This past weekend was a big weekend for half marathons and full marathons around the country. I had a lot of friends who ran over the weekend. Several of them were running their first half or full.

I love it when I see people run their first race. What I love more is when I see them catch the bug for running. It’s an infectious one!!! Not always easy… but it’s fun.

For most of these people, they’ve spent the past few months getting in the better shape than they’ve been in a long time. It takes a lot of time and commitment to train for such a race and the results are awesome.

With all that time and energy spent… All of those miles in the running shoes… Your race is already over and we still have the rest of the summer of good weather and part of the fall.

So now what?

I say… don’t stop here. Keep going! Find another race to run and continue getting your mind and body in better shape than you’ve ever been in.

You don’t have to do another half or full marathon.

Find some smaller races to go run. 10k’s (6 miles) 5k’s (3 miles)… you get the picture.

Or if you are up to it, find another half marathon you can do.

Once you get to where you feel like you can go out and run a race for the fun of it is when running and staying in shape gets eve more fun. At least that’s the way it is for me.

When I ran my first half marathon, I thought I was done. Then a year later I signed up for another. I loved the process but I wish I had keep with a modified… easy version of training to keep my base going.

So if this is you, if you think you might even want to keep going, take this week slow on the legs. Rest a bit and celebrate the race you just finished and next week. Go back out for a short run to get your legs back in it.

Go pick out a few short races locally as smaller goals to hit and find one big race you want to do in the next few months and go after it. Then repeat it all over again.

You will feel great about yourself in the process.

Your life will become more disciplined because of the schedule you set for yourself.

Your mind will become more focused because of the activity you are doing.

And most of all… you will look better and feel better than ever before.

What’s not to like about that?

This is the way my year goes and for this year it looks like this…

This past weekend, Krissy and I ran a 10 mile race. In June I will race in two triathlons, one in July and the bigger one in August… The Boulder Half Ironman.

In September we will run another 10 mile race followed by another half marathon in October.

It sounds like a lot, but if you maintain a decent base, it’s very doable.

And like I always say… If I can do it, you can do it.

How about you? How did you feel after your first race? Did you want to sign up for another one? Why?