Last week was a busy one. I lost two toenails from past running experiences (dating back to the Philadelphia Marathon in November) and I registered for the Miami Marathon on 27th January. That kind of sums up how things are going in general – I’m dealing with the past while trying to look to the future.

Year #3 of European Marathon Adventures (Brighton, April 2018)

I have the Barcelona Marathon coming up on 10th March, where I will be meeting up with my friend Sarah for year #4 of our European Marathon Adventures, and I am woefully behind on training for this. What’s even worse is that I just can’t seem to be motivated to do what I know I need to do. I struggle getting up most mornings. Apathy has settled on me like a heavy blanket that I can’t get out of since my mom’s death. It’s a terrible feeling to just dread doing anything, especially since I’ve always been a ‘get out and do it’ kind of person. My mojo is gone, and I am trying to desperately find what will make my running ‘click’ again.

Maybe having a marathon scheduled between now and then would help jumpstart me? Or at the very least, force me (in the nicest way possible, of course) to remember what it is like to run long distances.

I considered going back to Houston again for the marathon over the MLK Jr holiday weekend, but the amount of time to travel there and the cost was more than I wanted to take on. I also knew the Miami Marathon was at the end of January, so that was also an option. Miami is a gateway city to the Cayman Islands, and we have many flights a day between the two destinations. So I checked Cayman Airways – and I found flights that were on the low end of the $200 range – a price I’ve NEVER seen available before to leave the island! Turns out, that is also a holiday weekend here in the Cayman Islands. So between inexpensive, 1-hr flight, hotel rewards points, long weekend and a supportive husband, I felt the stars had aligned to make this marathon a reasonable option.

It’s not meant to be more than a training run for me, with my expectations being significantly lowered over what other marathons might be. Especially when Miami can be hot and humid – much like Cayman. I’m focused on the distance more than the time for this one.

And hopefully it will help me be ready to take on Barcelona – and Wrexham the following weekend – the way I originally planned.

Race number pick up, Brighton, April 2018