I've been consistently alternating yoga with running for a couple months now. My runs are no longer walk/runs (except on speed days), and I can touch my toes on a good day. I've never done yoga consistently, but am already seeing how it helps as an athlete. I'm stronger, more flexible, muscles relaxed, and my breathing and focus are right on par with pushing my limits as a runner.
I'm in the midst of planning my races for the year. Starting off with a 5K with my fave red head at the end of April and ending as part of a marathon relay team the first week in September. The problem? There's nothing good in between! The half I planned to do (in my city!) has been cancelled and now I'm not sure what to do. I can redo the race I did last year, but it's the beginning of August, and I'd kind of like something more June/July. I suppose I can't be too choosy when I don't have many options. But that hill. That. Hill. I wish I had a picture from the bottom of it to show how awful it is. Four kilometers of straight up, level off, straight up, level off, straight uuuuuuuuuup, level off, go around a curve, hill! End. Nap.
But hey! I'm a half-marathoner because of (in spite of?) that hill!!
The other problem is I'm having trouble committing to anything that far away. A lot can happen in 5 months. Just sayin'.
Part of me wants to do more 5 and 10k's this year and work on being a bit faster than tortoise. I'm even following a 5k training plan in hopes of breaking 30 minutes. But then I do a 5 mile "long" run and remember how it feels to announce to my (just getting out of bed husband) "I just ran ten miles!" I also remember having to get up early every Saturday morning to run said 10 miles and not loving that part. So as of right now I have a beginning and an end and just need to figure out the middle. I figure most books (blog posts?) start that way, so it doesn't hurt my race calendar either.
Better run! The treadmill is calling my name for 6 miles...
