Why not Austin

   Last October I had signed up for the Austin Half Marathon, which I had hoped to use as a goal-setting mark to get myself back into shape with running. Running, my favorite disciple of triathlon and always my go-to-sport to maintain sanity and happiness. It also is the easiest to maintain with the holidays and travel since you mainly need a good pair of shoes and far less equipment than swimming and biking. Its fun, its easy, its a start after a fall hiatus. And, I love Austin, so it was a perfect Valentines day present for myself.

There is only one Austin and South Congress Street.

    The initial intentions were good: in the fall I got up to 12 mile long runs and got pretty consistent running in during the week. Even in Portland for the ESA meeting in November, and in December as the holidays rolled around. But as soon as 2015 came around...BAM. Illness after illness. The first one around New Years left me 5-10lbs lighter due to loosing my appetite for a full week and a half, and as a result really could only run 2-3 miles without getting exhausted. Further, for someone who loves food as much as I do, not being able to eat anything or be hungry was absolutely miserable. It was a major setback.
     Once that got resolved, though, I got hit with a super-cold or the flu. No surprise there with not having much of an immune system after not being able to eat anything. That lasted an entire week and a half, and my friends can attest to how miserable I sounded. Part of the problem was I tried to still train through it (futile..), so it lasted a lot longer than it should have.
     Lastly, even though I got a lot stronger these last few weeks and physically could finish the Austin half this last weekend as a run, I just decided in the end it was going to be too risky to run it if I can't really race it. Especially since I'm competitive, and with such a beautiful course I would have pushed WAY too hard for where I'm at right now. The fact I'd have to drive back with the nasty weather and ice with my not-so-great car pretty much sealed the deal for me. No Austin.
      So what is next? I had hoped to do the Strides of March but it overlaps with a trip home to Virginia to visit my mom for our birthdays, so it will likely be either the Go Girl Half Marathon or Memorial Half Marathon for a longer running event. For multisport, March in Okarche is first on the list for the season.
      Fingers crossed the crappy start to 2015 has hit a stop sign!