October Blues

October 2024 in review

Total mileage for the month: 251.6

• Sep. 30-Oct. 6: 91.0
• Oct. 7-13: 75.3
• Oct. 14-20: 34.0
• Oct. 21-27: 43.0
• Oct. 28-Nov. 3: 45.4

The Saturday we had a video made about us

Workouts:

• Oct. 1: 6 x 1 mile. The workout was supposed to be 3 x (1 at HMP, 1 at 10k, 1 at 5k) but I opted out early and also didn't look at my splits after the first 2 (6:41, 6:37) because it wasn't going well and I could tell it wasn't going to get better. Barely sleeping for a week will get ya!
• Oct. 12: 24 miles via 4 easy + 10 x 1 MP/1 easy. I wasn't sure I'd even try this workout but I did and it went better than I expected. I averaged 6:58 for the MP miles, and the easy miles weren't too slow (8:00ish).
• Oct. 9: 2 x 3 mile + 2 x 1 mile. This workout was supposed to be 3 x 3 miles progressive but it was another failed one. I stayed pretty steady with almost all of the splits at 7:0x, but considering I was aiming for 7:00, 6:50, 6:50 on the originally planned workout it was not a success.
• Oct. 23: 12 x 1:00 on/1:00 off by effort.
• Oct. 30: 2 miles of telephone pole pick ups, in an effort to keep up a little faster running once weekly.
• Favorite workout: Oct. 12 

Long Runs:

• Oct. 5: 24 miles (7:38) that shockingly went decently.
• Oct. 12: 21 miles (8:19) that was blah.
• Oct. 26: 10.1 miles (8:24), which isn't actually long but was my longest run between Oct. 14-26.
• Favorite long run: Double-dipping because Oct. 12 was the only one not bombed!

Pre-dawn miles

Running Highlights:

• I think it's clear which week I made the decision not to run a Nov. 2 marathon. When I lost my brother in 2019 I pushed through with running despite not caring and not wanting to and ran the Houston Marathon about 6 weeks after his passing. It went poorly, I got very sick, and then ended up unable to run for months. I initially tried to push through when I lost my cat Nugget on Sep. 25, but after a few weeks I realized I was making the exact same mistake that I should have learned from. I didn't care about the marathon and I didn't want to run it or train for it. So I stopped, even though my mind kept screaming "But you've done six 20+ mile runs, just do it!" It is likely I could gut through, but there is no way it would go well and I don't want to be really sick and really injured again.

Books (bold = 5 stars):

• Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
• Flying at Night by Rebecca Brown
• Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate
• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
• The Year of Goodbyes and Hellos by Kelly Irvin
• What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall
• Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver
• The Inmate by Freida McFadden
• Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
• True Biz by Sara Novic
• Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

Theme for the month:

• It was kind of a blah month. Onto the next!