GoodBye October and Hello November

I can't believe that November is already here!  I am glad that October is over because it was a really rough month for me. I hardly ran at all due to my shin pain. It was hard to accept but I made it through. Whenever I feel discouraged about not running, I have to stop and remind myself of all the blessings in my life and it gives me a new perspective.  October was a very low mileage month to say the least.  It wasn't a record low for 2012 but 27 miles is pretty pathetic!  I credit that low mileage month to all of my patience that stopped me from running through pain.  I am actually pretty proud of myself but I just dread looking at the charts on DailyMile :(

On a positive note, I think that November is going to be a much better month for me. My shin pain is almost gone and I am able to run with very minimal pain.  I can still feel the pain if I run longer than 6 miles but that is a huge improvement for me. Last month I was not able to run a mile without the pain being at a level that I knew I needed to stop. My goal mileage for Pile on Miles is 50 miles and I have already logged 13 so if things continue to improve I think that I will meet or exceed my goal.

I had a great run on Saturday morning. It wasn't a fast run but it was a comfortable run that was almost pain free. I started to feel a little something after the 6th mile so I headed back to my car and called it a day. Saturday's run consisted of 7.5 miles at a 9:02 average pace which is something that I have not been able to do since September so I am incredibly happy with it. I am not focusing on pace right now but just being able to run without pain. I promised myself that I will be patient and run at a very easy pace while increase my mileage very slowly. I logged 18 miles this week and I am celebrating!

I am hoping to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day but will not be adding any serious races for the remainder of the year. If I am able to run any holiday runs, they will be strictly for fun since I am not in any shape to be pushing myself for PR's. I am also hoping to get back into my marathon training really soon.

Did you race this weekend? Have you signed up for any new races for 2013?

I have to back off of race registrations right now but I know that I will be catching the bug again really soon!

I know the NYC Marathon topic got pretty controversial but just wanted to share my thoughts. What are your thoughts?

I am satisfied with how the NYC Marathon was handled but think that it should have been cancelled much sooner than it was.  As a runner, I feel for those who trained hard, invested lots of money and may have even found themselves in NYC prior to the cancellation. I am keeping all of the victims in my thoughts and prayers.