Since my previous post, I still have not run any races. It feels so weird, but at the same time, it’s been a bit freeing to run without having any races to worry about. I’m still running, most of the times 5 days a week, but my running in July wasn’t as often as I would have liked. I went to a 4 day concert festival in Wisconsin at the beginning of the month, and as such, I took 5 days off of running. That’s the longest I’ve taken off during a regular season. Remarkably, when I started running again, I was back to the level I was, perhaps better. It seemed that the rest had done me some good.
I have finally signed up for another race! It’s not a road race though—it’s a stair-climb. Yes, it’s August which means that stair-climb season is right around the corner. In just under 3 months, I will be climbing the Sears Tower. 103 floors, 2109 steps. This will be my third time doing it! This is the first race that I did post-illness, and so this race has a special place in my heart. This year, it’s being held on November 8, the second Sunday in November rather than the first Sunday. I did not realize this, and I had made plans to travel to Peoria, IL on that Saturday for a concert. Because the band that I’m seeing means so much to me, I’m not missing the concert—which means that I’m staying at a hotel just outside of Peoria and driving into Chicago on the race day. I picked the latest possible start-time to accommodate for that! This’ll also be the first time I drive into Chicago for a stair-climb versus taking the train in and walking or taking a cab to the destination. It’ll be strange for sure.
What this really means though is that for a while, I will be running and stair-climbing. I managed to do this very well for 2 months last year, and during the 3rd month, my body became very tired of what I was asking it to do so my running sharply declined. I’m hoping to be able to continue to do both for the duration of the season this time around. I’ve been increasing my running distances, and I’m hoping to possibly do a half-marathon sometime in the near future. At the very least, I want to be able to do a 10 mile race within the next several months. I just did my longest run yet on Friday—7 miles. While I was mentally breaking towards the end, when I woke up the next day, I was ready to go run again. (I have not yet run again. I will tomorrow though!) This is surely a good sign.
As for road races, I’ve been looking at them again. I really like the idea of doing the Morton Arboretum Fall Color 5k in October. I’ve wanted to do a more fall (as in October–not November) themed race since I started running, and last year, I failed to find one. From other blogs, it seems that the Morton Arboretum course is a bit hilly—and I hate hills. (Isn’t it a little ironic that I hate hills but love stair-climbing???) However, I think it’d be an awesome cross-training run for stair-climbing and be a beautiful run. AND, I’ll definitely be in town that day. (I like doing some concert road trips—I’m doing at least two this fall.)
I’m also considering the Elburn Days 5k. I didn’t do this race last year, although I considered it.
I also start back up at work in just about a week. I’m sure that’ll be exhausting, but I learned last year that I need to keep working out to help keep my anxiety levels low and get refocused once I’m home from work.
There’s my life/fitness update, and I’m seriously excited for the start of stair-climb season!!!
Still Too Early to Quit 