September Recap

Total Mileage: 64.7

September was a decent month. I had a few extra shifts during the month and the weather started to change - yay! I had a few challenging runs due to the weather and quite a few amazing runs! I also had an amazing chafing experience.

I fell short of my goal for the month - 72 miles. This was largely intentional, but I also had lower mileage at the start of the month due to my work schedule. I could have put the miles in those last few days, but made a conscious effort to rest. I am struggling with a calf strain and I felt it was more important to rest my legs than it was to finish those last 7 miles. In fact, I took a full week off of running. I can't remember the last time I did that. Usually, I go stir crazy if I haven't run in 2 days. However, I was perfectly fine during this little hiatus - it's almost like my body welcomed the rest. It's silly - my mileage is not that high - but I think I was starting to feel a bit run down.

I am making a conscious effort to sleep more and continue to watch what I'm eating. I've gone a full 2 months without any soda - this is a HUGE accomplishment for me! I was telling my friend yesterday that 2 months is especially amazing if you realize that I used to drink soda almost every 2 hours. Well, it wasn't that often, but it was pretty frequent at times. I have noticed that I crave much fewer sweets and fried junk recently. In fact, the thought of fried food makes my stomach unhappy.

Despite my efforts, both in running and watching my intake, I have not lost any weight. I'm trying not to get frustrated about this, but it's hard! I might be losing inches or something, so I'm hopeful that I will start seeing the scale move soon!

I need to start cross training. I've been avoiding it because, well, running is the only thing I really like to do. However, I think my stupid calf would heal better if I was using it in other ways. This calf injury is something that actually started after the Publix Half Marathon in March. It stopped bothering me within a few weeks, but I really decreased my mileage around that time, too. I don't have the luxury of doing that this time around (hello, marathon in January), so I'm hoping that my body will adapt and repair itself while I'm still training. I'm currently icing it. Go me. Anyway, I would like to incorporate some yoga and some swimming (still need to make it to the pool!) into my workouts during October.

I have my first half of the season this coming Sunday! It's here in Atlanta and we are supposed to have a cold front come through on Saturday night. The weather should be PERFECT. I'm pretty excited about it! I'm praying that my calf muscle holds out and doesn't get angrier!

I keep hoping that I will wake up to a Garmin (hint, hint husband) - but haven't had any luck yet.

How were your runs for September? Any fun fall races coming up?