Fall Running

That's right, I said running.  I probably haven't posted an entry about running in ages.  But I've never given it up; I've just gotten slower. I kept running whenever I could through 17 months of cancer treatments and was happy to get back to it steadily (about three times a week) starting last November.

And now I'm preparing for the Philadelphia Marathon the weekend before Thanksgiving.  I'm doing this marathon with Stevie (who did the 3-day 60 mile walk with me last fall) and Allan and Jeff from the Running with the Pack podcast.

My training schedule began months ago, and I've plodded through the heat and humidity of summer to get to my favorite running season - Fall.  The weather is cool, the air crisp; and I look forward to the leaves turning.

Right now my long runs are about 16 miles. But at my new slower pace that takes me about three hours.  And then the rest of my day is pretty much shot, because I'm too tired/lazy to do much else that day!

I've also been incorporating lots of hill work.  Every long run now includes a loop that goes to the top of Bald Eagle Ridge and back down. I don't need that kind of training for the Philly Marathon which is mostly flat, but I need it for two other upcoming races - the Tussey Mountainback  Relay on Oct. 11, and the Nittany Valley Half-Marathon the first week in November.

For the Mountainback (a 50 -mile relay race) we've got a four-person team this year.  Usually I'm on an 8-person team, but we wanted to bump up the mileage per person this year, so it's just four of us.