Thoughts and Prayers

This is a break from my usual snarkiness to give thought to someone important in my life who suffered a stroke two days ago. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, hoping for a full and speedy recovery.

Take a moment and reflect on all the good things in your life, and realize how tenuous it all is, as is life itself. Make sure those you love know it, and live generously and graciously. Most of all, find joy in every day and live life to its fullest, so that you may never have any regrets.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! Santa was good to me this year; I got a Garmin Forerunner 305 to further my training pursuits. (I also got a titanium spork and a USB Rocket Launcher -- I now rule my domain!)

Now, anyone who's been paying attention will note that I have not, um, exactly, um, been great about training over the course of my holiday break. But I shall soon be hard at it again, I promise. If nothing else, I'll need the exercise to overcome the vast quantity of food that has been pervasive the last few days.

One last good note -- $600 in donations were forthcoming from various sources. That bumps me over the two-thirds mark toward my fundraising goal! Woohoo!

Like a Cat in Water

It was back in the pool for more swimming practice, with a gentle grace reminiscent of the Andrea Doria rolling on her side and slipping quietly beneath the waves. Except it floated longer.

Honestly, I think I AM getting better, there's just that breathing thing. I'm finding that inhaling with my face in the water is less effective than I thought it might be. I think I'll try something different next time.

On a brighter note, the group run on Saturday morning was good. Six miles easy running, followed by a shoe clinic at Ragged Mountain Running Shop. Kudos to Mark there for getting me in good shoes, replacing the improper shoes one of the other running stores sold me. Now, if I could just run through the water, life would be grand!

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

The Training Plan Has Arrived

Our coach (Ned) has given us our first four weeks of training plan. I've added it to my exercise log so we can all see how good or bad I am about meeting the training goals. Hmmm, though now Ned can be like Santa... he knows when I'm bad or good. But maybe he gives good presents! More likely, this may be a coal sort of year (although... rocks that burn? COOL! :)

Charlottesville Men's Four Miler

It was only my second actual race, but it went pretty well. It was a chilly morning (about 34 degrees at race start), but the cold was good once I got going. I ran four miles in 34:11 (my official time was 34:34, but I started pretty far back, so I timed it from actual cross of start line to finish line). I was hoping for 32 minutes, but all in all I'm reasonably happy with it. Finished 153rd out of 281, and 17th of 28 for my age group, so overall a fairly average, middle-of-the-pack finish.

It was a bit disheartening to be about half a mile from the turnaround and see two kids about eight years old already running back. But it did motivate me to keep going. And I did beat my father-in-law Jack (in picture). Okay, he's 73, but he's been a runner since he was a kid. And if I can't beat the eight year olds, I can still beat Grandpa! (I've got standards ... they're just really low). Though seriously, I hope I can even finish four miles when I'm that age, much less come in under 40 minutes (which he did, and won his age group -- Go Grandpa!)

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)