With only 14 days left in the year, I signed up for a race

While I did do a race this year (with almost no training whatsoever), I have yet to do a single running race in 2014.

Yes, you read that right.

(cue dramatic music)

I am writing A BLOG ABOUT RUNNING and I have not done A SINGLE RUNNING COMPETITION in this calendar year.

Actually, this has been a good thing. After I did the couch to 5k, the thing that kept me going was signing up for more races. I always needed to be working towards that next goal, be it in distance or in time.

But, being pregnant and having a baby in 2014 at all, this year I learned that I run because I just love to do it. Because I feel better afterwards. Because it gets me outside. Because it keeps me sane. 🙂 I don’t have to march on towards the next goal, I’m just happy to check off the box that says “I ran today!”

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Signing up for races was a social thing. It was fun to spend a morning getting your head into it, pushing yourself hard, and then drinking a celebratory beer at 11 a.m.

… those days are probably gone.

At least for now. In the four years since I started the Couch to 5K I’ve run 4 marathons, at least a dozen half-marathons and maybe as many or a little more 5ks. And participated in some duathlons and triathlons. It was like, a race or two a month for a couple of years.

But I would like to run something this year, so I put this query out on Facebook:

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Thank you, Justin Russell. 🙂

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So the course goes up that State Street Hill right at the start, them comes back around on the river. Oomph.

elevation

And on Dec. 28, that will squeak right in to make a 2014 race. 🙂 And if the weather isn’t too bad, I might even bring my little running partner with me.

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Pattie Reaves

About Pattie Reaves

I'm a new mom and renegade fitness blogger at After the Couch. I live in Brewer with my husband, Tony, our daughter Felicity, and our two pugs, Georgia and Scoop.