August In My Rear-view

August is over. September is upon us. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. September usually turns into mid-November in the blink of an eye, and that's not a great thought either.

Anyway, I don't want to get all philosophical but I did want to recap the month in which I turned 35. Aw crap, did I have to remind myself about that?

I ran 101 miles on August, my highest total since May. In June, I ran only 88 miles which of course was due to my heel discomfort. In July I ran 99. Had I known I was that close to 100, I would have just ran another mile. Oh well. Thus far, June and July are the only months this year that I have not reached triple-digits.

My best August run? Hmmm... I'm tempted to say it was Tuesday's run but that's probably because it was the last one and the one I remember the clearest. I had a lot of really good runs but I think the run I had when I was in Arizona, when I ran to the Glen Canyon Dam, and a six-mile run I had up Mt. Rubidoux a week ago with a fellow Loper, stand out above the rest.

The longest run I had in August? A 12.09 run in early August. I actually only cracked double-digits twice. This was planned I suppose. I wanted to take a bit of a break after the San Francisco Marathon, so I wasn't exactly trying to hit double-digit miles every weekend. September will be a different story because I am training for a half marathon (officially now) and will have to hit double-digit miles every weekend. Of course, that's something I am looking forward to, getting to 10, 12, 15 miles.

My best week? That would be last week, the last full week of August when I reached 30 miles. I hit 30 miles twice in the last two months - the week of the marathon and a week in June when I ran 20 miles. In May, I had four weeks of at least 30 miles. I hope September also brings such mileage, but more importantly I hope I feel as good as I did last week throughout this month.

All in all, it was a strong month of both recovery, (sort of) rest and getting back into the swing of things. Everything I'd hoped for when I planned to take a (sort of) rest a few months ago.