Yup, it's been another long drought without any posts from me.  I guess it's been a busy time.  I've been spending all my weekends lately in Connecticut visitng my parents.  My mom had a double knee placement, and my dad had a pacemaker inserted.  These operations happened very close to each other, and it made for some hectic times.  The good news is that they are both recovering well and will hopefully soon be back to their old selves.  Rest well, guys.

 

Unfortunately, because of the excitement in Connecticut, I had to cancel my trip to Arizona for the Phoenix Marathon.  That now makes four marathons that I have bailed on in just the last two years.  First there were two (Eugene and San Diego) after I broke my ankle in the spring of 2008, and then there was OBX just a couple months ago when I had the flu.  Well, the next one on my list is Little Rock on Mar 7.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing will derail this one.

 

Maybe this wasn't the most thrilling post, but at least it was something.

It's a few days into the year, but better late than never, eh?

 

Last year I listed six goals. And there was one of them that I didn't even attempt to complete. So that just made me realize what my true focus is. As a result, I'm only going to list two goals that I really want. Then for fun, a few more seconary goals that will be nice, but I won't go out of my way to accomplsih them...

Real goals:
1) Stay healthy and injury-free. Obviously it all starts here.

2) Run at least 5 marathons. Preferably in 5 new states. Sooner or later, I'm going to start running out of new states, and may have to start repeating if I want a certain quantity in a year. But I'm only 1/4 of the way done, so I don't think I'm at that point yet.

Secondary goals:
1) A new marathon PR. As much as I'd love to reach this one, I didn't do it in 2009, and I'm not too upset about it. So I won't be too upset if I miss it in 2010 as well.

2) 1800 total miles. This might be a little bit of a reach, since the 1600 I did in 2009 seemed like a lot. But I'm sure I can do it if I apply myself.

3) Lose a little weight. I'm sure I would get faster simply by dropping a few pounds. I've been at about the same weight for a long time and I'm okay with it. So I'm not sure how hard I'll work at this one.

I think that's it. I set PRs in every distance but the marathon in 2009, so I'm not going to try to hard to set them again in 2010. If they happen, great. But I won't go nuts over it.

Please allow me to check back to the goals I set in January on this blog...

 

1) Remain injury-free.
Check

2) Run 4 marathons and set a PR under 3:45.
I managed 5 marathons, but didn't hit the PR. My best time in 2009 was 3:50 in St Louis. But I suppose I can come up with an excuse for why I was slower than 3:45 for all 5 this year. New Orleans and St Louis were too soon after my broken ankle and I wasn't back to full speed yet; South Dakota and Wyoming were just too darn difficult; and I ran New York with the flu. So I don't get a check mark here, but it's pretty close.

3) Run the New Haven 20k for a sixth straight year, and get a new PR.
Check

4) Run a Half Marathon somewhere and get a new PR.
Check

5) 1500 total miles.
I finished with 1605.6, so that's another check.

6) Keep biking and swimming in the repertoire, and maybe enter a triathalon.
Umm, no. I didn't record a single swim or bike ride in 2009. So I failed this one about as miserably as possible.

So that would be 4 checks, one almost-check, and one big miss. It sucks that I had to bail on the OBX Marathon when I was sick, but overall I'll consider it a good year.

 

I'll be posting my 2010 goals soon.

Yes, of course I'm a few days late.  But nonetheless, I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to anybody reading this.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

Yup, once again I've gone a long while between posts.  So what do I have to talk about from the last couple weeks?  Well, I've registered for my next marathon.  It will be on Jan 17, 2010 in Phoenix AZ.  It's part of the Rock N Roll Marathon series, and I'm looking forward to it.  It seems like it should be a lot of fun, even if it is rather expensive.  They've even got a band I've heard of to play as the headline act in the post-race party: Everclear.  Okay, so I've heard of them, but I really don't know much about them.  I think they're hard rock or alternative or some such.  Not exactly my cup of tea, but whatever.  I'm still looking forward to my first race in 2010.

 

This past weekend I ran a 5k race in Westfield NJ and I broke my old PR at that distance by a minute and 22 seconds.  My time was 35:47.  I was really only looking to break 37 minutes, so I'm thrilled with this performance.  Maybe it makes me feel a little better about missing the OBX Marathon when I had the flu.

 

I haven't written much about football this season, but I'm nonetheless thrilled that the Gators are undefeated heading into the SEC Championship Game.  I have been saying since the pre-season that if UF is ever going to have an undefeated season, this is it.  The schedule during the season was very manageable, and it was nice to see them get thru without a loss.  But the next two games will not be easy.  While I do think the Gators are slightly better than Alabama, it's not by much.  And I will not be at all surprised if Alabama wins.  In fact, this is the first game in a long time where I actually have doubts about the outcome.  Well, I've got my fingers crossed that Tebow and company have a couple more big games left in them.  A third championship in four years would be extremely impressive.

 

That's it for now.  Hopefully I'll get another post or two in before the year is over.