I'm still here!

It seems like I've ditched you all, right? Don't worry, I'm still here! I'm just going through some post-marathon regrouping and figuring out what's happening with my exercise life. For one thing, now that the marathon is a month behind me, I'm kind of shocked and amazed that I actually did that! Wow! Seriously, I'm so happy that I ran a marathon! And I'm pretty sure that I'll run another one someday, so if any of you who read this are planning to do one someday and want a buddy to run it with (even if we didn't actually run together), let me know!

So, post marathon exercising, my main focus is back to the list I made when I started this blog (which was less than 5 months ago!). Here's that list:

Long Term Exercise Goals:

1) Exercise at least 5 days/week.
Check. Barely scraping by on this one because I have a lack of motivation to get out on the days no one is meeting me, since I haven't signed up for any races. Races keep me exercising and interested and happy!

2) Exercise between 250-300 minutes per week.
Check. When I get out 5 times a week, my goal is to exercise an hour most of those times, with one being over and maybe one being under. So far I've managed.

3) Keep exercising when my friends move away and eventually when I move away.
I have yet to see about this one. My original exercise buddy is moving in just over a week, which is really going to shake things up, but luckily I've still got 2 exercise buddies left!

4) Have a regular strength training routine.
Whoops. If "regular" can mean once a week, most weeks, then sure. But I don't think it's enough, so I need to work on this one.

Short Term Exercise Goals:

5) Run a half marathon on April 30
Did it!
6) Run a marathon sometime in the summer of 2011
Did it!
7) Complete at least 1 triathlon before the year ends
Trying to figure out when and where...we'll see.
8) Play me some soccer!
Did it! And the next season starts in September. Woohoo!

So, the next thing I'm focusing on, while I try to figure out the whole triathlon, is a fast 5K. My exercise buddy friend (who is moving in a week) and I have been wanting to run a FAST (for us) 5K for a while, but we keep getting involved in looooooooooong races instead. We couldn't find a race that worked for us before she moves, so we're doing our own made up 5K and our husbands are going to give us the start and finish line so it feels official. Our goal is for our overall pace to start with an 8. We haven't been running fast lately, and have not worked up to it, so we'll see, but tomorrow is the day! We are going to jump past that start line and see if we can push ourselves below 9 min/mi. Wish me luck!