This year's running goal: done

This past month I've done a whole lot of nothing. I guess I could be generous and say October was a month of recovery. It was all the weeks I didn't have a chance to fully recover before jumping back into training during this year's mission to run a half each season. It was my body and mind telling me they needed a real break and meaningful time off.

When I set a goal to run four half marathons this year, I hadn't taken into consideration what that would mean for training. I didn't go back and look at past years' races to see when I last ran this many long distances races in a single year, or if I ever had. 

I also never doubted I'd be able to pull it off.

Kraken 5k 2026

Leading up to this 5k, I wasn't feeling very confident. I took a week off after the Orca Half, and the two 3-milers I ran the week after were both very difficult and slow. I went back to the gym after five weeks off and had some major DOMS, especially in my inner thighs. Damn squats.

But this would be my second year running the Kraken 5k and I didn't want to skip it. After all, I'd been organizing it at work among our run club—I had to show up!

Orca Half Marathon 2026

It took me a week to come to terms with how this race went, and to be completely honest, I'm probably still not over it. I'm struggling to let go of what I know could have been in the face of how it actually went.