Hello 2013

Randomness on a dreary late-February Saturday morning …

• TRX is ridiculously effective. Been using it two months and have never felt stronger. Ev. er. Amazing. Staying with pretty basic movements. Hitting it five days a week. Dramatic, lasting positive impact, especially on the longer runwalk efforts.

• Lotsa Time on Feet these days. Getting at least one 4-hour-plus runwalk a week (thanks to my boss Lisa Ha for letting me come in late on Tuesdays!!!), and sprinkling in three other runwalks of 2 hours each week. How much? I ran every day in January, 14 of them were only 20 minutes, and I still averaged 1:30:00 per run. And now that Basketball Ref Season has come to an end, evenings become a lot more relaxed.

• Holiday Lake 50K++ was phenomenal. Trained through it. Was hoping for a sub-6, and thinking the reach goal was maybe sub-5:45. Final time was 5:21. Oh, it gets better. Out in 2:38. Home in 2:43. Fantastic run. And an even better weekend of fun that included some of my very favorite people. 

Bill Potts, my brother from another mother, at the turnaround

   

With Team Gaylord crazies at yummy pre-race dinner. Clockwise from far left: Rob, Sara, Tom, Toni, moi, Stanley 

• The Streak lives again. Rekindled on Dec. 27, 2012. Most recent one ended Dec. 2, 2012, after 2,111 days thanks to flu. Took four straight days off, then tried to stick to a one-rest-day-a-week program. Lasted three weeks. Was miserable. Why? I am a runner. It’s how I create. And it’s the main source of my joy.

• With me, it’s never “training.” Never has been. Not since I started running in 1976. I love this stuff too much. Snow. Rain. Hot. Cold. Let's go! Where does the motivation come from? Beats me, but here’s a truism: I never lack motivation to do physical stuff. Color me the perpetual 10-year-old boy.

• Next? Shamrock Marathon. Not as a pacer this time. Doing my own thing. I’m feeling so all dressed up with no place to go that I’m thinking I may try for a sub-3:50 doing 8 minutes run/2 minutes walk and then blasting the final 5K. We will see.

And then there is this … signed off on New Year's Eve night ... my dream of dreams ...