Ego

I'm sitting here pondering my relative standings in the various marathons I've run. One would think WineGlass was a disaster. Actually, I ran a fairly good time despite the rain. The field at WineGlass is faster than most marathons, particularly large ones like the MCM. Big city marathons attract many relatively slower first timers. WineGlass is a small, rural, marathon. Additionally, it is prefered by runners in search of Boston qualifying times because of its fast course. I have not seen as many Boston jackets at the pre-race event anywhere as in Corning.

I just wish that I'd be one of those running a BQ on that day.

Layoffs

One to four week layoffs are universally recommended by running coaches. The weeks after a marathon are usually my layoffs, enforced by being too sore to run. They are also a welcome mental break. Not this year however. While my legs still feel quite dead, I'm anxious to get back out there and run. The desire is different now, though. It is the desire for goal-less running: just get out there and run.

It starts again tomorrow: trail run in Greenbelt National Park, maybe three or four miles.

Can't wait.

36th MCM

What I learned:

• The after-effects of a full effort marathon last longer than 4 weeks.
• If your hamstrings feel like they're at 90% when you start, they'll feel much less so as the race progresses.
• Expect more DOMS than after your first same-season run.
• You'll be slower than you expected, at least for your first same-season marathon.
• Don't attempt to start out even at a pace you objectively think you can hold. Start more slowly.
• (I didn't learn this, I had the good sense to forecast it.) As you decline, do not attempt to push through the exhaustion. Let your body slow down.
• The freebie breakfast at the Residence Inn is busiest at opening. If your hunger allows, wait till about 7:10 AM. (We knew this from previous stays, but manage to forget each year.
• After you're up for a while - at least if you're in good shape - the aches will subside and you will just have a sensation that nothing in your body is willing to move quickly. Specially your legs.
• Running with and for the Marines at the MCM is worth it, specially in time of war.

New Moon

On the morning of the new moon, it hung just above the horizon, minutes before the dawn. The tiniest sliver shone bright gold, while the rest of the orb glowed dimly with Earth shine. Counter-intuitively, the orb blended almost indistinguishably with the blue morning sky, making its boundary nearly imperceptible.

This morning, at 5:45 AM, I experienced another why I run moment.

I woke Denise up with a cup of coffee in bed and the pounding sounds of the Village People singing "In the Navy" and "YMC". I guess the life of an endurance junky's spouse isn't easy. We went for her run, then I did a few more miles.

We have some good winds out of the NW after yesterday's rains. This is a pattern that repeats all winter. Runner's who have done the MCM more than once know it well: those last 6 miles are often into a stiff wind from the NW as run from Crystal City to the Iwo Jima Memorial.

7 miles today, once again. I had hoped to get in 10, but I'm struggling to get out by the requisite 5:30 AM start time for a 10-miler.

Missed Destiny

I took vertebrate zoology as an undergrad in that major. It became obvious to me at that time that humans had evolved to be best long distance runners in the animal kingdom. I let life's distractions lead me away from that first academic love and the revolutionary insight that I had nurtured. Someone else pursued my insight and brought it into focus: http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/

Corning Wineglass Marathon

What I learned at Corning:

• Don't start off at a pace you instinctively feel is too fast saying: "We'll just see what happens."
• You won't be able to "will" your way through the consequences of the first bullet.
• Adjust for the weather. If its 42 F and raining, don't try to take 15 minutes off your PR with the rationalization that the course is mostly down hill.
• Static stretching after seems to break up adhesions. It alleviates the soreness and stiffness.
• 26 miles is roughly 3000 calories. 10%-15% of those are from metabolized protein. You may need the carbs right away, but get that protein.
• A technical long sleeved top, shorts, gloves are sufficient for 42 F with rain and light winds.  
• When a big rain drop hits the bridge of your nose, it bursts in a small explosion of water. This is usually entertaining. At mile 22, deep into a wall you brought on yourself, it is startling and a little surreal.
• If its raining, use the BodyGlide in places you wouldn't normally expect.

Limits

We place limits on ourselves defining what we consider reasonable. I realized how easily these limits can be pushed back last winter. Denise and I started to experiment with trail running. As the cold deepened, we began running the trail under increasingly snowy and icey conditions. I remember driving out to Greenbelt National Park with Denise sharing doubts that the Perimeter Trail would be runnable only to arrive and run it, enjoying the challenge and novelty.

