Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, fellow runners, riders, walkers, crawlers. If you're not moving at all, do.

Two in a row

I felt so good today after my 5.26 mile run Saturday that I decided to run again. It was the first time since last April that I have run two days in a row. I certainly didn't try to improve my speed or go long. I started with a 12 min. mile and finished with an 11:07, so I averaged 11:35 for 3.1 miles. If rehab keeps going well, I will pick up the pace a little in January.
With my mileage today, I am sitting at 612 miles for the year, around 800 miles less than last year. That's what happens when you get hurt and don't run at all for over 7 months. There are no plans to ever approach 1,400 miles again. In the coming year I want to mix a lot of bike riding in with the running, concentrate on fitness rather than PRs, and really try to avoid injuries.
That's the plan, anyway. -- Rob

Special meeting of the MRC

The MRC had a stupendous time at its annual holiday gathering, which this year featured the marriage of Emily and Neil. That's Emily in the middle there, and Neil is on her left. Kudos to MRC board member Ken, Emily's dad, who arranged the program. We let him stand next to the bride for this photo. Rob and Mike are on the left, and Bill is on the far right.
Congratulations to the happy couple, and to Ken and Pam. We were all honored to be there.

Improving

I went back and forth this morning trying to decide whether to run outside or on the treadmill, and finally decided to go back to the treadmill where I could be more careful. It was pretty raw outside, too.

I felt very well, so I cranked up the speed a bit over what I'd been doing, and went a little farther than I have been. Certain areas where I've been feeling discomfort are no longer hurting at all (at least not in the last 3 or 4 days), and certain areas still do a little. But it's quite manageable, and I am now getting the sense that I'm actually running. Today's distance was 5 miles, and the pace was 12:20, which is still slow but a lot better than 15 min., which is where I was a week ago. The twice-weekly runs with plenty of recovery in between are speeding the whole healing process. The trick will be to curb my enthusiasm as I feel stronger and stronger, and just build on this slowly. -- Rob

Scorchin'

Went for another treadmill run tonight and cranked the dial a little higher than I have previously, averaging 13:04 min. per mile. Whoo - scorchin'! Guess I got all wound up with all that talk last night about marathons and destination races and such.

Not ready to think about a marathon, though. I ran for 50 min., and that was enough, as I could feel the discomfort increasing. Still, I wasn't any more uncomfortable than previous runs at slower paces, so I guess that's progress. -- Rob