Now What?

So, the marathon is over.  What now?  Well, for starters, I'm pretty sure my time is up on using, "I just ran a marathon," as my excuse to eat everything in sight. 

The day OF the marathon, I was all about healthy eating.  Cookies in the finishing chute?  No thank-you!  Since then, it has been a no holds barred, pig out fest.  An extra glass of wine at dinner?  Sure, why not?!  Donut for a mid-afternoon snack?  What the heck?!  Vietnamese coffee in the morning with sweetened condensed milk?  Give 'er!  I just ran a marathon! 

Now that over a week has passed, I'm fairly certain that the sluggishness I'm feeling is more a result of an enormous sugar crash rather than post-marathon exhaustion.  It certainly isn't because of any running I've been doing since the marathon!

My road back to healthy living started today.  Not with a run, but with a yoga class.  Options are limited for yoga in a small town, so I've been without yoga over the summer and early fall.  Classes at the rec centre started up again this morning.  I knew I was going to be stiff, so I took it fairly easy.  It felt great to get a good stretch in downward dog and to loosen up my back and shoulders. 

Tomorrow will be my first post-marathon run.  I know I'll take it nice and slow and will just do 5 easy kilometers around my neighbourhood.  But then what?  I know I don't stay motivated without a goal in mind, and with the weather getting cooler, I need as much external motivation as I can get.  There have been many springs and autumns in my past where I have decided to "take up running."  The past two summers, I've had success in sticking to a plan and running through the heat.  I cannot say the same for winter.

Last year, I ran through the spring and summer to train for my first half marathon.  Race day came, I ran, I was happy, and then I stopped.  I did not lace up my running shoes for over 3 months.  November was miserable, by December I was miserable, and through January I'm pretty sure I was making everyone around my miserable too.  February I started running and BINGO!  Happy Amy was back in town.  This year, I'd kinda like to skip the miserableness and just stick to the happy.

There aren't any races coming up in my area, and after the bundle I just spent in Victoria, travelling to another race is not in the budget for awhile.  I'm 225 miles away from hitting 1000 for the year, and since this wasn't a goal of mine in January, it seems silly (and a bit unrealistic) to make it a goal in October.  So, I've decided that by the end of December 2010, I'd like to be able to run 10K in under 50 minutes, and the half marathon distance in under 2 hours.  I think both are reasonable goals since my 10K time is 52 minutes, and my half time is 2:00:53.  Now I just have to get the times down without an actual race happening!  Hrm, Virtual Race, anyone?  I need a bit of time to get organized, but I'll host one once the snow is a'snowing!