Milestones

Well its been a few days since I've posted, the weather was nice, then it's turned bad again this morning and now it's expected to be bad all the way through the holidays. That puts a crimp on my training schedule, but I still should be ok to finish out the year strong.

The family is doing well, the kids are really looking forward to Christmas this year, and the new house really looks good all lit up at night - I'll take a few pictures tonight before my run (if it's not raining) to share with everyone. Beth is happy that the kids are happy so all's good. Christmas Eve will be spent with my parents and Christmas day is split between Beth's and my parents houses' luckily we all only live 10 miles apart and no freeway traveling will be necessary.

I have Christmas Eve off from work and was planning to go for a 10-15 mile ride, but I woke up hearing that is supposed to rain so I'll have to play it by ear. With the cycling, I had planned a 39 mile week, but the plan may just go up in the rain if the forecasts are correct. Kind of sucks; maybe I'll pretend that I'm in Iowa and just run in the cold stuff......

Now to some good stuff; I hit two milestones this weekend.

1. 400 miles for the year! That's good for me considering I was only trying for 365 miles. I can tell I'm getting stronger, and my core work is beginning to pay off in recovery and during runs. The extra weight I'm carrying still hasn't come off like I wanted, but it is coming off.

2. I logged a new 'Long Run' of 6.2 miles (10k) kind of by chance. Sat I woke up wanting to run - so after getting some stuff done at the office I went running late morning, and finished an hour later. I only walked twice and today I feel pretty good. Tired but not sore.

I'm really looking forward to 2009 in regards to my running. Even though I don't have any long-term goals set for the year, I am very happy with my improvement this year and I fully anticipate growing as a runner this upcoming year.

Next Monday I will be racing in the 1st Annual Bob Hazen's Birthday Ladera Ranch 5k run. (By myself) and will report on my experience. It's a certified course (the same one I raced on in July) so that will be fun. The race report will be somewhat tongue-and-cheek since it is my b-day.

A final note; I did get two new 'readers' this weekend. Welcome and thanks for spending time reading! Tanya, I recommend your blog to anyone who is interested in running and wants to see the 'big' picture from a good starting point. Great read and it only took me about 2 days to get 'caught up' from your starting point.

Keep Steppin'
Bob