February was a great month, but in terms of races it’s not as fulfilling as I had expected.  Major races during the month were scheduled on the second half, which was the time I left for US, resulting in a raceless month for me—a first since I started running regularly.

Being raceless doesn’t really mean runless—I had one of the best distances covered in a month: 78.12K, which was about 78% of my race distance last year (when I started running).  For the first half of the month (while I was still in the Philippines) I was able to squeeze in 2 Nike Run Clinic Sessions and 2 LSDs that are at least 21K.  Unofficially I already completed a half-marathon distance but since it’s not a race I still am anticipating my 21K debut on the Condura run on March 22, 2009.  The second half of the month was the most challenging—winter.  Suddenly my definition of “cool” and “cold” changed.  I had to resolve a lot of challenges before I was able to start running again.  The key was the thermal leggings I got and when it arrived I was back on my feet, too bad that I was only able to run on the hotel’s jogging trail—there are no nearby parks in my area so I had to settle for what I had.  I still managed a measly 20.51K during this period, but on the bright side it was all done outdoors with temperatures below 0°C.

There’d always be obstacles that prevent us from reaching our goals, it could be the location, weather, time, etc. but whatever reasons it may be there are always ways we could take to make it work.  The only question here is how motivated you are to take those steps, literally.  Being able is only half the battle, willing it is the other half.