Cause in Chicago, We Run All Year Round

Two months. It's been two months since the marathon and I can definitely say it's taken a substantial hit. After all was said and done I would think to myself, wait no training run scheduled for today? And why do I feel like my pants are getting tighter? I wanted to give myself some time off from any intense running, but still had some races that I signed up for in November. But it was so upsetting for me to tell people, "Race season is over in November." I did the Hot Chocolate 15k, and a Halloween trot the weekend before but I could not bring myself to sign up for anything in December because I have not yet been a "winter runner".

All of that changed when I was talking with one of my favorite running buddies, the lovely Alison Kool, who encouraged me to sign up for the Polar Dash on January 14th. The excitement of getting to race again soon was enticing and yet the thought of it being in January was intimidating. The way this story ends is with me being in arms-length of my credit card and telling myself "it's only 13 miles and you get an awesome fleece!" So I am registered and can I say, excited to run (and excited to see Alison :)) The funny part though is that in order to run long distances you have to train so these past few days I have been lacing up and bundling up to hit the lake path. Some runs have been better than others, and I'm sure I won't have any problem finishing.....the run.

So my running season officially starts on January 14th. This year I want to try and beat all of the times for the races that I did in 2011 which include:
Shamrock Shuffle: 46:03
Soldier Field 10 Miler: 1:31:46
Chicago Half Marathon: 2:14:24
Chicago Marathon: 5:45

Additionally, I also plan on training for a half Iron man in July. I'll have to do a bit of research over my short break off from school/internship but it'll be well worth it to have a new goal to work towards. So if any of my lovely friends have any advice/know anything about gear let me know!!! Looking forward to the new year and new challenges :)