Broad Street Training!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

really, it is. I love signing up for a race and planning a new challenge. I even love the first couple weeks of training, where I'm all inspired to achieve my new goals and all of my runs are fun.

And then the novelty wears off about three weeks in and I'm in the middle of a tempo run on the treadmill thinking to myself "WHY? I mean...WHY? This isn't fun and no one is going to care if you stop!"

Oh well.

So, in 2010 I got a new race distance under my belt, and I overcame my knee issues enough to train consistently. But lately I've been running shorter and quicker - instead of nine or ten 10:20 miles, I'm doing three or four 8-something or 9:00 miles.

And you know what? I've missed it. A bunch. And I think I'm ready to try to get 2011's Broad Street time down to my 2008 "debut" time of 1:30.59.

I'm nervous about it, but also excited. I have 15 weeks to train, which is plenty of time for me to start off with building a bit of a base and then ramp up the speedwork. If 2010 taught me anything, it's that (i) I can add distance without aggravating my knees if I don't do speedwork or junk miles, and (ii) if I don't do speedwork or junk miles, I will add plenty of distance but will never get faster.

And I'm ready to get faster.

I'm kind of scared, too. I don't want to burn out and I don't want to hurt myself. But most of all...I don't want to fail. I don't want to talk a big game (to teh internets, nonetheless) and then start trying to come up with excuses in five or six or fifteen weeks when I don't deliver.

oh well. Here goes nothing.