I’m back to running after 8 days off post-Wild Duluth. Those 8 days off did wonders for me. I had a cold for most of the time, which cut down on how much I could get done around the house, but giving my legs, hips, and back time to rest was invaluable. So was giving my brain a chance to rest. That was probably the most beneficial part of my time off.

I started back running on Monday, and was rewarded for getting back on the road by getting struck from behind by a cyclist while on the Lakewalk. That was exciting! I’m fine, he didn’t hit me very hard, but he did scream at me that I wasn’t paying attention. Ok, sir, I’m not the one trying to pass on the right, off the trail.

I signed up for a 5K on Saturday which is… I think on the Lakewalk. I’m not sure. I’m not really trained for it but it gives me another chance to get under 30 minutes this year. I’m also running a 5K in Minneapolis on Thanksgiving, but I’d just like to get this hurdle out of the way. The race hasn’t historically had a large turnout, so I’m hoping to get a lot of space to run. My goals are:

A Standard: 29:30
B Standard: 29:59

I think it’s possible, even though I have hardly done any fast running lately. In fact, for almost two months! Whatever, it’ll be fun. A friend of mine will be visiting from Grand Forks and will be running with me (and probably beating me).

Regardless of whether or not I finally get under 30 minutes for this 5K, I am going to stick to road/pavement running for awhile. I have spent a long time working on strength and endurance, and I have to spend some time re-learning how to turn my legs over. I have some mechanics to fix and some muscles to wake up, and I can’t break those bad habits on trails. I know I have limited time left on trails before snow and ice take them over, but I feel the need for speed. That doesn’t mean doing speed work in every workout, it just means that I will stop running at my “I can run forever” shuffle pace. I’ll take this month to re-train myself to run a bit more sharply, and see if I can get that to translate onto trails. I need to get faster, for a variety of reasons, and this is the first step.