Wow, I can't believe my next marathon is almost here. Tomorrow morning I will be on my way to New Orleans, and
the next day I will run the
New Orleans Marathon. I don't know what to expect from my time. I'd like to break four hours. We'll see if that's possible.
I think it is. So I'll predict that I finish around 3:55. I know I could do better than that if I really worked
at it correctly. But it's only been 11 weeks since my last marathon, which really isn't enough time. As I've been
saying, I am definitely going for quantity over quality in my marathons now.
In other news, my parents have given us their old treadmill. It's six years old, but doesn't have all that many
miles on it, and it's in good shape. I've run on it twice now, not getting too fast either time. It seems to work
just fine. It quite nice to have the treadmill in the house so that I don't have to go out into the cold and dark when
I don't want to.
Okay, keep your eyes on these pages in the next few days, and I'll try to get my race report from New Orleans posted
quickly...
The Florida Gators capped off another season with
another BCS Championship! That makes two in the last three seasons! Obviously I'm extremely excited about this. If I was going to
talk about predictions, I probably should have posted something
before the game. I did expect a win over Oklahoma,
but I certainly expected something a little more high-scoring than 24-14. My prediction for the final score was 41-28.
So while I did manage to predict Oklahoma would have their lowest point total of the season, I was still quite a bit off.
But hey, I'll take it.
Obviously, Gator fans might be getting a little spoiled now. This makes for the fourth championship in the last
three years (two football, two basketball). Even before this game, UF was the only school with multiple titles in both
football and basketball. And now they've accomplished this double-double in just three years. Wow.
It's been an amazing run. And with
Tebow coming back, UF will be among the favorites to do it again next year. It's been fun...
In other news, I finally registered for the
Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans on Feb 1. It's not actually on Mardi Gras (or even close to it), but it is on Super Bowl Sunday.
It should make for a fun weekend. It's only three weeks away, so I hope I'm ready for it...
I started the year by running a race. It was the Hangover Run in Westfield NJ. I was pleased to finish in
21:45, which is only 5 seconds off my PR.
Now, onto my running goals for 2009. My running goals for 2009 are very similar to the 2008 goals. Since
I missed many of those goals in 2008, I hope I can reach them this year.
1) Remain injury-free.
It didn't happen in 2008, and it caused me to miss most of the other goals. It begins and ends with this one...
2) Run 4 marathons, and set a new PR under 3:45.
Another holdover from 2008 that didn't happen. At this moment, I have zero marathons scheduled. But I may
soon sign up for New Orleans, which is on Feb 1. And then I'll pick something for the Spring. St Louis on April
19 is leading candidate right now. We'll see..
3) Run the New Haven 20k for a sixth straight year, and get a new PR.
If healthy, I don't see why I can't do this.
4) Run a Half Marathon somewhere and get a new PR.
Another failed holdover. I've only run one HM race in my life, and that was in 2006. I've improved a lot
since then, so I know I can beat my previous time. I just haven't run a HM since then. So I just need to get one
onto the schedule.
5) 1500 total miles.
My top mark is 1440 in 2007. I'm sure I can get to 1500 if I stay healthy.
6) Keep biking and swimming in the repertoire, and maybe enter a triathalon.
This probably won't happen unless I get myself a road bike. My mountian bike is okay for tooling around town.
But it won't work very well in a race.
And that's it. I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2009...
