Words of Wisdom

I was looking through my log book for a specific route and I just read the quote of the week for the week between Tecumseh and Otter Creek.
"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another." - Frank Shorter
I should have paid more attention to that a couple of weeks ago.

I found this weeks quote to be appropriately timed.
"Run slowly, run daily, drink moderately and don't eat like a pig." - Dr. Ernest van Aaken
(Bold type is mine). I've got the run slowly and drink moderately down pat. I need some help with the run daily and an intervention on the eating like a pig part.

I committed to running less through the end of the year. This coupled with the eating has the potential to be a very dangerous decision. I can definitely feel the difference on my recent runs. I can account for some of the sluggishness from the recent marathons and maybe some to the travel schedule but the the rest is clearly attributed to the ginormous (gigantic + enormous) quantities of food I've consumed of late. I've noticed a definite bounce around the middle and on Saturday's run my shorts were riding up in places they've never ridden up before. If I'm going to achieve my goals, I've got to get serious about food again. I know I've gotten lazy, but dang that sweet stuff tastes so good.

I ran three days this week, true to my scaled back plan for a total of 20.5 miles.

Wednesday I ran a 4.5 mile loop beginning at my front door. Back in 2004 this was a regular run for me. I checked back through my log this year and I've only run it twice, once in August and once in February.

Saturday, I met up with the Cruisers at Huntington Beach. We were a very small group, just four of us. But we were joined by 6 runners and 4 walkers of the 6:42 group. The weather turned out to be fabulous. Before I left I checked the weather and the chart. The weather called for 50 warming to 60°F by 10:00. I decided on a long sleeve tech shirt. When I first got started my hands were cold, but I've learned that gloves are not necessary after about the first mile (even in the 30's at Tecumseh). A couple of miles into the run, I wished I had chosen a short sleeve instead. The day was so wonderful. The sky was blue. We could see Catalina Island off the coast and lightly snow dusted mountains inland. As the run went on I even ended up seeing more than one guy runner shirtless and girls in jog bras. I felt pretty silly in my long sleeves. I ran most of the time with Jim and Randy and put in 11 miles at 8:44 pace overall.

I was surprised later that day about how sore my quads were. This was unexpected based on the morning run on flat land at a relatively relaxed pace and it seemed to come on pretty quickly. I'm not sure what was going on there.

Sunday, I hopped over to Bonelli (where else would I go on a Sunday?) in the afternoon to take advantage of the warm, sunny weather. The temps were in the high 70's and I pulled a sleeveless out for the occasion. It's Christmas Eve, December 24 and technically winter, running in a sleeveless tech shirt. How can you complain about that? My legs were still pretty fatigued. I walked a couple of the hills at the end of the loop and finished the 5 miles in 50:00. I didn't see another soul in the park, but I arrived back at the parking lot at the same time as another runner. He must have been elsewhere in the park. A third guy was just taking off into the park as I cooled down.

Last night we were over at my mother-in-laws for my wife's sister birthday. Tonight we are spending a quite evening at home with pasta for dinner. We'll go to Christmas Eve service at 11:00 and then home and into bed so Santa can come.

I usually like to get a run in on Holidays. The weather is expected to be beautiful for Christmas. I can already hear Bonelli calling me.

Merry Christmas to all. Isaiah 9:6-7