It's been over a month since I ran the Marine Corps Marathon virtually. Since then, I've been taking a much needed break from running. 

If you've been reading along all pandemic, you'll remember I did the RW RunStreak in the summer from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July, running at least 1 mile each day, and then right after that jumped immediately into marathon training. 

I was feeling the running burn out pretty strongly. So this break is much needed. 

For now, I'm enjoying life not on any sort of training plan. 

I've run a grand total of three times since the marathon. 

Instead, I've gone on lots of walks, and jumped back into pretty regular strength training. It's a nice change of pace, and I'm really enjoying mixing things up.

I kind of hate that I'm going to lose a large chunk of the endurance I built up over marathon training, but I just have no motivation for running right now. And with no races anywhere on the horizon, it seems silly to push myself to run. 

I'll have plenty of time to rebuild endurance when I'm excited about running again. 

I plan to spend the weeks between now and Christmas exploring some of the virtual workout options that have sprung up as a result of covid. Variety seems fun to me right now, so that's what I'm going to stick with. 

And I've found that as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, getting outside of the house during daylight hours is essential to my sanity. I've been going for nice long walks over much lunch break, and I've really come to appreciate the fresh air, the less intense movement, and the time away from my computer. It's a nice way to break up my day as my options for doing any sort of outside activities start to diminish. 

So that's my plan for now -- strength training and long walks. I'll reevaluate things again when the New Year rolls around or as soon as my running motivation comes back.