Resolution Run 5K in 24:23

My wife spotted a midnight 5k on the news that had fireworks, so of course I had to go run in it. Never mind that my legs were not recovered from the 21 miler and I have a marathon coming up. Did I mention fireworks?

A front came through right before 2010 and made its appearance by slightly chilling temps to 52 degrees and then boosting a 25 mph wind out of the North. It was a dark and stormy night... Seriously.

The run was brisk and cold, and I pushed very hard at the end. (Ask me about a funny story there sometime...)

Anyway, the result was 24:23 - not my best time, but there was some speculation that the course was measured to the curb and not to the middle of the road -- some GPS watches had us running 5.5k - a full 10% farther.

Weirdly, there were some really fast runners in the crowd. I eventually figured out they were running to set a time. So I guess that for a few hours at least, I had one of the top ten fastest times in my age group for the state of Texas in 2010. Well - it was good Christmas present while it lasted.

Annual Goal Setting today

Usually toward the end of the year, I tend to get a bit contemplative and evaluate my life. The idea is that I just want to make sure my Christian values are lined up with what I am doing on a day to day basis, and that I am doing the things I love.

This year has been quite odd in that the mood struck me much earlier than the usual Christmastime/New Years. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the new job(s). Or it might be that we just came off our family vacations (Disneyworld!). Or that my training is ahead of schedule and I am doing the mileage now that I would normally be doing in December. Or perhaps it is because we successfully completed another Celiac Awareness Run/Walk a few weeks ago.

Whatever the reasons, it is a very good exercise to be clear about what one wants to do and what one does not want to do. I have found it especially useful to have priorities about those "to-do's." The biggest differences between this year and those prior are the sharpness of focus and priorities. I also have fewer specific goals and more goals focused around process. This year, I hope to think (and analyze) less and do more.

Christmas is finally put away

Today was the day we finally decided it was time to put away the Christmas tree. I know, you're thinking, "Your Christmas tree is still up in February?" No. It's in the box - we've just been trying to decide where to store it. I wasn't keen on the floor of the garage, and my wife was thinking attic, and well, it just sat there in the playroom for about two months. After a while, you just sort of forget that it's there.

Tonight I was out grilling and looked at the garage and said to myself, "It's time." Perhaps I was inspired by my children, who were picking up (!) in the playroom. So I climbed up in the attic, cleared a space, found a bungee cord, wrapped the box and started moving it out. My always helpful wife was hot on my heels, asking if I needed help.

So I lifted that box without any trouble right up there. She guided it into place, and that was that. The whole operation took perhaps 20 minutes total, and now we can enjoy a tree-free walkway until Thanksgiving or so.

So what on earth made us wait to put it away this long? It makes me think that a lot of training things are like that tree -- if you just do them, you get them over with quickly and get to reap the rewards. If you don't do them, well, they just sit there waiting for you.

Workouts have been pretty good. Swimming is up to 1200 meters (in 30 minutes). My legs are achy tonight, but that's probably to be expected.