The First Week of a New Year

A new year has arrived bringing with it a chance to start over again. That is just what I intend to do. 2013 didn't start great for me in terms of running but I managed to get into a bit of a groove from July onwards. November was a particularly good month where I managed to rack up 94km for the month but with only 18km ran in December, due to a recurring achilles which has dogged me over the past year or two, 2014 offers a new start. 2013 was none existent in terms of blogging and reading blogs also and I aim to rectify that in 2014.

I'm going to wait a bit before I divulge my goals for the year, as I have quite a few to list and I intend to accomplish them all.

The first week of the new year began with the last run of the old year, a nice 6km run on the 31st of December. It was raining as I began my run and the weather only worsened. We are staying with my wife's family for the new year and I usually run on a 1km dirt track when I'm here but with the torrential rain lakes began appearing on the track forcing me to run the hills to stay clear of the gathering water. It was a great run although my legs felt it the next day. At one point I ran passed an elderly woman with a large umbrella and said Olá to be followed by her just laughing at the sight of me totally saturated. On the way back to the house a neighbour pointed out to me that it was raining, just in case I didn't already know. I smiled big and broad when I finished the run. It was a nice way to sign off the year. While 2013 was not a great running or blogging year for me I did get something back and that was the joy of running that had been missing for almost two years.

The weather was better for the first run of the year where I managed to get in a nice 8km. It was an uneventful run.

Finishing up the week was another 8km run with some hills to test the achilles. The last hill was tough as the legs were already tired but it was great to be able to do it. Here's hoping for an injury free year, as much as possible anyway.

October Review

October wasn't a bad month with 8 runs done.  While there were less runs that I would have wished for, or than September, it was a busy month work wise, so I'm happy with what was done.  I'm still getting out for at least one run a week, and I did have one week of 3 runs.

October's Stats

With that said I'm aiming for a great November.  The aim is to hit 12 runs for the month with an total distance covered of at least 90km.  I also hope to try and get in 2 core workouts and 1 yoga workout just to try and get started.  I hope to complete a training half marathon before we get into 2014.  At this pace it should be a possibility.

I have my first race on Saturday the Movember 10km in the Phoenix Park, Dublin

Race Route

 The route is a 5km loop ran twice.  I've run races in the park a few times now and am familiar with part of the route.  The first 3km is mostly downhill which means that the last 2km must be mostly uphill.  Either way it will be good to be out running in a race with people again with the last race I ran being the Dublin Marathon in October 2011 it is time to get back out there again.

I've registered for a marathon in 2014 so I have a focus and a target to meet.  Really looking forward to it now and enjoying the running again.