Brian Gold

This time of year has always been a challenge for me. After months of training and racing, it seems that every fall, I get a little burnt out. This has been a busy year for me: four half marathons, two full marathons, a Ragnar (a 200-mile relay from Madison to Chicago) and the Door County Fall 50 relay — and on top of that, my wife and I adopted a beautiful baby girl.

So after all this, I’ve decided to take a different approach. I’m going to take it easy for a while. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to run; it only means I’m not going to train for anything specific for a while. I’ll probably run a few shorter races (the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving, and the Run Into the New Year on New Year’s Eve), but I’m really just going to focus on recapturing the fun of running, improving my nutrition and maybe trying to lose a few pounds.

My plan for 2013 is to go after a P.R. (personal record) at the Wisconsin Half Marathon in Kenosha, and I’ll probably run the Summerfest and Brewers halves along with the Ragnar again. I’m not looking to run another marathon until January 2014, when I am considering a trip to Phoenix for P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon. Maybe I’ll do the Lakefront Marathon that year, too. We’ll see.

If anyone is interested in training for one of the local events or just going for a quick run at lunch, please let me know! Running with a partner can be fun.

Business Banking Officer Brian Gold talked to Shorelines in March about training for the Chicago Marathon.