps poorly - my performance of the year. I'm still stinging with a bit of bitterness from not having performed as well as I wanted to at my last half. So, my analysis has been skewed slightly based on that. I'm trying to distance myself from those negative feelings and take a hard look at what I've accomplished this year, and where I want to go with this.

In terms of good things and progress this year, I ran two half marathons - the first was something I'd never done before so yes, that is awesome.

Additionally, I PR'd every race I ran this year. Some were auto PRs because they were new distances for me. But I ran 3 10ks and 2 halfs - better every time. Can't complain there!

Next year I have some big goals coming - it's also the year of my 30th birthday, which plays into some of my goal setting. I'm going to reserve my goal plans for a different post - probably a few weeks down the line. I need some more time to really think about what I want, and framing goals in a realistic fashion. (last year I said I wanted to run 1000 miles in 2011. Clearly, I had no idea what I was talking about, I was not a runner when I set that goal, nor did I know what running 20 miles a week would feel like -repeatedly. Read: exhausted) ... 2012 might be a different story, though ;)

I also need to spend some time doing more research, and finding more valuable ways to evaluate myself. I need to research training plans, and tactics. Determine the best ways to make the kind of progress I want to make. If anyone has awesome blog posts on training for multiple distance races in a year, or training tips, or books on running they would like to recommend I would be more than appreciative!