Today's run was one of those moments where my sense of what is reasonable was expanded. Today's run was 10 miles in 60 F rain, occasionally breezy and heavy. I can't say it was fun. My legs were feeling heavy and the sensation was increased by water-logged shoes. I also went into the run feeling sluggish and my clammy technical fabric top did not help my mindset. It was too warm for my hat, so I left it. Water drops hit my eyes on occasion, leaving red-eyed by end of the run. I occasionally inhaled the rain, choking on it lightly.

Sitting

I did not run today or so far this week. My 50-mile training week left me with several aches and pains which inclined me to a week off. Additionally, early meetings, a doctor's appointment, and paperwork all collaborated to consume the early morning time I usually set aside for training my body.

This morning I spent extra time doing my stretching routine, which primarily has its Western-style emphasis on muscle flexibility but also includes yoga elements of focus and relaxation. I did my zen-sitting.

Running and zen-sitting have much in common. They are extremely simple in practice. The act of running is the simplicity of performing what humans are naturally engineered to do best. There are no external aids that can enhance the core experience. It is simplicity of the body. The act zen-sitting is a conscious disassociation from anything arising from externals. It is simplicity of the mind.

Irene: Another Why I Run

This morning, I had another experience that reminds me why I run. It was 77F and 69% humidity, a bit more mild than usual, but still good sweating weather. I ran shirtless again, under a heavy, leaden sky. It was still almost oppressively dark at 6:00 AM.

It started to rain at 5 miles. It came down, at first light, then grew in intensity over the next mile. The cold rain washed away my coating of sweat. Since the water was much more cool than the air, it actually got me cold: I had goose bumps in August.

I thought about how such an experience is unique to what we runners experience. While the rain was finished by mile 6, I was refreshed in mind and body. It was still another "why I run" moment.

Nature

I've watched the moon's lag on Venus grow every day this week. Now, at 5 AM, the planet overs in a moonless sky. The bats are still out; so are the mosquitos. The latter are really bad this year.

I've never played The Sims or World of Witchcraft. I had to google "best selling computer games" to know their names. They seem like a waste of time; this is more real to me. Certainly the inactivity advances poor health, perhaps mental health also.

Its 77F/80%. Its going to be another sweaty one.

Heat and Exhaustion

I started my 16-miler at 80 F, 75% humidity. What I did not realize that before i finished the temperature / heat index would grow to 95F/100F. Half a mile out from the finish, after already walking in the heat several times, the nausea, faintness, and muscle cramps informed me that I had heat exhaustion. Thank heavens my 100 oz. CamelBack had ensured that I was properly hydrated. This is a first for me, and I felt lousy for the rest of the day.

Be careful out there in that heat, folks. I'm just glad I was within half a mile of my car.

Then There Were Two

I started the summer running shirtless with some trepidations. Unlike the South, you just don't see many male topless runners in Maryland. This morning, I crossed paths K, a friend who started marathoning a few years ago. This time, he was shirtless, too. Maybe its a trend.

Maybe I won't get stared at quite as much now!

56

Thank you, Becky and Charlotte!

smiles.

Healthy running.

56

I find analogies between sports and life facile and popular, yet on this occasion I cannot help myself but indulge.

Life is a marathon. There are no downs, no special teams, no time-outs, no halftime, and no coaching from the sideline. Despite the cheering, you do it alone; no one can do it for you or truly help you along. All depends on  your body and your mind: how well you care for them. Mistakes made early will exact a price, sometimes a terrible price, as you near the end. How you run the first 20 miles determines how you survive the last 6.2.

There are no "Hail Mary's".

Zoned

I zoned today and ran 6.5 vice 6 miles. I was pondering my impending 56 years. I guess that's a good way to ponder. Not happy about 56; enjoyed the run.

During my down time, I developed my own on-line running log using Ruby coding, XML-based data storage, and Apache to serve it up. I get no small amount of gratification storing my daily running and health status, and being able to tweek the GUI and data I store. This is part of a longer term plan to implement Jack Daniels' running calculations for pace and cumulative weekly training stress.

Its warm. As my weekly mileage pushes back beyond 30 mpw, I'm feeling that old familiar tiredness.

God its good to be back.

I'll Say It Just Once......

short and slow is BORING!!!!!!

Old runners never die....

they just heal up and return to running. That one popped into my mind around mile 2 of 3 today and brought a chuckle from Denise.

No matter what happens, success in running is coming back again and again. This probably is true of life, too.

