Well, it’s amazing how much things have changed over the last few weeks. When I wrote my last blog on March 3rd I thought I was about to enter the racing season. Since then I’ve had four races get postponed or canceled due to the coronavirus, including my 50K. Canceled races are pretty minor in the big picture of everything going on though.

Life has already been challenging enough for me within the past year and it seems to keep piling on. A couple weeks ago I was completely crushed after having to let go of my sweet cat Romeo, then the following week I had to file for unemployment. Not great. I swear I won’t make this whole blog a pity party for myself because nobody wants to read that. Everyone is going through some kind of struggle right now. Running seems to be the one thing I still have going for me, so I’m going to embrace that and try to concentrate on something positive.

Week 8

I finally went back out to Paint Creek Trail for some of my runs. The surface is usually pretty iffy for a while as the winter season wraps up but I’d grown tired of pounding the pavement and running hills all the time. I was even willing to splash through the mud for some runs. Eventually the trail started to dry out but there are a lot of ruts from bikes and footprints that make the surface really uneven right now.

On Saturday, March 7th I participated in my first running event since October. Dave’s Running Shop hosted a training run called March Mayhem near Toledo, OH. They provided a race-like experience for $35 with a timed and marked course, a water stop, a shirt, pictures, and post-race treats. I thought it would be nice to run somewhere new, maybe put in a stronger effort, and hang out with my friend Lisa.

The distance was a little over 15 miles which happened to be the distance I had on my training schedule. It was nice to run on some crushed and paved paths around Pearson’s Metropark.

They also offered a shorter route, and unfortunately I made a wrong turn and followed that route at first. When I realized that I was heading back to the start/finish, I turned around and tried to sort things out. I was supposed to run two big loops followed by a small loop. I had run the small loop plus some extra distance first. Oops. It was just a training run so it didn’t really matter what I did, and I finished with 15.9 miles instead of 15.25. I had a decent run and enjoyed the soup and grilled cheese sandwiches that followed!

I wrapped up my eighth week of training with 13 miles the next day – a total of 51 miles for the week. I ran to a local park called Innovation Hills that Sunday and enjoyed checking out a pretty boardwalk.

 

Week 9

I was in a really dark place after losing Romeo. Somehow I was still motivated enough to get out there since I know that running is one of my best outlets for coping. Running is usually an uplifting, empowering thing for me, but not that week. My first run of the week was pretty much fueled by anger, resulting in eight miles at marathon pace. I haven’t run that fast for that long since October, but my disgust with everything happening in my life made it feel easy. I basically just went through the motions for the next few days and still ran, but I wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t want to be stuck in my own head for 18 miles that Saturday so I ran with music, which I rarely do. It could only distract me so much but I ended up having a really strong run.

I ran 11 miles the next day and finished the week with a total of 61 miles. I maintained my swim routine through the week, but by Friday the 13th I had a feeling it would be my last swim for a while. All of the coronavirus craziness really kicked in the day before and I figured I’d get one last swim in. At this point who knows how long it might be before I get to swim again.

 

Week 10

By the time this week rolled around pretty much everything got canceled or postponed. I knew March races like the Ann Arbor Half Marathon and Rock CF Half Marathon were bound to be affected. I hoped that races further in the future would still happen but day by day things continued to get worse. The Martian Marathon in April was my third race to get canceled/postponed. Surely we’d be okay by May and I could still run my 50K? Nope.

It’s frustrating, but obviously there are much bigger things going on right now. Fortunately all of the races I had signed up for were local. None of them were big destination trips and I can cope. Even the Boston Marathon and Olympics have been impacted, so my races seem pretty minor in comparison. There’s nothing we can do about it except adapt, hope we can get through this as quickly as possible, and see how it all plays out.

There’s another 50K in the same area five weeks later on June 6th. I decided I will jump back five weeks in my training plan and pick it up from there. That would extend my plan to a total of 21 weeks. Of course I have no idea if that race will get canceled too. If it does, at that point I can pull the plug and figure out what to aim for next. I know I need to give my body a break and shouldn’t keep grinding at this level all summer long. We’ll see if I even get a chance at a triathlon season this year!

With all of the coronavirus craziness, eventually my gym closed. I’m really thankful that I had already shifted my strength workouts to the basement at home. I can’t swim anymore, but at least I can maintain my usual weights routine. It’s heartbreaking not to have my little workout partner anymore though.

After ten weeks of training it felt like my fitness really came together. All of my weekday runs were really strong. I was hit with the blow on Thursday that I was done with work for the time being and would have to file for unemployment. I saw it coming so it wasn’t a complete shock. I ran off to the woods at Stony Creek Metropark that night with a million thoughts running through my head.

Just when I come out of one dark place and start to think that life can’t possibly beat me up anymore, something else comes along. At this point it’s almost gotten so ridiculous that I’m just numb to it now. I’m making my best attempt to look for the positive, and at least running has been a saving grace for me.

With everyone swarming the local trails to escape the boredom of being stuck at home, I decided to venture out to the peaceful, isolated dirt roads on Saturday.

The Ann Arbor Marathon would have taken place on Sunday. I decided to switch to the virtual option and ran a half marathon on my own at Stony Creek Metropark. Somehow I managed to run the second fastest time I’ve ever run for a half marathon! When I get the t-shirt and medal I think I’ll write up a separate blog for that.

I wrapped up the latest week of training with a total of 60 miles. It seems like building all of this endurance has been working in my favor. Now I’ll see if it pays off in a race environment at some point. I enjoy the grind of training most of the time and will continue running whether I have a race on the schedule or not. As I try to look on the bright side, at least I’m healthy and now that I have nowhere to go all day, I can run whenever I choose!

– Janet

Follow me on Instagram @janetboltz and Twitter @reidphotography