SLICE 2014 - 8 of 31 364 Days Later

Slice 9 of last year was about running my first 5K.  364 days later, slice 8 is about running my second 5k.  I ran the Pi Day 5k, sponsored by the Teaching and Learning Collaborative.  The funds from today's run support the learning of math and science education.  It's just a smidge and a pinch over 3.1 miles in honor of Pi Day with 3.14 the final distance.

I felt great after my first 5k and thought it would be something fun to do once a month until it got cold.  I didn't even get close to doing another 5k last year.  I have all the normal excuses a busy person has.  I didn't completely leave running after completing my 5k goal but it wasn't a habit and I didn't maintain it consistently. Then #nerdlution came along and I knew I needed to move more and I began running at the Y again. Somewhere along that project three days a week seemed realistic.  As 2014 started, I wanted to think about things I wanted to embrace (my one little word) and running made the list.  I decided to run 9 miles a week.  I pictured it as 3 miles a time/3 times a week.  I'm happy to say since January 1, 2014 I have made this goal all but one week when I fell short one run due to an icky cold and a week of parent teacher conferences. I'm finding having a distance goal over a number of days is a bit more helpful.  Even though the reality is I run three times a week, I could run two days a week for 4.5  miles if I wanted to.  There was one week where I fell short 1 mile because I had to pick my daughter up from softball.  So, I did go back for a fourth run that week and it was really short.  I'm going to think more about my goals and creating goals with variation or flexibility built in.  Maybe this helps foster success.  If you have any thoughts on goal setting, I'd love to hear them.

Running today felt good.  I finished 32 seconds faster than last year, 30:26.  Thanks for celebrating with me.