Not Running, Stoicism, and Other Things

I started true speed work this year with tenth of a mile repeats along a section of country road at the entrance of our neighborhood. My first week included one sprint precariously called a repeat. I built up to 10 over the course of 15 or so weeks. I find the feeling of speed exhilarating and with it came a new sense of efficient flow in stride. I achieved a new sense of being light on my feet. My leg, arm, and core movements seemed to balance one another.

Greg McMillan puts describes it: "You feel these adaptations (improved neuromuscular function and acid buffering) as a smoother, less jerky stride when running at full speed. You feel that you are powerful and can simply fly across the ground. You begin to imagine yourself looking like the sprinters, smooth and powerful. Sprint zone training seems to greatly affect the torso of the body as you begin to run not just with your legs but to generate power through your stomach, pelvis and hips."

This form of training puts great stress on the posterior muscles: glutes, hamstrings, and calves. Minor aches gradually accumulated in my right hip and hamstring. They were minor and I ignored them. After a few weeks, I realized that they were not transient and were in fact slowly increasing.


So, I stopped running this weekend. Full stops have worked well for me in the past, healing in a few days what I suppose would otherwise take weeks. I'm fairly disciplined in my breaks, not letting the idleness affect my mood. This works as long as the break is not longer than a week or so. After than, despite on-going weight workouts, I'll begin to feel flabby and soft physically as well as mentally.


Epictetus tells us that our bodies are beyond our control and we are well to not base our identities or happiness on them. Yet in six years I have moulded my physical being from obesity to a physique that displays a level of athleticism that elicits comments from strangers. My body plays a significant role in my image of myself. Beyond that, I realize running is a spiritual act. All-weather running purifies me from the "You Deserve a Break Today" culture in which we live. We are immersed in unsustainable, self-serving, enervating cocoon of air-conditioning, recliners, glowing displays, and greasy, salty, sweet foods. The resulting mental and physical flabbiness is destroying our lives, our culture, and our planet. I can't influence our culture, but I can purify myself of it. The simple, sometimes brutal, experience of running all year in outside washes off the greasy film that our indolent lives deposit on us.


The hamstring soreness diminishes each day. Hopefully I will run again this coming weekend. I am going to use a classical training cycle: rebuild my mileage base, add stamina/tempo runs, and finally add speed. Amid all the miles of slow distance I've run over the years, I never realized how much I enjoyed going fast.

Bare Chest Running

In the last 3 miles of my long run Sunday the shirt came off. It was pushing 80. While this is a common thing in my home state of Florida, its somewhat unusual to see bare chested (male) runners in Maryland 'burbs. Well, this morning, I took it off again: it really is cooler in 70 F / 75% humidity to be running without a shirt. When I was young in Florida, I never thought twice about it. It is senseless to impair my training by being warmer than is necessary due to an ill-conceived sense of modesty.

So, in this my 7th summer of return to fitness, I'll do it shirtless. I have to say Rachel Toor's almost lyrical article in Running Times on the topic some months ago helped validate my new found freedom!

Why We Run

I took Denise out for her first longer run in preparation for her fall half marathon today. Its a week after the eye-opening experience at Bear Mountain. Today's run at Lake Artemisia was more familiar, except for one event. As we ran past the lake, I noticed a large raptor hovering over the water. I initially thought it was an osprey fishing, a sight we often see. I realized that the bird was much too big: it could only have been an eagle. I plummeted to the water's surface and came up with a large fish.

Sights like this are still another reason we run.

Bear Mountain, Day Two

I got up at my usual 4:30 and went down to the Hampton Inn lobby to get cups of coffee for Denise and me. The North Face and Goretex race staff were already trickling down sleepily, not as frisky as they were the day before or would be in about 5 hours. Stepping outside and breathing in the early morning air, I could see a glow over the mountain to the east. Unlike Maryland, that glow in the east wasn't the sun, it was NYC.

Denise and I made it up to starting line in Bear Mountain State Park. The 5K race was the last to begin. Its a 5-star technical trail, the first Denise and I have ever experienced. Portions were so rocky that a runner had to jump from one small patch of mud to another to use the only soft, flat footing available. At other points, we were reduced to a rock scramble. The scenery was incredible, whether crossing babbling streams or running along the crest with steep drop-offs to a stream on one side and Hessian Lake on the other. Denise emerged at the end of the run tired, enthused, and an avid trail runner.

The Sunday competitors and spectators were not as campy as the Saturday crowd but running 3 to 13.1 miles on those trails is certainly a challenge. The weekend itself once again pushed back the mental barriers we all create for ourselves in our physically indolent lives that we let define and limit what we think we can do. Trail running is repeatedly showing me that many of our perceptions of our physical limits are artificial and limit us only if we let them.

