Seasonal Change and My Running

With it currently being in the middle of spring, my home region of north central Florida is kicking in to the warm, and eventually hot, weather.  Along with this comes an unofficial end to the competitive running season in this area, at least as far as the longer distances are concerned.  I did manage to get in one half-marathon race a couple of months ago, but for various reasons never got around to another. With the exception of the Lake Minneola half-marathon down in Lake County this coming weekend, I don't see anything offered in Florida besides those sadistic-sounding trail races near Miami, held once a month during the worst of the summertime. There are, to be sure, still those local fundraising 5K events that appear on the racing calendar: there's one this Saturday on the University of Florida campus and one several miles west, in the town of Bell.  And on Saturday, May 10, an interesting early evening 5K is set for Tioga, just west of Gainesville.  Maybe I'll enter one of these, but regardless I think it's time I begin to seriously consider getting myself into better condition for the longer races in the fall.  And this  doesn't just involve running longer and harder in practice: I've gained quite a bit of weight over the past year or so and have to deal with that extra load each time I plant my foot on the ground and push ahead on each run.  Time to be more rational with my eating...

I just underwent an annual medical exam that cleared me for another year regarding a condition that I have been afflicted with since birth but didn't find out about until a little less than three years ago.  Did the tests I just underwent show any worsening? No, if anything, things seem to be better, so I am happy to feel empowered and medically cleared to go back to my running...although those days of training for full-length marathons may be a past memory.  I'm also going to have to figure out a way to handle this problem of my seasonal respiratory allergies, with all of this pollen in the air...