I finished my marathon two weeks ago and today was recovery day.  Hmmm, isn’t that a little late?  Yes, but it was nice.  When I came back from Hamilton I had to hit the ground running.  There was work, family life, all the normal stuff.  There were also appointments, thanks to the surgery I must have in January to fix my finger that didn’t heal after this trail running injury:

For whatever reason this finger never straightened despite splints and physio and now looks like this:

The weekend after the marathon we also hosted my son’s 2nd annual Windcrest Farm Orienteering Event for charity.  We hoped for 25 or 30 participants, instead we had about 70 people come to our property to learn how to orienteer.  There were kids and adults running and hiking everywhere, looking to find their way through one of 3 courses that Evan had mapped.  Everyone had fun on a wonderful November afternoon and I’m thrilled to announce that through the generosity of the participants just over $300 was raised for the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

The next day we were up early again for some orienteering over in Quebec:

Then back to work, plus parent teacher interviews, and my husband was out-of-town for the week.  In the two weeks I did manage to fit in 3 nice runs, none of them more the 5k, including a relaxing trail run in unseasonably warm weather:

And through it all I was still fighting to get rid of that unfortunate cold that hit the week before the Road2Hope Marathon.

Finally, today, there was NOTHING on the schedule.  Ok, there was lots I could have been doing, but I decided that this was recovery day.  I essentially slept all day.  The most strenuous part of my day was watching a movie.  I can tell you, it felt good!  And it felt deserved, so no guilt 🙂

But now my mind is definitely starting to think of the New Year.  I find it difficult not having a running goal and a set training schedule.  I felt a little lost after the marathon.  I even searched for another marathon somewhere relatively close but I guess there isn’t enough demand in Ontario for December marathons or even half marathons.  Tomorrow I am missing my usual November half marathon (and the final one in the area for the season) since we are heading as a family over to Quebec once again for the final orienteering meet of 2015.

The season is winding up.  I know I will do a December Mad Trapper race, appropriately named the Transition Race as it may be a trail run or it may be a snowshoe run as we transition from cool fall days to snowy paths.  The boys and I will again do a virtual run in order to get our third “A Christmas Story” medal.  This one will also look great on our tree:

As always, if you haven’t seen the movie, the images on the medal will mean nothing to you.  If you have seen the movie you are having a nostalgic giggle right now!

And so I am looking to April and May for my next two goals; a sub 3 hour 30k at Around the Bay and a sub 1:56 half marathon at Ottawa Race Weekend.  There, it is in writing now so it is official.  Rest time is over, I have goals to achieve.

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