Miserable Running Month of March - Cleaning the Slate for a Better Running Month in April

This post is my moment to sum up the month of March so I can go into the rest of April's running with a clean slate.  And I definitely need to clean the slate.  My mileage was miserable in the month of March, but I kinda think I needed the break.  I started March 1 with 55 days into an all-outdoor running streak (at least a mile a day).  I had also done 6 half marathons in January and February and accrued my first two months of 100+ miles!  On March 9, after 63 straight days of running, I purposefully chose to let the running streak die.

Mid-March I spent 5 days on vacation in Napa and enjoyed the break from running.  I came back from this trip to find a very sick toddler, and we went through two weeks of fighting ear infections and strep throat until we could finally get her healthy enough to have tubes put in her ears March 25.  Refocusing, I ran off to Tyler, 2 hours away from Dallas, that weekend to chip time the Tyler Azalea 10K, whose race director is a friend.  I came back from that weekend and immediately came down with a sinus infection.

So, ugh.  Funny part is that on reflection, I had no clue what the month held for me when I chose to end my running streak.  And everything happens for a reason - fighting to keep the streak alive through that awful month would have undoubtedly left me stressed, demoralized, and probably pretty unhappy about running.

I ended March with 39.50 miles.  A low month, but I'm still a higher mileage runner than I was in 2009 - and that's improvement.

Now that the sinus infection appears to be ending, I'm interested to see what the rest of April will hold.  I know I'm running a half marathon in 6 days (Big D Half Marathon on April 11) after three days on my feet managing packet pickup for the event at the main packet pickup location (note: 4,000 entrants, and a majority come to the location I'll be at).  I know I have a 5 day Road Runners Club of America annual national convention to attend later in the month, and did I mention I'm a seminar speaker there? Oh, and then the biggest thing : The next race I'm directing is coming - May 2 is the Heels and Hills Half Marathon, 10K, and 5K in Irving, Texas.  And those are just the things I know about.  It going to be an interesting next few weeks!