How do you measure the year? By weeks, months, holidays? I realize I measure it in cycles of 16 weeks. It’s the first week of October, but to me, it’s week 14. This past year I’ve broken down everything by cycles of 16 weeks. I started with Platte River Half, had some time and smaller races  in between and now currently on Columbus Marathon. I’ve crossed cycles with one another and had huge breaks in between. But I always come back to that 16 week plan.

There are so many emotions during these 16 weeks. Excitement, anxiety, frustration, and sadness to name a few. I’m always so excited to start a new cycle, the new hopes of what I can accomplish in such a long and short amount of time. And more often than not there is always anxiety. I’m stressed out of habit, but I worry what if I can hit the miles, or what if at the end, my time isn’t where I want it to be. There is no doubt I get frustrated at least once during a set of 16 weeks, and mostly it’s about being injured and how it will change my training. But right now, I’m feeling a bit sad, sad that training is almost over. Sad that in a single day, a matter of hours, everything about the past 16 weeks will be over.

So how do I overcome the sadness of ending another 16 week cycle? I plan my next one! (or two) Crazy, possibly, but I live on planning, especially planning out my races a year in advance. What have I planned in the  next cycle of 16 you may ask? I’ll be starting off the year with my first out of state half for 2013. With the help of Courtney and Melissa, I was pressured convinced that I’d love running the 3M Half Marathon in Austin, even have the chance of closing in on sub 2:00. After I finally gave in, we brought a few other runners in, and now it will be a party in Austin. Joining us in just 15 weeks will be Courtney’s husband Luke, Paula, and Lorena. If anything, it’s going to be a fun trip of running, a little bit of sightseeing and little bit of seeing old and meeting new friends!