Autumn Can You Hear Me?

Today is one of those days when you can just barely start to feel it in the air. I can’t remember the last time I arrived to work without being a sweaty beast. In fact, I think even felt a slight chill in the breeze on my way in this morning. I've even noticed that it's getting darker slightly earlier everyday. Maybe it’s all in my head, but even if it is, reality will catch up soon enough. Fall. Is. Coming.

Six or so years ago when I first got my iPod I started making playlists for every season to categorize my music downloads (ie. fall 2005, spring 2007, winter 09-10, etc, etc.). The nice thing about this is when I go back and listen to them again after so many months or years I’m immediately reminded of what I was doing at that time and what season it was. So for about two weeks now I’ve been replaying old autumn playlists on my iPod, which keeps making me think that it’s late October instead of early August. And I get really sad face when I arrive at work, pull my headphones out of my ears, come back to reality, and realize its not October 21st. Not cool!

What I love about the fall:

Fall Running Clothes

Crops! Long sleeve tees! Hats instead of visors! (my head gets too hot for full-coverage hats in the summer heat) Zip ups! CANNOT WAIT. Dear Lululemon, please send me the following:

Fall Training

Won’t it be great when I don’t have to wait until 7:30pm to do my run to avoid the peak heat of the day? Won’t it be nice when the sun is setting a little earlier and my eyes can relax instead of being blinded? Won’t it be nice to not have to wake up at 6am for a weekend long run (okay, let’s be honest, I haven’t done this anyway)? Won’t it be wonderful to feel weightless in the cool breeze instead of heavy and burdened by sweat a half mile in? And won’t it be nice to look at the beautiful multi-colored leaves instead of dry, burnt-to-shit grass while I run my miles? Like I said: CANNOT WAIT.

Fall Racing Season

When the fall rolled around last year I had just started running outside, having finally overcome my fear of leaving the treadmill. I started out averaging about 9 miles a week, so I did get to enjoy a little bit of the fall freshness, but I didn’t run my first race until months later in February. That said, this year I am super excited about the fall racing season and I definitely won’t be missing out! In fact, this week I just added 3 more races to my calendar for the fall. After running in this thick, hot, humid air all summer I can’t wait to feel the morning chill and hit the ground fast.

• Up first in September is the Paper Mill Run 5k. The course will be an out-and-back on the Wissahickon Bike Trail and Forbidden Drive, similar to the race I did this past weekend, which had very pretty scenery. I look forward to not only running with Julia, Steve, and Mike, but also hopefully my friend Cynthia, who has been doing a Couch to 5k program. This would be her first race and I am super jazzed about running it with her!
• The next weekend Mike and I have the Rock N’ Roll Philly Half. I’m both nervous and excited for this one. Nervous because I already feel pressure to set a new PR in comparison to my first half that I ran this past May. Excited because I’ve heard these guys put on great races! Lots of music and crowds!
• The fourth weekend of September is the Parkway Run 5k, which I also plan to run with Julia and Steve again. This race benefits CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania) and it supposedly brings out a huge crowd of runners and is supposed to have an excellent food buffet afterwards. Its also right on the Ben Franklin Parkway, so its a quick, flat course right downtown. After great success at the Run For the Hill of It, I’m curious to see just how fast I can get on these shorter distances, so I’m actually really looking forward to this race and the Paper Mill Run.
• Moving on to October, Mike and I joined a team for the inaugural PA Ragnar Relay. The course goes 187.4 miles from Lancaster, PA to the Poconos. Just last week we selected our leg numbers. I am going to be running 19.2 miles, which should fit in perfectly with my marathon training!
• Late October is Bobtoberfest, a 4 mile race by the Boat Houses. The neat thing about this race is it doesn’t start until 4pm and then everyone goes for drinks afterwards. And, come late October, I would guess it will be getting dark around that time, which means it could be a nice fall sunset race!
• And lastly (at least for now), the big guy! The Philadelphia Marathon the Sunday before Thanksgiving! Even though I’ve been training for almost 10 weeks now, it still seems so far away and it hasn’t really hit me. I sort of have a time goal in my head now, which may change depending on my performance in the other races, but the details are still very vague. I hope to just go into it looking to finish since its my first marathon, but I’m sure, knowing me, I’ll have higher expectations and will cry blood, sweat, and tears during the race to achieve them.

If you are running any of these races let me know and we can be race buddies!! :)