Sweet Victory

So with a 30.4 mile run including headwinds of 20mph and windchills in the teens, that pretty much does it for 2012. Without trying it, I discovered that my total mileage for the year came in around 2,270... just about 10 more than I accomplished in 2011. More immediately, though, the 230.5 for December was my second highest total of the year as well as second highest all-time... all of which is good as I aim for the NJ Ultra Fest in March. And because my long runs were technically 6 days apart, I just wrapped up an 81 mile week, my longest week ever, too. I still haven't officially signed up for the 100M in NJ. I need to make sure the calendar is clear and the training goes well, and even if it doesn't happen, 2013 is going to be a great year. But still, things are starting to line up that way, with the long runs now officially up to 5 hours with more than 10 weeks to go until race time. If I can confirm that Team Novo Nordisk Training Camp isn't that weekend, I'll...

After participating in Girls on the Run on Saturday, the wife and I decided to tackle the Jingle Bell 5k on Sunday, encouraged by some of her students, who were also participating in both. As this was also my weekend of no long run after 3 weeks in a row of being "up," it seemed like a good idea at the time. That said, the weather was fairly yucky, 40ish degrees and light rain. I would've considered it horrible, if it weren't for the fact that I remember doing this race in 35 degree HARD rain only a few years ago. Though not a hard course, this one can't be described as a PR course, either, and I've run this race 3 times somewhere between 19:40-19:50. Though I was hopeful to do that again, I've only had my mileage up for about a month, none of which has been speedwork. My blood sugar was high at the beginning; right around 180. I was nearly done with a 6 day pack of steroids, aimed at helping my rotator cuff. I'd kept my pump around 130% basals f...

Last year, I went to speak to at my wife's elementary school about goal setting, as it relates to me as a distance runner. I was walked to her classroom by a 5th grader who impressed me with her poise and conversation as we walked the halls. I told my wife if she had the chance to get the kid in her homeroom the falling year, I bet she'd love her. A year later, Maria is definitely one of my wife's favorites in a room full of great kids. Periodically, my wife likes to use my insanity as fodder for classroom material; the result of which is that the kids have a wide range of opinions about my foolishness on the roads and trails. But when Maria signed up for Girls on the Run , this year, she asked my wife if I'd be her run buddy, which is how I found myself at Clipper Stadium on Saturday morning. I'm no Girls on the Run expert. I only know it's about teaching girls how to have fun through running events. The 5ks skew more fun, less competitive, and those that d...

When last we left this blog, I was coming off my 3rd ultra in six weeks, looking for a month of downtime, prior to my next build. And that's pretty close to what's happened. The month of November was only about 160 miles of largely unstructured running. The early weeks were shorter, mostly due to some foot tendinitis that took a while to heal, but at the moment is completely gone. And last week I got in over 50 miles, including an easy 3.5 hours. All of this is because I'm hopeful that 2013 will be big. My tentative race schedule includes my first 100 miler in March and my first 24 hour race in July. I've done enough 50s now that they don't scare me, so I want to go bigger. And speaking of bigger, today brings with it news of Team Type 1's rebranding as Team Novo Nordisk . There's little I can say about it at this point other than to say I remain so grateful to be part of an organization that is doing amazing cool things. And, yet... there is a ...