Getting My Mojo Back One Mile At A Time

Evidence of my solid run this morning.

There's no denying it. I was in a running funk.

There wasn't just one thing that caused it but rather a combination of a number of factors which conspired against me.

After posting an incredible 9-minute PR at the Knoxville Marathon in March, things went south for me the following months. Part of it was due to recovering from the marathon, a job change at work was another culprit, tons of travel for work didn't help and the normal course of everyday life factored it.

In fact, the funk had been so bad and lasted so long, I was seriously concerned about things as I began this new training cycle in preparation for the Spinx Carolina Marathon.

Yet, three weeks into training, and I've got my mojo back.

Before I talk about that, let me paint the picture of how bleak my running had gotten.

In April, my streak of consecutive months with at least 100 miles ended. I was on the way for 36 months - THREE WHOLE YEARS - of posting at least 100 miles. But alas the streak ended at 34 when I registered only 93.7 miles.

I bounced back in May with 105.6 miles but dropped back down to 102.6 miles in June.

But July has been a different story.

To give you a quick comparison, I ran a total of 19 times in logging just under 103 miles in June. With two more training runs to go this month, I've already ran 19 times and have over 144 miles. Given what my training calls for, I ought to end up with over 160 miles this month.

Now, I didn't snap out of this funk automatically. A handful of my runs this month have been a struggle. They just have. Some of that could be due to the crazy weather. Here in Kentucky, we've had as many days with highs in the 90s as we've had in the 70s. I believe the count at six for each.

That's just crazy weather.

Literally, I have ran in perfect mid-50 degree weather one morning and mid-70s with humidity at 1,000 percent the next. It's hard for a body to adjust to that.

No, what I think what has snapped my out of my funk and brought my mojo back is the fact I simply decided I'm going to run. That's it.

I'm in training. I need the miles. Therefore, I must run.

Of course, being forced to run in the rain three times last week helped as well. Nothing like running in the rain to make you feel invincible. Last Thursday's tempo run sure did that for me. Eight miles with half of them in a steady downpour. Ah ... nothing like it.

So, when you're in a funk, what snaps you out of it? Do you work through it? Take a break? Or simply try to run for the fun of it?

Whatever it is, I sincerely hope you find your happy pace.

I sure have.