In case you missed it, I finally got around to posting my race recap for the New York City Marathon. I backdated it to the actual month it took place, so I don't know if that causes it not to show up in an RSS feed or Reader list or whatever. Anyways, not that anyone reads this blog anyways, but there it is.
2021 was sort of a down year of running for me. Not as bad as 2017 I suppose, but I started off the year in a huge arthritis flare due to the absolute failure of Humira. Any progress I had made running was completely wiped away and I had to start fresh. Simponi was able to get me back to running and feeling mostly normal, but it really only gets me back to 70% of where I used to be. Any sort of speed or large mileage is still hard on my body, but I discovered if I take it easy and just go with the flow, I can get back to regular running without issue.
Most of the rest of the year was spent trying to build toward the New York City Marathon without my body rejecting the miles. And it worked! Maybe my "fast" days are behind me, but if I can still train for and run a marathon, I don't have much to complain about. I am very slow however, which means the training runs in the summer really drag on and I'm now too slow for my old long run training groups. So we'll see in 2022. I didn't get into the Chicago Marathon, which means I'll probably be doing Portland again.
My goals for 2022 are to continue to run pain free. We'll see how out of shape I get... I've been pretty bad since the New York City Marathon. First of all, I was horribly sick for almost the entire month of December. I got a couple runs in, but man they sucked. According to an at-home test it wasn't breakthrough COVID, but who knows. If not, it was the WORST cold of my life. And then, even when healthy, it is so hard to motivate myself to get out there when it is cold, dark, and wet. Same old dance every year. If I can somehow get my ass out there twice a week I'll call it good. That's the minimum hopefully. Still shooting for three, but man I fucking hate the winter.
Anyways, that's about it. Not sure what my next race will be. Don't know if Omicron is going to cancel anything. I might think about the Zena Road Runs, but if not that, then probably the Shamrock Run will be the next race. Other than that, just getting outside for a few miles will be a triumph.
For what it's worth, *I* read your blog! I didn't get the post about the marathon, though, so I'll go back and read that. Getting motivated to run in the winter is the WORST.
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