Three Things Thursday: Surf City No and Yes, 31-plus

1. No Surf City. For the first time since conquering the marathon monster, I'm not running Surf City. Maybe that seems too melodramatic - my first Surf City was in 2010. I ran the full both that year and the year after, and ran the half in 2012. Still, it will be a bit odd to not run it. Surf City has been a bit of a cornerstone in my running calendar, even last year when I ran the half. The first year, our entire club ran it and the buildup to my first marathon was unparalleled. In 2011 I had a personal mission to conquer it once more and a year ago I paced a runner to her first sub-2 half marathon finish. It's been a great race but it was just too costly this year. I ran last Sunday's half instead of Surf City and saved about 60 dollars in the process. Oh well.

2. Still Surfin': So while I won't be running Surf City, I will still be out there. One of my runners will be running his first marathon. He's in his early 50s and was a very strong runner when I first met him. He'd only run three miles before joining Lopers in 2011. He became quite strong and I remember running with him through all those milestones - first six-miler, first 10-miler, first 15-miler, first 18-miler. But he got hurt and was not able to run Los Angeles last year. He's shown some great determination and willpower to come back and has trained hard for this moment. And I'm not about to miss it. Of course, there are other friends running it and I hope to meet up with them all and congratulate them on their job well done. Hmm... going to a race, not running and still having a good time? Oh boy, sounds like I could get used to that.

3. Run Streak: So my run streak is at 30 days as of Thursday morning. I'm at 183 miles for the month. I was hoping to reach 200 but that won't happen. It doesn't matter, though. Running every day was my goal, not the 200-mile mark. I'm running long on Friday since I'm not running Surf City so that played a role in me slowing down Wednesday (I ran 1.58 miles - yay!). Still, I'm enthused that I made it an entire month. Some days were tough to get runs in, and there were a few one-milers in there. But that's fine because I also had an 18 and a 20 in there too. Running every day is what drives me, what motivates me. I feel like I am back to my top mental condition. Fitness is one thing but if you don't have the desire and drive from within to want to run, the fitness doesn't matter. More than strong legs and physical fitness, I need my mindset to be right, I need that fire burning from within. And right now, that fire's roaring, and I couldn't be happier about that.