Looking forward to making the remainder of 2017 amazing.

  Two choices.
 #1 Look at the downside of coming off of an injury and lack of conditioning and just hope to make it through the year.
 #2. Look at the break as a chance to let my body prepare for some awesome training and racing ahead.

 I'll go with option #2 thank you.

 Not much has changed for my plans for the second half of the year other than  facing reality and having to cut back on expectations for the rest of this month. But beyond that I intend to work hard to get back to top running shape and be a force to be reckoned with in the Senior Divisions again.

 I've got the Scream Half Marathon coming up next weekend. Obviously I am not going to run anywhere near as fast as I had planned but i will give it my all and use it to build strength as I then began some real serious training. I'm looking forward to getting back on the track, doing hill repeats, tempo runs and building the mileage.


 Which brings us to the real goal for the rest of 2017 and into 2018. As I wrote at the beginning of the year I intend to run as many races as possible in the Running Journal Grand Prix and if all goes to plan I intend to win my division. I'll give more detail on that as it gets closer to time for the series to start. As of right now the full schedule has not been released but it should be ready by August 1st.

 These are the races currently known. 

 As is customary the Series will begin With the Midnight Flight 10k in Anderson SC on Aug. 25th.

 A race new to the series is scheduled for Oct 15th, The Hero Half Marathon in Fayetteville Ark.

 Nov. 19th will find me in Birmingham Al for the Magic City Half Marathon and then in Dec I will be return to Alabama, this time to Huntsville for the Rocket City Marathon. This is a race I've always wanted to run because of its reputation as a top notch race. It also earns double points in the series and I hope to run very well and lock up a Boston qualifier.

 That's all for now until the full schedule is released. If nothing is added for this year I'll look for something to do  in Sept for fun and possibly something in early Nov. Most of the series has been stacked with a lot of Half marathons so I'll try to mix in a couple of 5ks to keep the speed up but definitely not going to do too much racing so I stay sharp with my eye on the ultimate goal. Which of course means no return to ultras in the foreseeable future.  Maybe next year? Stay tuned for more training updates and racing fun ahead !