Decisions, Decisions

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do to get back into the running grove.

After my first offical run a few days ago, I decided that I don't want to do a couch to 5K program. I realized that I'm further ahead than I thought I would be and I think I will find the program a bit too easy. I'm not a big fan of walk/run intervals and that's what I remember the program being like. I find it hard to pick back up to running after I slow to a walk. I tend to prefer running as slow as I have to to keep going as long as I can, or maybe go really slow to give myself a break and then speed back up, but if I slow to a walk I'm usually done.

I've been eyeing some virtual races with fun metals, but that kinda feels like I'm just buying a metal. Of course, I'd run the miles but I struggle with what makes it a 'race' versus any other random run. I did two virtual races back in 2020 but didn't quite get the appeal. At least one of them was supposed to be ran on a specific day but the other was just a run it whenever race. It just doesn't feel the same as an actual in person race and without the specific race date as a deadline it's not the same motivation to stay on track with training.

So, I guess that leaves signing up for an actual in person race. I haven't done any research to see what upcoming races are in my area, but I imagine I could find one what would be doable. Our temperatures are cooling off and I'm seeing mention of a lot of races in the local running groups I've joined on Facebook. The issue with an in person race isn't the availability of options or time to train for a race, it's my headspace and where I am in my life right now. The post-divorce haze has had me in hibernation mode for the better part of the last year. I almost never leave my house except to go to work or to the rare appointment. Most of the time tackling the grocery store sounds like more than I'm up for dealing with and I schedule curbside pick up. And I honestly don't know if I have the motivation to get myself to actually show up to a race right now. I can 100% see myself signing up for a race, training for it, and then talking myself out of actually going to run it the morning of the race.

As I said, I've signed up for two local running groups on Facebook. I'm not sure one of them is going to be a fit. It seems like a close knit group of people who have been running together for a long time and their distances are drastically longer than what I could do now. Even back in the day, I think I'd struggle to hang with them. The other group seems more my speed, no pun intended, but so far every run they have scheduled is insanely early. Most of them have a 5:00 AM start time even on the weekends, and that feels like the middle of the night to me! It doesn't even get light here this time of the year until about 6:30, so the run is over before it's even light out! They did just post an easy 2 mile run followed by coffee with a start time of 7:00 AM this weekend. Ironically, the location is the same place where the Breast Cancer Walk was held yesterday and while I was there I was thinking to myself it was such a great location and I really needed to get back there for a walk or run. Maybe I can convince myself to make it to that one, but 7:00 AM still sounds insanely early to me on the one day a week I can actually sleep in.

The final thing I've been trying to decide about is if I want to keep posting here. Obviously, blogging is mostly dead. It seems people don't have the attention span to write or read much of anything these days, prefering quick videos. However, I just can't seem to bring myself to go that route. I really don't like being on video and I like to have the time to think about what I want to say before saying it. I much prefer writing and I honestly really enjoy blogging. I was hooked almost instantly when I started this blog back in 2006! But part of that love of blogging was interacting with other bloggers. The online running community I had back when I was actively training was a large part of what kept me going. Sometimes knowing people were expecting a run report was the main thing that got me out the door. If I continue blogging going forward, it has to be 100% for me and me alone because the likelihood of anyone else reading this is next to nil. I'm probably ok with that, as I have thoroughly enjoyed going back and rereading my posts here the few times I've done it and I like the idea of being able to do that in the future. At the same time, blogging can be time consuming and is it really worth it if I'm not interacting with anyone here but myself? I guess only time will tell.