January in review!

January was a slow month for races, one at the beginning of the month and then the rest was time to focus on me. After joining Run 1000 miles w/ Tall Mom club, I decided to see if I could strictly run 100 miles for the month of January. Ideally I would like to do it every month, but I know certain months its not realistic due to time constraints, and in the summer, the weather (b/n june-aug you can't run during the day unless you get out there @ 6:30 or 7, and I like my sleep)
Friday I did a 5 miler on my lunch break which put me at 99 miles- had a plan to go to the gym afterward, but I didn't want my 100th mile to be on the treadmill. Happy to report that yesterday I did 6 miles, thus reaching my goal, and putting me over!

Ya I look cheesy, there were so many people on the trail that I was trying to do it quick before too many people saw me haha. 2 more bonuses of yesterdays run: During my 2nd mile I crossed paths with DM friend Chris- we both waved not sure if eachother was who we thought we were, and later to find out, indeed it was. It's always neat seeing your 'virtual friends' out and about. The other bonus of my run was speed. I've been working a lot on being more consistent, i.e. not going out too fast and then dying, as well as making my last mile my fastest mile. (secretly I'm also trying to see if I can do all miles under 9:00 min, just so I never go over 2 hours again in half mary, buuuuuuuuuut I'm trying to not put too much pressure on myself with just training runs)
Anyway my last mile of my 6 mile run was 8:05, yes! Early last week I had 2 sub 8 last miles, 7:45 outside, and 7:30 on the treadmill! I'm slowly getting back my speed I once had- much harder to compare myself to highschool considering I was a twig and 30lbs lighter- in due time.
So looking back for the month of January, I really feel that I'm learning how to better test my limits. I'm much more confident, stronger, and faster at the beginning of the month, which I'm hoping will reflect in February since I have races 3 out of the 4 weekends.
One month down, 11 more to go!