North Face Endurance Challenge, Day One

We drove up to Bear Mountain, NY, for the North Face Endurance Challenge races this weekend. Arriving at the expo and finish line, Denise and I watched the marathoners, 50K runners, and 50 mile runners complete their runs over the rough, single track trails of Bear Mountain.The finish line had a picnic atmosphere as families and friends watched their runners complete what most of us would consider super-human feats of running. Normally Denise and I stand out in a crowd as two near anorexic seniors. Here, we fit in as just another fit couple, maybe with just a bit of extra weight hanging on to us. In this world of endurance animals, we're just another pair of running "smucks".

I had to think about what it is to live to be able to run 50 kilometers or 50 miles over mountainous single trails. In 2004, when I started running, I ran in part as a purification from the volubility around me. America was in an orgy of self-indulgence. Economists in the federal administration were actually beginning to tell us that federal and personal deficits were good for economy. To eschew the rampant self-indulgence and go out and run became an act of purification and penance for the excess going on around me.

Walking through this crowd today, I see people who eschew the seductive glow of the CRT and LED. By doing so, they miss the propagandist message that "you deserve a break today". They miss the condition known as metabolic syndrome, which now affects nearly two thirds of the U.S. adult population. Instead, they go out and run 5, 10, maybe 15 miles in training. Its simple, direct, and sometimes brutal. It is life without all the electronic and pharmaceutical drugs we have created to inure us against it..

Tomorrow I take Denise on our first trail race. Its only a 5K. But we are crossing over into a still another way of viewing ourselves and the world.

Mists

We diverted our run to go through the commons, drawn by the pre-dawn mists hanging over the grass. It was 41 F and I could smell the earth, made wet by days of light rains. The fog glowed, reflecting the blue light in the eastern sky. The experience brought back vague childhood memories of living in the Florida Panhandle near the woods when I five. At that age, I often thought that the woodland fog was the manifestation of the spirits of the Native Americans who had lived there long ago. Now, after college chemistry and engineering thermodynamic, I know better. Yet the thought returns.

Rest

Famous coach Jack Daniels has commented that injuries are the salvation of runnering. The runner's enforced time off rejuvenates his mind and body, all the while he heals and ruminates on missed miles. He comes back to his sport with renewed ambition to achieve personal goals of speed, distance, or consistency. My dream of qualifying for Boston was born during a bout with sciatica in my second year of marathon training. That dream has lured me through many challenging and often beautiful miles providing ample drive to improve as a runner.

My turned ankle occurred at mile 15 of Sunday's 21-miler. I do a little 180-degree turn at that point. On this run, a small hole in the road the size of a my palm was waiting for the ball of my foot at my turn-around. My right leg fell forward as I turned left. The resulting sprain did not exactly hurt, but I could feel the stress in my leg. I finished my long run, but in a concession to a closely missed major injury, I took the next week off from running.

Not running allowed my to up the ante on my leg training for the week. I  have been able to hit them three times with heavy lunges and deadlifts. I am coming off this running layoff not with the feeling that my running has suffered but that I have gained strength in my legs with the increased weight training.

Next week, I begin the running again. My goal is to hit 45 miles for the week.

Coffee is Spelled R-U-N-N-I-N-G

I bring Denise her hot beverage every morning while she's still in bed. On her non-running days, its tea. On days she runs, its coffee. I hold the Starbucks under her nose until she stirs and announce that its a balmy 44 F.

The day has begun.

By the time we got outdoors, it was 40 F and raining. Our run was one of those "break a mental barrier" moments. This was the coldest rainy run we have experienced. The net result was that we were wet and somewhat at the end, but satisfied with our performances. Staying warm was just a matter of adding an extra layer. The inactivity and physical convenience we presume in our lives are regal in historic context. An hour's physical activity in 40 F. rain is utterly unremarkable through 99% of human history. Yet our neighbors drove by and peered in astonishment; a neighbor on our cul-de-sac remarked on how he admired our dedication. In point of fact, our run was not remarkable at all; it just appeared so from the context of the hyper self-indulgent physical lives the middle class has come to presume is the norm.

Running in any weather Maryland can produce down suburban roads is an utterly unremarkable thing to do within both a global and a historical perspective. It just seems remarkable because we have devolved into a society of utterly indolent hedonists. Running in the rain is a simple, purifying act. It washes away the stigma of living in an overly indolent culture. Humans simply are not built to lead the lives we have come to think is normal. The real normal, the healthy normal, is an unremarkable 6 mile run in 40 degree rain.

