After "the big one"....

In the days following Around the Bay, it's been an odd feeling.  I'm both proud, relieved, and still kind of in shock.  There was so much training and anticipation building up to it...and now it's over.  Mind you, I really am just viewing it as a milestone, not an "end point". 

That being said, I've enjoyed some long walks and easy runs this week and look forward to a run this weekend as well. 

After completing my first "big race", I've realized, that I really do need to sign up for other things to keep my momentum going.  I'm pretty consistent in the way that running has become a "habit" in my life, but I think like most people, I need to have goals.  Concrete goals, too.  Not just "run more" or "run faster". 

When mulling over my next goals, here's what I've come up with:  I want to train and improve my 5 km and 10 km times so I will be signing up for some shorter races and enjoying some shorter routes on my home and with my hubby.  Not that I will ever be speedy, but I kind of miss the joy of shorter runs...because over the past few months, most of the "celebratory" runs were the LSD's where I was building up my distance.  That being said, I also would like to do 2 Half Marathons this year...LSDs are still on my radar.  I need to sign up for them soon as so many are already sold out, but I'm going to take a look this weekend and sign up for a couple.

I've had a lot of people ask me this week:  "What's next?  A full marathon?!"  Nah, not this year.  Maybe eventually but in a lot of ways, I know I'm not ready.  I found the last few weeks of ATB were quite taxing...not physically really but time-consuming...and I know that tackling a marathon can't be taken lightly.  And when I'm ready to do it, I want to do it right.  I want to put the time in, build up properly and enjoy the experience of training.  That's how I felt about my ATB experience and I wouldn't want to do it any other way.

How are you feeling about setting goals for your runs?  Do you feel a "let down" after a big race?  How do you deal?  Right now, my mantra comes from one of my favourite Jay-Z songs: "On to the Next One..." :)