Running Summary March 2026
My running went well this March, and I finished two 5k races.
I didn’t run the first six days of March because of lingering snow and ice from the snowstorm of February 22-23, when we received fifteen inches of snow on top of the fifteen inches of snow that had fallen (and not melted) a couple of weeks before. In the rest of March, I began making up for lost time, running pretty steady mileage and increasing the lengths of my runs.
I ran two 5k races this month. The first race was the Rás na hÉireann USA 5k in Somerville on March 15. I ran to the start before the race, but I walked home afterwards, stopping at Wicked Café for a decaf latte and a breakfast sandwich. Based on my surprisingly good finish time, I think the course was short.
The second 5k race was the Spring Classic in Cambridge on March 29. This was the first in a four-race series (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter Classics). I ran two miles to the start, completed the race, and ran slowly home for a total of a little more than seven miles for the morning. This race was larger than I expected, with more than 2,800 finishers. I spent most of this race passing slower runners and walkers. This is not to say that I am a fast runner; I placed at position 1,766 out of 2,864 finishers, so 61% of all runners finished ahead of me. I don’t think I could have run much faster than I did.
I am experiencing occasional joint pain in my left knee but no other problems right now. I’m looking forward to warmer weather and longer distances in April.
I need to change how I do my long runs. I have been stubbornly running without walking breaks, and last year when my long run reached twelve miles, I got injured. So I need to overcome my stubbornness and begin taking walking breaks during my runs. When I first started training for marathons, I used Jeff Galloway’s plan, which used a one-minute walking break every mile. When I got slower, I just ran five minutes and walked one minute.
| Week | Date | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Wk Total | 2026 Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 12/29 | 2.09 | 2.09 | 2.09 | ||||||
| 1 | 1/5 | 2.07 | 3.04 | 5.11 | 7.20 | |||||
| 2 | 1/12 | 3.04 | 4.05 | 7.09 | 14.29 | |||||
| 3 | 1/19 | 4.05 | 4.07 | 5.11 | 3.11 | 16.34 | 30.63 | |||
| 4 | 1/26 | 0.00 | 30.63 | |||||||
| 5 | 2/2 | 2.05 | 3.03 | 4.06 | 9.14 | 39.77 | ||||
| 6 | 2/9 | 5.10 | 5.10 | 10.20 | 49.97 | |||||
| 7 | 2/16 | 3.28 | 5.08 | 8.36 | 58.33 | |||||
| 8 | 2/23 | 0.00 | 58.33 | |||||||
| 9 | 3/2 | 1.11 | 1.11 | 59.44 | ||||||
| 10 | 3/9 | 2.04 | 3.07 | 3.02 | 4.20 | 12.33 | 71.77 | |||
| 11 | 3/16 | 5.03 | 5.06 | 6.07 | 16.16 | 87.93 | ||||
| 12 | 3/23 | 3.17 | 3.16 | 7.17 | 13.50 | 101.43 |