GWB Marathon

Feeling the need to at least be ready for the GW Birthday Marathon on 2/20 in Beltsville, Md, so I did 21 miles on Sunday. I was beginning to think I'd slowed down dramatically this year based on the long runs I've done so far, but they were all in temps in around 20 F. Sunday's run was 35-ish and I think it was one of my best 21-mile training runs ever. My first 3-mile lap was the slowest; I had to force myself to slow down for the others.

Cold weather greatly increases my perceived effort, specially when the temperature drops below 25F.

Balance

In my gym this morning, I almost loaded up my barbell for deadlifts, but stopped myself. A few weeks ago, my right knee started a bit if ITBS soreness. I  decided that the cumulative stress of weights and running the distance I'm doing was too much for it, so I've dropped the weights while I go through this mileage ramp.

But I really wanted to do those deadlifts....

Barriers

We set our barriers in our minds.

I had serious misgivings while driving over to Greenbelt Park to run the Perimeter Trail. There was 3-5 inches of ice and snow on the ground and I expected the already rough trails to be truly impassible. Yet, we thought we'd try and see; if the trails were impossible, then we could always run the park roads. Instead, a wonderful adventure awaited us. Snow tracks told us that only someone on cross country skis, one person on foot with a dog, and a large deer had preceded us along the trail. We had a great, if laborious, time pushing through the snow and ice, admiring the nearly untouched winter landscape following the trail around the park. What I nearly dismissed as not reasonable became an exploration of the park in winter and an adventure beyond a self-limiting, premature, barrier.

As I accumulate miles and years running, the lesson I've learned that I most treasure is that my mind cannot even conceive the limits that I am capabable of attaining.

Sleet

I step out in the predawn darkness and hear crackle all around me. A steady sleet is blanketing the landscape as I begin my run. Each footstep yields a soft crunch as I glide over the ice and slush. My thoughts wander to the owls as I trace my way the the woods. Birds have high metabolic rates. The owls must surely be hunting their furry little prey in this primitive wood. Yet, I hear only the crackle of ice falling, the crunch of ice underfoot, and my breathing.

The ice adheres to the branches of bushes and trees. It accumulates on the brim of my hat. I clear it off. A car passes, its occupant stares at me, bundled, warm, and plump. I will be wet when this 7-miler is done, but I will still be warm because of my layering. I realize that much of what we take for routine comforts are in reality debilitating indulgences. We don't see them as such because they ennervate over the course of years and lifetimes.

I feel close to the rhythm of nature this morning.

Annapolis

Denise's company held its annual company winter party last night in Annapolis. Denise and I are very much morning creatures; instead of facing a drive back to Bowie after the party, we reserved a room at the Annapolis Loew's Hotel across the street from the night club. The evening was pleasant, much wine flowed, and we had the opportunity to walk through an art show, which was also being hosted by the club. At evening's end, we strolled across the street to a warm hotel room rather than drive 25 miles home.

Annapolis is a hub of the running community. The small city has three specialty running stores and is home of the Annapolis Striders, one of the DC area's most active running clubs. In the past, we enjoyed stopping for coffee and breakfast down by the harbor at dawn to enjoy the sights and sounds of the waking running, marina, and civil communities. My interests in observing runners had not waned, even though I had given up the sport decades previously.

That changed this morning. Despite the blustery 15 F weather, we suited up at 7 AM and did our first run though the 350 year old streets of old town Annapolis. It was only 3 miles and we spent much of it talking about our new found interest in trail running. But we finally ran Annapolis, a goal that we've spent years thinking would be fun to do.

Hawthorne

It was another morning worthy of one of Hawthorne's short stories, foggy, gray, wet, and dark. Air and earth are saturated with water and slush. I did 6 miles, all the while waiting to hear a great horned owl, but the fog seemed to suppress all bird activity.

It feels good to move through the gloom.

Transcendence

My long run out on a cold windy morning. I think of food: bacon and cheese omlette, hot chocolate. I wonder how many people are having it for breakfast at that moment in my neighborhood. People drive by in their metal boxes, warm and soft, on their way to church or on breakfast errands. In two or three hours, some will drive by again, returning. Those who know me will smile and wave, those who don't will stare in mutual incomprehension. I run, far away from iPhones, Wee's, XBoxes, and other trinkets that distract and ennervate, but never satisfy. I am far away from Madison Avenue's seduction to want those trinkets; I am far away from Wall Street's greed that inspires their creation.

