Running without a purpose

Now that the marathon is over, everyone keeps asking me what’s next. You know what? I have no idea. There are so many options - for instance:

- I could run the Otter Creek Trail Marathon in December. I’ve never done a trail race before and my dad has been talking about doing this one. Would be fun to do a race together. Plus it’s in Kentucky, and I like the idea of trying to do a marathon in all 50 states…but am I ready to jump back into training just yet? And do I really want to do a course that loops three times? (Big Ben. Parliament.)

- I could take two months off from marathon training and then join the Running Spot Flying Pig group in January. I live here so I probably should do the full Pig at some point? Ugh, the hills on that course…

- I’ve been eyeing the Paris Marathon on 4/5/09. This would be an expensive one (I think the race alone would be more than $100) but how cool would it be to run in Paris?? The downside is that I would have to start training in December AND I would have to find someone who wants to either do the race with me or come to Paris to watch. I will definitely need some type of moral support. There are only 10,000 spots left…

- I’ve also been thinking about Boston…a race I would never have thought I could ever qualify for…but now I wonder. I’m only 18:25 away from a BQ marathon time. Should I start scoping out other really flat marathon courses and focus on getting my time down? I know I won’t be qualifying on a course like the Pig but maybe if I can find other courses like Columbus?

Regardless of what I end up deciding, I have really enjoyed my week of running without a purpose. Last Tuesday was my first run since the marathon and I went out with my training group. We did an easy five miler (it was freezing! I forgot how much the cold air burns your lungs) then had happy hour, which was fun. Thursday night I did another five miles with my Landor running buddy, who I haven’t run with since July. Our route included several of the Cincy/KY bridges and I was exhausted afterwards. Ha.

Today I got brave and decided to tackle Eden Park/Mt. Adams. I was planning to run for an hour but was feeling so great I ended up adding on an extra 24 minutes.

Yes, my IT bands are still bothering me, however I tend not to notice this as much now that I'm not worrying about staying healthy for the race. Plus it's hard to be worried about anything when you're checking out the view from the top of Celestial Street and there's not a cloud in the sky. All in all it was a gorgeous run AND I managed to crank through nine miles of hills at a 9:15 pace. Dig.