Happy April everyone! As you may remember from my last blog post April Goals…one of my goals for April is to blog at least 2-3 times a week. Welcome to my first post of this week/month!

So…I wanted to start the month off with catching everyone up on what’s been going on in my running world in 2018.

• 100+ Monthly Running Miles  One of my typical running goals for each month is to hit around 100 miles for the month. Some months I get above 100 and some months I hit just below that number. So far I’m 2 for 3 in regards to hitting above 100 miles. (In fairness, February does only have 28 days…) As of this morning, I’m at 295 miles for 2018.
• 2018 Races After a busy race schedule in 2017, I intentionally decided to make 2018 a little lighter on the races. Of course…I started off this year by completing my second Dopey Challenge (48.6 miles over 4 days) at Walt Disney World, which doesn’t necessarily seem like a lighter schedule. But, after Dopey, I didn’t run another race until 2 weekends ago in Knoxville, Tennessee for the Knoxville Half Marathon. (Recap of the race weekend coming soon!) I still have several races lined up for 2018, but, at the moment, I don’t have another race scheduled until the July 4th Peachtree Road Race. I’m enjoying having a lighter race schedule and I know our bank account appreciates it, too!
• Increased Speed/Pace Over the past 6 months or so, I’ve seen my overall pace increase to levels I haven’t seen in quite a few years. Running injury free (especially in the knees) helps this tremendously…which leads to the next thing…
• Running Injuries Unfortunately…and this is the part of running that can be super frustrating…knee issues have plagued me for the past 3 years. And 2018 is no exception. In the last week (really since the Knoxville Half Marathon), my left knee has begun to bother me quite a bit. My overall pace and distance has dropped the last 3 runs. And I fear I may need to take some take off to allow the knees to rest and heal. This (as my wife will tell you) is not something I’m good at. And honestly one of my April goals was to hit 100 miles again for the month…and that seems more and more unlikely. Fortunately, I don’t have any races scheduled over the next few months, so I do have time to allow my knee to fully recover.

All in all, my 2018 running journey has seen its share of ups and downs. But I’m grateful to be able to get out there and get in the miles. Looking forward to getting healthy and finishing the rest of the year strong!