The cold north-western wind bluster buffets me. Cardinals in the trees twitter morning calls. The robins rustle in the trees above me as I run past. Crows flock and fly east towards the rising sun. A hawk is already screaching in the sky above, hunting for its breakfast. It is long run day dawn: cold, simple, and savage.

I realize that these long runs are acts of transcendence.

Trails

We ran in Greenbelt Park again, along the Perimeter Trail. As we ran along, there was an audible crunch with each footstep sinking into the partially iced snow. This was our first experience of snowy winter forest trails. The woods were serene, barren trees standing in the snow as we two runners glided along the paths easily.

On the down hill portions of the trail, I experimented with just letting go, letting the gravity pull me down at a sprint. I remembered seeing a high school cross country team in Rogue River, Oregon train in a park by the river. The kids would throw themselves with abandon over an embankment, seemingly immune to injury. I thought those days were over for me long ago. Yet, after two years and nearly 3,000 miles of training, I feel strong enough to do just the same. The feeling was exhilarating, coming up on my toes, shortening and quickening my stride, and flying down hill along the snowy trail. Twenty four hours ago, weighted down my stress I regretted a missed run. Today, I celebrated fitness on a cold winter day in a Maryland park.

Weary Again

I overslept an hour and a half this morning, unhappily missing my final 6-miler of the week. The cumulative effects of stressors at work and home, plus the training load wore me down sufficiently by end of week to the point where I needed the sleep more than the training. I will strive to improve management the psychological stress, the physical stress of training is a given.

Jack

Jack Daniels, possibly the most reknown running coach in the world, opines that strength training is just a means to make the athlete stronger so that he can run more injury free. I think my knee issue arose from the cumulative stress of running and the strength training. Not running, I am struggling with the strength training: should I do legs? Looking at the issue strictly clinically, I should remove all possible causes for the issue until I heal completely. First start the running alone, followed by the weight training. My singular goal should be my 40 mile weeks.

But emotion creeps in. I have made such progress in my deadlifts and lunges. The two sets of eight repetitions of lunges that waylaid me a few years ago are completely surpassed now. I am working out with 80 lbs of dumbells when I do my lunges now. I must focus on my goal and not let ego intrude.

No leg work until I'm back at 40 miles per week.....or maybe do a single set!

I thought I'd share a photo of Denise approaching mile 26 at last year's Marine Corps Marathon. Her achievement was appropriately crowned her months of effort to prepare for the event.

Full Stop

Ok, expletive intended......

Damn.

That mild twinge under my upper right knee cap is almost certainly and ITBS warning. So, running's out until its gone. You can't run through ITBS. Better taking 7 days off now, than 7 weeks off later. I really wanted 3 or 4 today but controlled the urge. This is going to be a very challenging week; my running had been going well.

I'll focus on the strength training.

Simple Things

I did 2 3-mile loops this morning just after a soft, light, snow fall. On the second loop, I traced my foot prints. I'm mildly surprised that I toe-out quite as much as I do: maybe as much as 10 degrees. Noakes, in his complete coverage of everything running, actually calculates how much extra a marathoner has to run given toe-out angles. I'll have to look the topic up.

Still, it was fun seeing my foot prints in the freshly fallen snow and realizing I was the only runner out there.

Will

I bent low to pick up my barbells for the year's first set of dead lifts. I am beginning my 6-th year of marathon training. Above, on my squatting cage, 6 marathon completion medals hang over my head. I stare myself in the eyes momentarily and I realize that what I will be at the end of the year is entirely dependent on what I do now.

What I am at year's end is what I will into existence today.

Rest

The culmulative stress of the holidays and a hard tempo run yesterday convinced my body, specially hips, back, and hamstrings, to demand a day off.

So, we went to a great all you can eat breakfast place this morning.

Time to be Camus' Sisyphus tomorrow.

New Beginnings

To celebrate the first day of the year, it was 7.2 for me, 3 at tempo pace. Six consecutive January 1's in mostly bone-chilling weather. This year it was great. I was actually sweating heavily by mile 4.

Last year was all about mentoring Denise to her first marathon. During the year's miles, my sense of "old age" brittleness finally feel away amid all those 35-45 mile weeks. I'm going to try speed this year. G. Washington's Birthday is in 6 weeks; the Blue Ridge Marathon is in mid April. Neither is a place to PR, but both would be great training.

At 9:30 AM while, I was wondering who was still in bed and who was to hung over to get up!