Summary of May, June & July 2013

Not much to report here.  My 2013 running season began in April and started out promising.  When last I posted I was two weeks into a training regimen designed to slowly build up my mileage past my usual 2-3 mile runs.  Things were looking good.  In fact, for another three weeks or so after my last post I was making nice progress and I hadn't missed a single run.  But I was really still at the beginning of my training schedule.  My workout plan was supposed to take me to the end of June, at which time I would start up a new regimen designed to prepare me for a marathon.  The first workout plan was designed to build from 1 mile to 4 miles.  I made it only to 3.5 miles.  By the end of May I lost my drive and I've yet to get it back.  But for three weeks in May I was running great.  I won't be able to go into detail about those runs, being now August and the memory of the details faint.  But one run in particular I remember well, it was my last run before it all ended.  Since 2010, my longest run was a 4-miler at Newport Beach on June 21, 2011.  At home I hadn't run longer than 3 miles, ever.  But one night at the end of May I went for 3.5 and made it, albeit barely.  I ran the Yucca Loma route, east from Apple Valley Road, all the way to Cree Road.  My body wasn't used to the added distance, but I managed to eke it out.  It shows how out of shape I'd become that a measly 3.5 did me in.  But after that run, which left me feeling accomplished, I inexplicably let it all fade out.  I'm not sure exactly what caused the sudden lack of motivation.  Probably stress and commitments at work, plus taking care of Nathan.  As soon as the school year ended in June, we had to start getting ready for a trip to New York.  But I thought when we returned at the end of June I'd be ready to start my training again.  I was wrong.  I never ran in June, and even worse, not even in July either.  So this is not a positive post.  It's one to tell myself to get moving again.  It was a lazy summer.  Though we did a lot of cool things and took Nathan on lots of cool trips, when it came to exercise and training, it was a bust.  Now I go back to work in less than a week.  This is historically the worst time of year for me to get motivated to run.  But I need to defy the odds and do it anyway.  I hope to come up with a new regimen and return here to post a run review soon.  Wish me luck!