Recovery and Getting Back To It

I decided to take it easy after my marathon in terms of my training. Almost a month off from running.  Then I backed off quite a bit from my weekly mileage and tried to do mainly non-running workouts.

Southwest Oklahoma cotton fields in December.

 Even though my knees and hips held up during this last marathon season, I can tell I'm going to have to strengthen them up if I want to keep on running. And if I want to get faster. 

I decided to implement more non-running cardio and weight training before my next marathon.

I enjoy running out in the country. Especially on warm December days.

 As usual though, winter brings sickness and cold weather so my running drops off. I got to do one 5K in December which was fun along with some other running days. 

Look at this cutie I met on my run.

Had to stop and pose with the donkey!

I was hoping I would get to full workout mode this week, but it didn't happen with traveling and an unexpected snow day with the kids.

Pretty wheat fields

Three of the kids went with me after my run for a walk-run. Jaci and Case took turns dribbling and pushing Baby.

 I'll have to hit it hard starting next week, but I'm looking forward to a new work out. I'm planning on only running three days a week with implementing other cardio and strength-training the other days.

Showed the kids the cotton.
Case: "Cotton grows?!?"

That's my running girl! She ran almost the whole two miles or so that we went.
She would run and  then stop and wait for me to catch up.
My favorite moment was when we were running next to each other and H looks over at me, "Mama, I love you."

I'm excited about getting to run the marathon in OKC with a new time goal. 

Here's to hoping the cross-training pays off!