Last time I started a training plan just as I was well established in my routine I had a terrible flare-up. It took about six months for me to get my back fixed up and I am still (as always) working on my neck & shoulders. It’s been an excuse not to run (for fear of a flareup or aggravating my already bad shoulders) or bike or swim, or… well, you get the picture. However, I want to get beyond this. I need to push through it, and I need the motivation to do it.

Whenever I feel this need for motivation I pick a goal that has some other motivating factor – in many cases it includes fundraising and raising awareness for a worthy cause – Diabetes. Now is the time. I am about to sign up to run for Team Diabetes at the Bluenose Marathon, again. This time my oldest girly wants to run for them as well. We’re going to run the 5K together. However, I need more motivation than a 5k that I can probably run untrained (I will be running at a ten year-old-who-doesn’t-train’s pace).

Conveniently though I have a team of runners that I cannot let down. We are signed up for the Cabot Trail Relay again this year, just one week after Bluenose. My leg is 17.92km, just 3.2km shy of a Half Marathon. Reality tells me that I need to train for a Half Marathon and the Bluenose will be my taper race. 🙂

Once I am signed up the momentum will begin to build and I will have the drive to get myself back in shape. It is just the way I work. I expect to be registered by Monday night. In the mean time, I need to keep on with my rehabilitative exercises and start with a SLOW build up of training to avoid a flare-up.

Today was a lovely day for my first run of 2011. It was in fact my first run since September. Fortunately one of my closest friends in this city is someone I met because of running and she is happy to help me get moving. Fortunately, I also have another friend who likes my company when running, and both are people I love spending time with. We’ll hopefully have some standing running dates set this week (hear that friends?) If things get really desperate (kidding!), I suppose I can also enlist my pseudo-hubby … 😉

It was a lightly snowing mild winter morning when we headed out for my introductory run today. It was Ang’s short run day, which worked well for me. We did a substantial warm-up walk of 20 minutes, ran 3km, then the same 20 minutes walking to cool-down. It was perfect winter running weather. The sidewalks were clear, and there were runners everywhere! I felt like I was/AM a runner again. 🙂