Hello again, friends. I had great plans of writing a post last week while I was on the road for work, but it turns out working at a convention for more than 50,000 people takes up all of your free time. Who knew? Between a trip to Boston for a wedding, a week of long work nights in preparation for a convention, and then the actual week there, my runs have been limited for the past few weeks. Instead of 3 runs and a long walk every week, it's only been about 2/3 of that. Maybe. Sometimes real life gets in the way and we make do with what we've got. I can tell you that after the miles I walked last week at the show, I don't feel like I lost too much activity overall, just the pace of it. Dead legs every night is no kinda life - so glad this is only once a year.

However, in spite of the dead legs and exhaustion, I did manage to get in two good-ish runs in Orlando last week that were each about 20 minutes and a couple of miles. The Convention Center area had enough sidewalks and paths to take care of my needs when I actually had the chance to do so. In the past, I think I would have been inclined to be discouraged after the past few weeks of limited training time. I fell out of my training rhythm just as soon as I got into it and that's led to some disengagement for me a time or five. But, I've taken the long view and realize that I'll be ok just as long as I get right back into a rhythm as soon possible. And that's what I've tried to do by going right back into my previous ordained schedule. And it has suuuuuuucked to do this week.

My preferred schedule is to run timed on Tuesday/Thursday, walk long on Friday, and then run a set distance on Sunday, but I ran Wednesday/Friday last week due to my schedule. When I got home from FL, I was exhausted from 6 crazy long days and didn't have a run in me on Sunday and slept instead. So, I went back out on Tuesday to get back on track, and the lack of running time over the past two weeks caught up with me. I had nothing in my legs. I struggled through 20 minutes. My calves burned and hurt and I felt as heavy as I am. It was the first run I've had to stop in the middle of and begin alternating running with walking during since the first week. Disappointing to be sure. Tonight, I'm hoping my legs will hold a little better. Either way, with a Four Miler coming up in less than a month, it's crucial that I get things back in order now that my schedule will allow it. We'll see if I can survive 3 miles this coming Sunday.

As a side note, I'm not one for buying shoes that I've never tried on, but a ton of great reviews for VivoBarefoot led to me pulling the trigger on a pair of Neos today while they were on a flash sale site. I've written before of my love of a minimalist shoe, so I'll let y'all know how those work out for me once they come in.