In need of a new plan

55 miles into whence I started -- and the motivation, pursuit, enthusiasm, has all but escaped me.
Instead of a vigor with which to concur the world, my mornings these past few days are filled instead with achy knees, tenderness in the hip flexor, and a lethargy that straps me under my covers.

I keep trying to revive the excitement I felt back in November, bring myself back to that "oh marathon, here I come" state of mind. But reasoning my way back won't work: the passions of a runner are illogical, driven instead by visions of glory and conquest. Delusions of grandeur, anyone? So what's a girl to do? Well, I can't simply wait for inspiration to strike again, and with the cold dark days of winter working against me, my instinct is that such inspiration won't revive until springtime.

So 55 miles into my marathon chase, I'm putting a halt on my half-marathon prep and aiming instead for a more attainable interim goal of a 5 mile race followed by Broad Street Run (10-miler) in May. Does anyone object to my bringing the carrot a wee bit closer?

So I haven't run in a week...

I feel like this is a confessional: Forgive me father, for I have neglected to run for the past week. Oh the shame, the guilt!

Here, the chart at my desk at work that I became so pleased with crossing off each day, stuck at week 5. The dilemma now is: Do I pick back up where I left off and run 4 + 7 this weekend or do I pretend like I've stuck to the plan the whole time, pick back up from 5 + 5, and then make the jump (in weekend runs at least) to 5 + 8 next weekend?

I'm leaning towards the latter, but am feeling nervous. I guess this is why I started this blog in the first place, to not be let down by setbacks like this and to hold myself accountable. My sister was right to conclude that a week's worth of missed blogging on my end meant that I probbbbbaaably hadn't gone running in some time... But tomorrow! Oh Philly pavements, here I come again.