Sweet Victory

So December rolls along, along with the miles. It seems like my life right now is pretty much a blur of budgets, Christmas parties, my son's basketball... and running. The last of those is probably good, as Team Type 1 has formally decided that one of the focal races for 2011 will be the NJ Ultra Festival on March 19, which includes 26.2 mile, 50k, 50 mile, 100k and 100 mile options. And on that day, with a little help from above plus a handful of painkillers, I'll be aiming to do my first 50 mile race. Without a doubt, it's a strange goal: I always said I'd do ultras after I qualified for Boston and - to date - I haven't. Moreover, 50 miles is just... well, kind of far. But there were a few things that led me to this decision: * Though my base is strong right now, we're heading into the time of year where doing fast work will really suck. I did speedwork last January, and it was a special stage of hell. Instead, I'd rather do a ton of miles. * Team Type 1

The problem with not writing a blog post in 7 weeks is that you're virtually guaranteed to write a rather unfocused diary-like entry, seemingly devoid of purpose, intent, plot or resolution. Like this one. In no particular order: 1) I took a trip to England for work, and ended it with a day in Ireland for fun. Despite the fact that Ireland is nearly bankrupt, it wasn't like garage-sale bankrupt. Instead, it was like Kmart bankrupt; everyone talks about it, but the prices were mostly the same. Still, there was Guinness, and for that alone, I was grateful. 2) I took a trip to Cleveland for one night for work, which isn't remarkable, other than the fact that I hadn't been to Cleveland before. We went to a very nice restaurant, which leads me to conclude that Cleveland is awesome! I'm simple like that. 3) I went to Federal Jury Duty, and was dismissed after 5.5 hours, which included a 2 hour lunch. This, too, leads me to conclude that jury duty is awesome! 4) I ran 187