Venturing into the Hills

And just like that, it's 2016! I resumed running after a long hiatus at the end of December which made for a perfect transition into the new year. It turned out I had actually cracked a rib from excessive coughing (pneumonia, the gift that keeps on giving!). Bad news for my rib as it will take a while to heal, but the good news is that I'm cleared to run!

Transitioning back to training has been tough as I expected, but it's been a good opportunity to introduce new habits into my routine like core and yoga a few times a week. The best change I've made, however, is switching up the old running route. I live by the Willamette, so I fell into the habit of running out and back along the river for almost every easy run. Not only did this get boring, but I was doing myself zero favors by running a totally flat route every day! So instead I've been exploring the west hills of Portland which are chock full of winding roads, hidden staircases, trails leading into Forest Park, and stellar views of the city.I was a little down after making the decision not to run the LA Marathon on February 14th (I didn't want to rush marathon training after time off). I canceled my hotel reservation and figured I would have to eat the cost of the plane tickets and race fee. Then something kind of awesome happened- my husband André was nominated for a Grammy Award! The awards ceremony is the day after the marathon, February 15th. So we're heading down to LA for a reason entirely different from the race. But since I'll be down there anyway... why not pick up my bib number and get a nice Sunday long run in with aid stations and crowd support?Beyond LA, my next planned races are the Portland Shamrock 15K on March 13th and Butte to Butte 10K on July 4th. Both are very hilly courses, so my new training regiment will not be in vain!