With April concluded, that is another two months of running in the books for 2025. March was a fun month where I got to top over 100 miles of running and the final amount was 108.2 miles. The grand finale of the month included the Irving Marathon Series where Janel finished her first half marathon and I stumbled through the finish line of the marathon.

March Mileage

Kicking off March, I was able to run 17.2 miles. This was a decrease from the week before (oh no!) and I threw in some hill workouts to focuse on elevation and speed rather than mileage. My body had not gone through the hill ringer recently and it was humbled. There is a local hill of about 85 feet of elevation outside our apartment complex and I felt every one of those miles. To summarize in the wise words of my Grandmother, oof-da.

Week 2 reflected my second highest mileage week of the year at 34.2 miles. Wooohoooo to that! It was the last marathon mileage training that I could cram in and I needed every bit of that time on my feet.

The last two weeks of March decreased from 34.2 > 17 > 12.2. I was using the concept of tapering – that means reducing mileage down before a big event to best conserve energy for the big race. I definitely overate like I was still running 30+ miles a week which wasn’t a great idea. In my case with my low mileage, it would have been better to have logged more miles in those last two weeks. Oh well. You live and you learn.

Lastly, I put in 27.2 miles into the last couple days of March. 26.2 of those miles were the marathon! For more details on how it went, I have another blog post about it here:

Race Report: Irving Marathon: Bonkers!

March’s total of 108.2 miles averaged out to roughly 25 miles per week and I typically ran three or four times each week. This was about two miles less than the month before. If I had trained those extra two miles maybe I wouldn’t have cried out in pain like a wounded gazelle following the marathon.

My favorite run of March was running 9 miles with Janel! I don’t know if that was her favorite but it marked her longest ever before her half marathon attempt. (She did great completing her fast half!) This route was ran along the trail next to the river in downtown Austin. It’s a mostly flat (aka – wonderful) trail where it takes runners and walkers along a ten mile loop of city. Shade from the trees covers the majority of the trail allowing runners to only sweat out 98% of their weight during the summer months. A true Texas pleasure.

April Awesomeness

The goal for April was to get close to 30 miles per week. At the start of the week, I put in a whooping 1.5 miles. Only 28.5 miles off of the goal! This was intended. It was recovery week from the marathon which meant less miles on the feet. What wasn’t intended was gaining a few pounds from pizza. I’d say it was worth it!

Week 2 led to a total of 14.7 miles. I donated blood at the beginning of this week which led to some exhaustion on one end and a free egg burger from P.Terry’s from the other. I would definitely say it was worth it and I am happy to add P.Terry’s to the list of hopefully you will sponsor Average Runner Paul someday. I ran about four times that week and happily returned to trail running now that the marathon attempt finished up. Bring on those sprained ankles!

The Week 3 goal was to continue increasing mileage up to 20 miles a week. I came in at 17.7 miles so a couple short. I blame my desire for cheez-its and pizza that shortened the week. I was able to get in some barefoot running which was awesome! No injuries outside of a splinter and a scream from an encounter with an armadillo. Both he and I ran off separate directions terrified of the other.

I set a goal for the month to end at 25-30 miles per week and sure enough, I ended up short, just like my height. Week 4 mileage was 18.2 which was a wee bit short of both 25 and 30 mile goals. Although I missed the weekly mileage goal, I was able to give my first time trial of the mile for the season.

Mile Time Trial

The mile time trial was set to be two loops around my local apartment complex. Before injury at the end of 2024, I was able to run a mile in 5:39. One of the 2025 year end goals is to break five minutes and match my old mile PR which is 4:56. I knew I didn’t have either of these efforts in my legs but I figured I could try my best either way. Hopefully under 6 would be in the books.

The course was mostly flat on a wide paved road. There was a slight incline and slight decline each lap of about 10 feet which I would definitely feel.

Saturday morning rolled around and I lined up on a random line to begin the process. It was probably around 80% humidity so I knew that there would be a lot of internal swearing towards the pain I was about to inflict on my sore limbs. Gotta love running! The spectators included yours truly and a group of people who looked way more athletic than me playing sand volleyball nearby. I was glad to have my shirt on compared to those players and I am sure they were too.

I took off in a blaze of fury and went into the first loop, most likely, way too fast. I could try to bank time in the beginning and see how long I could hold on. The initial downhill helped the legs keep moving at a pace of a 5:30 mile. I slowed slightly and continued to run through through the initial quarter of a mile in 1 minute and 25 seconds, 5:40 pace. Right on schedule to start the entrance to the pain cave.

Once I came through the first .25 of the attempt, I thought, why am I running the mile today? Why not just go for half a mile? That seemed plenty far enough for anyone and plus, it was hot, humid, and I felt tired. Excuse after excuse began to enter my head as I made my way towards the second half of my first lap.

As I came upon the halfway mark, I decided I needed to set the excuses to the side and finish the full mile. I made it up the wee hill that was part of my mile course and came through the half mile at 2:55, 5:50 mile pace. A half mile PR for the season and an off-da effort building up. Luckily, right after the halfway mark, came the final of the two downhills to give some speed into the 3rd quarter of the race against my pride.

The sweat poured down my face and soaked every piece of me, especially my hairy back hair. The sand volleyball crew playing nearby averted their eyes as I labored past like an overweight baby bear. At least I was wearing a t-shirt although through the sweat it probably looked pretty revolting. I came upon the third quarter mark and my pace began decreasing into survival mode. The downhill could only help so much and the second half of the loop would be a mental battle.

I hit the final quarter of the race and faced the final uphill. Those ten feet seemed like a mountain for my legs to conquer. I hit the mountain (see small incline) and my legs struggled to gain any momentum. I pumped my arms as fast as my wobbly biceps would allow generating little to no power. Gasping after a long attempt, I got up the hill and could see the end in sight.

I Pushed, pushed, groaned, cried, and pushed. I saw the finish line, a crack in the parking lot, get closer and closer until suddenly I crossed to the sound of my own painful breathing. I survived! The final time ended up being 5:56 and the soreness didn’t take long to follow.

With that mile attempt in the books, I ended my April monthly mileage at 54 miles. Lower than expected which leads to more motivation for May and June. Hopefully the Texas summer won’t be too brutal with sun burns and humidity and the miles can build up to 30+ miles a week.

That’s it for springtime running with your Average Paul Runner! How did the spring go for your running? Any fun runs or races?

Average Runner Paul