One of the reasons I started a running blog was that I thought it would make me accountable for my runs and keep my running on track. At least that was my intention.

But sometimes even the best intentions get off-track.

I know they say you can’t catch cold from being out in the cold, but it sure seemed that was what happened after the Hot Chocolate 5K. I felt fine (although VERY cold) when I got to the race that morning, but started feeling sick on the walk back to my car and things went quickly downhill from there.

The pesky cold hung on for several weeks and, although I tried to run through it, that didn’t work out so well. When I thought the worst was over, I talked Erika into running the 5.8 at Percy Warner Park. I was able to get through the first half of the run okay but the wheels came off after that.

And not only did the run end up badly, but Erika caught the cold, too. She’s very gracious and said she could have caught it anywhere, but I’m sure running next to me while I coughed my way up and down those hills didn’t help. I also think I gave the cold to Richard, which is a bummer because Winter 2013-2014 has been a season of back-to-back colds for my immune-suppressed husband. In my defense, it was my first cold in at least 5 years. If I’d made him sick before his transplant, it could have been very serious. Luckily, that didn’t happen, which is just one more thing we can be thankful for.

My running has been sporadic these last few weeks but if you call yourself a runner, you’re a runner whether you’re actually running or not. To keep myself motivated, I signed up for a run. Not anything as ambitious as the Country Music Half Marathon (because that would be crazy with my lack of training), but the Color Me Rad 5K. The Color Me Rad 5K is one of those 5Ks where you wear white and people shoot rainbow-colored dye at you until you end up a human art project at the finish line. It’s the first one of those runs I’ve signed up for because (1) I’m not crazy about having stuff thrown at me, and (2) it doesn’t seem to be a “race” but more of an event. But Erika suggested it and I thought that I might as well see for myself what it’s all about. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, right?

Although my runs have been sporadic, I was excited when the new issue of Runner’s World arrived in the mail. My favorite magazine isn’t a fashion magazine, or a home decorating magazine, or even a cooking magazine – it’s a running magazine whose arrival is greeted with a celebration that starts when I come home from work and find it in the mail. That one day a month, dinner has to wait until I can look it over. My favorite part is the feature, “I’m A Runner” which profiles notable people who happen to be runners and is on the very last page of the magazine (no sneaking a peeking at that last page is allowed). The profiles I enjoy most are the ones of men who are slower than I am, which doesn’t happen often. One month they profiled Jeff Fisher, former head coach of the Tennessee Titans (who is, not surprisingly, faster than me but not as much faster as you might guess). Jeff Fisher said that he frequently ran at Percy Warner Park, on the horse trails (which is frowned upon). After reading that, my girlfriends and I managed to fit in quite a few runs at Percy Warner Park (not on the horse trails), but never saw Jeff Fisher. Former Titans running back Eddie George was reportedly spotted running shirtless one day when we were there, but we didn’t get to see him, either.

Yesterday, I went to a 2-hour “yoga for runners” workshop, where my friend Tony stretched and tortured me for a couple of hours. It was a much more strenuous workout than I’ve been getting from my Saturday morning yoga class at the Y. In fact, there were a couple of times I thought I might throw up but luckily I got through the class without barfing or resorting to child’s pose. Tony is such a great yoga instructor that he got my body to move in ways it hadn’t moved in years, and he made the workshop so much fun that I’d absolutely consider doing it again.

Later this week I’m headed to Jacksonville, Florida and Savannah, Georgia to celebrate my sister’s 50th birthday. I’m excited about spending time with my sister, brother-in-law, and Mom, and also about visiting Savannah, a city I haven’t been to before but one that I’ve hoped to visit since reading “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” I’m packing my running clothes so I can explore Savannah on foot. Maybe I can even talk my brother-in-law or sister into joining me…

So that’s the story of how this running blogger’s running got off-track and what I’m doing to get it back on track. This is the time of year when our New Year’s Resolution workout plans can get sidelined. But it’s also a great time to get those plans back on track. The weather is finally warmer and daylight savings time makes it easier to exercise outside after work. It’s time to shake off the winter doldrums and get excited about the new opportunities spring brings.

Let’s get back on track together.