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Nice to meet you, 2010.

Nice to meet you, 2010.

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New Year’s (day) ranks in my top 3 favorite holidays, which also includes Thanksgiving and Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead.  Part of the reason I like New Year’s so much is because I’m a total nerd and dig things like goal-setting… which, conveniently enough, is a very good thing for a runner to dig!

I finished off 2009 in the Dominican Republic with C – a very belated but lovely honeymoon – and I was determined to finish off 2009 by hitting 1,300 miles since I was so close (fewer than 20 miles away) to accomplishing it.  Being on vacation and all, where it was 90+ degrees each day in seemingly 110% humidity, this meant the nasty (cue evil nightmarish music here) ::treadmill:: , the likes of which I hadn’t run on in a year.  After getting used to the awful calibration (let’s just say that those were some FAST 9-minute+ miles!), it wasn’t so bad.  And, to boot, by the time 2010 came around, I had hit that coveted 1,300 miles… and had already signed up for a spring half marathon (the Hillstriders’ March Madness Race in Cary, IL).

I ran a bit less in 2009 than I did in 2008 (1,500+ miles), but I attribute it to being in Kenya for nearly three weeks, being ill a couple times in 2009, and struggling with bouts of near-overtraining in the summer.  It’s probably better that I ran less in 2009, going through what I did.  I’m telling myself that if the pros can take time off from running, that it was okay for me to, too, for the first time in 2ish years of marathon training and running.

Back to reality, in frigid Chicago, school will soon begin (the final throes of grad school – hooray!), and I went back to work yesterday.  To finish off a good day, I ran home – a nice ~3.4 mile stroll around 5pm on N. Michigan and Inner LSD.  The cold wasn’t so bad, thanks to the two pairs of tights + 3 tops + gloves + hat + jacket I was wearing, and man… it was damn near liberating to get off the “dreadmill”!

I plan to participate in Fleet Feet Chicago’s Boston-Bound 2010 program, and we have a kick-off meeting and run on Saturday morning.  I’m looking forward to it.  Until Saturday, my runs remain playful and nothing too serious — just a near-daily reminder of my own mortality. 🙂

What will 2010 bring?  Here are my running-related goals, written in vague-ish form so I can alter them later, as necessary:

  1. Maintain, if not improve, my health – make good choices regarding nutrition, hydration, sleep, stress and time management, and the like
  2. Better my marathon (3:37) and/or half marathon (1:40) PRs
  3. This is the one I’m really scared about – *perhaps* run my first ultra, a 50k!
  4. And, of course, to keep running fun and enjoyable and everything that I love it for … because the magic and beauty and challenge of this sport is its simplicity.

Here’s to a lovely 2010 for all of you, as well.

The Whirlwind: Thanksgiving, Kenya, and the DR

The Whirlwind: Thanksgiving, Kenya, and the DR

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I have been negligent – but with good reason.  I’ll catch you up to speed as to what has gone down the past ~4 weeks.

For starters, the days immediate pre-Thanksgiving marked the end of the quarter, which means lots of writing and reading and stress to put the finishing touches on assignments to help ensure I earn the grades I strive to (good news: with lots of Blood, Sweat, and Tears [not literally!], I earned As in both my grad classes).  Following that, I spent Thanksgiving in Rockford w/C’s family, and the day after, I flew over to Kenya for ~3 weeks for my grad program.  I returned to the states on 12/15, went to Ohio 12/18-12/20, and then C and I will be leaving again for the Dominican Republic for a little Christmas and New Year’s vacation from 12/24-1/1.  It will be awesome!

Where to begin the catch-up?  Well, November was a really relaxed running month for me.  For starters, since November had unseasonably temperate weather, every weekend before I left for Kenya, Jack and I ventured out to Waterfall Glen for a relaxed 10-mile loop on the trails.  We figured as long as the trails weren’t snow-covered (and therefore impassable), we should do ’em.  It was a blast.  In addition to these 10-mile jaunts, I typically ran home from work a couple times each week and ran to/from the gym for my spinning classes in the morning (you’ll recall in an earlier post that I was trying to make a concerted effort to do more cross-training since my marathon ‘season’ was over).  I didn’t wear a watch for the entire month of November on any of my runs, which was both liberating and fun.  I’m usually wed to my watch to monitor my splits, but November was all about play.  It was a nice ‘end’ to the racing year.

Kenya – in a word- was freakin’ amazing (ok, two words).  I didn’t bring any of my running gear to Kenya (with the exception of an old pair of Launches that I wore each day) because I didn’t think our daily schedules would be permissive of daily running.  That, and the fact that Nairobi’s not the safest place in the world, so if I did want to run, I’d have to get a male guard to run with and escort me.  Not exactly too feasible.  Thus, I was ‘forced’ into a ~3 week running absence from my Kenya trip.  Interestingly, I only saw 1 person running the entire time I was in Kenya, so I guess not all Kenyans are born long-distance running lovers 🙂  On our way to safari at Maasai Mara, we drove through the acclaimed Great Rift Valley, which was badass to see (especially after hearing so much about it).

That brings me up to the week of 12/15, when I returned to the states.  During my time in Kenya, I was among the fortunate few who didn’t fall ill to traveler’s diarrhea or nausea, but something happened toward the end of the trip because from about 12/15 through today (12/22), I’ve been sidelined with nasty GI issues.  Nasty, as in I-can’t-get-too-far-away-from-the-bathroom nasty.  Or I’ve-been-eating-nothing-but-the-BRAT-diet nasty out of fear of what my GI will (or will not) do.  Not fun.  I’m not sure if I got a parasite or just some sort of bacterial infection; the lab’s still running tests.  Sucks.

With the lovely GI issues in mind, I haven’t run since Thanksgiving morning- it will be 4 weeks on Thursday, 12/24 (provided I don’t run before then).  I haven’t taken this much time off since I began marathoning and training in 2007, so I think it’s a mixed bag, in terms of the pros and cons of the “forced rest” that I’m experiencing.  If nothing else, I think the worst of the GI issues are over, and I’m planning to bring running clothes w/me to the Dominican Republic to get in some treadmill miles just to get my blood pumping again.  I’m really close to hitting 1,300 miles in 2009, so that’s what I’m aiming to hit.  If I hit it, I’ll celebrate; if not, I’ll just aim for it again in 2010.

I apologize for my spaciness and laziness 🙂  Once I post my Kenya pictures online, I’ll include a link to it so you can peruse them and the assorted videos at your leisure.  It was an amazing experience, and I’d love to return someday, especially with C.  He’d totally dig it.

Safe travels, if you’re on the road, and have a very lovely Christmas and New Year’s.  Boston training will soon begin – I’m going to go with Fleet Feet’s program this year – and I’m pretty excited.

Peace and love and happy trails to you and yours, always!