She Runs by the Seashore

November wasn’t an amazing month of running for me, but it wasn’t all bad. As it’s now December, here are eight facts about the past month’s running.

1. I ran 74.28 miles. This was my second-lowest monthly mileage of the year so far.
2. I’m further away from my 1,200-mile goal. My lower mileage during November means that I’ll have to run about 115 more miles this month to get to my goal of running 1,200 miles this year. (And that’s after running 5 miles today.)
3. Daylight Saving Time ending has impacted my running. It’s just not as fun or motivating to run when it’s dark at 5 p.m. or so. There are limited places I feel I can run safely at night, and it’s much more fun to run when it’s light out when I get home from work. Plus, I’m not much of an early riser, so I don’t run too often in the mornings.
4. I ran two races. I ran in the Across the Bay 10K and the Redneck Romp 10-miler. I wasn’t super impressed with my pace in either race, but I did have a good time at both events.
5. I volunteered at three races. It was a busy month of race volunteering, which I enjoy — it’s a way to enjoy the race atmosphere and hang out with other runners without breaking the bank (as I already do too many races) or pushing myself to go fast ever weekend. I volunteered with the Eastern Shore Running Club at the HERO Day 5K, the Midshore Multisport Family Fall 5K and the Turkey Trek.
6. I explored a new trail. I had fun running through the trails of Soldiers Delight in Baltimore County.
7. I’ve been dealing with shin pain. This has been an annoyance this month. Normally, the pain goes away after four miles or so, but it’s affected my races and I hope it goes away soon. I have been doing a little bit of foam rolling, in hopes that will help.
8. I haven’t been too fast. After not doing intervals for a while, I decided to do three one-mile intervals at Salisbury University. I was running around campus, so I did have to look out for cars, but my miles clocked in at 9:09, 8:43 and 8:40, and there were rest breaks in between. I used to do this in well under 8-minute miles. I just haven’t felt fast in a while.

Although there were some negatives, I certainly had some good running experiences, and I am glad I got in the 74.28 miles. Wish me luck for getting those 115 miles during December!