Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Finishing 2018, Starting 2019

 Finishing 2018



Prior to running the MDI Marathon in October, I had a routine health screening that found I had a low heart rate.  I thought that was good news, that regular running should lead to lower heart rate due to improved fitness.  My heart rate of 39 was low enough that I was referred to my primary care provider.  This led to wearing an EKG monitor for 24 hour which found a low of 33 during sleep, an average of 58 and a high of 150s during a one hour run.  I was given the OK to continue with the marathon, but with some advice to pay attention for symptoms of heart issues and to get help if needed.

Mid course
A few weeks after my MDI Marathon experience, I ran the D&L Half Marathon.  Training friend Monique and I drove together to the race and ran it together, finishing in 1:54:22.  Monique won an age group award, but I missed one by about 5 minutes.

Finish Line


Following the D&L Half I had an appointment with a cardiologist and then a stress test to follow up on the low heart rate.  No problems were found and I was again given the OK to train and run but to pay attention to any symptoms that would appear.


In late December I joined running friend Angie and some other friends of hers in celebrating her 7 year run streak by running 7 miles at 7 am.  Her streak of 7 years is over 2500 days without a day off from running.  Angie thinks running every day helps her stay injury free.

7 Miles at 7 am for Angie's 7 years

Starting 2019

So now I am setting running goals and plans for 2019.  At this point my race wish list looks like this:

March - Chambersburg Half Marathon (as training)
April - Salisbury (MD) Marathon (as training)
May - 3 Days at the Fair 24 Hour race
September - Pine Creek Challenge 100 Miles

As of January 22, I am a few weeks into a marathon training schedule aiming for the April 6th race and planning to take a minimal recovery and then ramp the mileage up a bit more for the 24 hour race.

I took advantage of some recent snows and during morning runs made about a dozen snow angels at various friends homes.

Today (Jan 22) started extra cold and I joined friends Denise, Monique, Gene, Troy, Ron to do a More Miles than Degrees run - 6+ miles in 4 degree weather.

Here's to a fun and fulfilling 2019.