Around the Lounge

Did anyone feel any regret as the door slammed last week and January left us?  Hardly.  It was a frigid, icy month filled with way too many politicians here in Iowa and not nearly enough running.

Last week we welcomed 40 new members to the Lounge.  Several of our new friends are setting their sites on half marathons, which is topical because we’ll be sharing some new resources and covering the half marathon this week on Take-It-And-Run Thursday.  You might want to get to know:

Diario who is running the Bank of America Half Marathon in Raleigh.

Renee and Keith are joining her co-workers preparing for the Country Music Half Marathon in April. 

Laurel has a lot of enthusiasm and is on a bit of a streak with half marathons

Tami is preparing for her second 1/2 marathon.  Check out her time for her first.

We have a full range of other experience and levels of running.  Also joining the Lounge this week is Catherine who is just getting started and planning to run her first 5k, and Ben, a former college All-American now operating a running store.  If we're wondering why we started running a little later, get to know Andrew who is a young—very young—and getting ready for a marathon.

For Your Reading Pleasure

We added several new articles from which all of us can benefit.  Check out:

Strike Up The Band, which provides ideas on how to get in some strength training without going to the gym.

Running Easy is Really Hard! Here are 6 Ways to Slow Yourself Down   Just when you wondered how to get the most out of those easy runs.

We know there will be more winter weather, but the departure of January ushered in a bit more hope for better running. 

Hope you are feeling it?  Have a good week.

Comments

[august]

Ugggh, I started out what was supposed to be my weekend back to running with a very bad case of the flu... how's that for inspirational? I hope to be better soon and back with a vengance ;)

[Michelle]

Hello, i would just like to introduce myself! My name is Michelle and i am a new (old) runner. What i mean by that is i used to be an avid runner, completed 1 NYC marathon! Then because of some stuff i had to stop running. Now, i am back into it, actually just started last week...today i ran 3 miles and i am hurting a little. Maybe, i shouldn't have pushed to 3 so fast??? Anyway, thats me in a nutshell...I am going to start my own blog documenting my journey back into running!!! Thanks for listening!
Michelle

by the way, i can now wear your blue i am a runner bracelet with pride!!

[Bob Allen]

Quote: "Did anyone feel any regret as the door slammed last week and January left us?"

Actually, yes. I like winter in Richmond. Granted, it's not nearly as cold as some other places. There's only been one day when I went to the YMCA to run on the treadmill because of the cold (it was 11° that morning) and one day when I went to the Y because of rain.

[Tom]

Bob, I'm glad you had a good month of weather suitable for running. You're hearty and of course Virginia Is For Lovers, so it sounds like you were loved last month by the weather.

Must get even better in February--the weather and the loving...

[Bob Gentile]

Good post Tom, will check out the strength training article....I have free weights at home and started to add more weight training during the week.