1600 miles

Thanks for all the good comments concerning the running club. Joe Garland made some good points. I do have a small group of 4 to 6 of us that meet regular to run together. We are all currently in the club but are considering not resigning up for the upcoming year. We have been using there meeting place to plan our runs from. The one benefit we would lose is the use of a cabin in winter months before and after a run. They have elected a new president, the past one didnt run this year. I know alot of people have personality problem with him and quit coming because of it. He seems to worry more about cutting costs and apperances then how many people show up. On outside it looks great, they won awards from RRCA, some national some regional. RRCA runner of the year was a member. I may of seen him at 1 or 2 club functions a year. Looks good on paper though. Anyways I have a month to think it over and see what the guys I regularly run with decide to do.

On a colder note, I ran 5.8 miles today in 20 degrees with the windchill down to 5*. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. But that got me to 1600 miles for the year. I made it, sure I made it to this arbritrary number even though another rest day may of better served me. But what fun is running without some OCD??

Running Club

I moved this past weekend hence the reason I havent posted in almost a week. Better reason then my usual laziness. I did get some running in.

On some recent runs with the guys I normally run with we have been discussing whether we are going to continue to be in the Youngstown Road Runners Club, YRRC. I think I mentioned this before, but its really gotten away from what we would want out of a club. It's like why should we spend our money on this. Im back to work now but after being laid off for 4 weeks and not knowing what ahead I rather save my money or spend it on a race. Its a given Im going to spend so much money a year on running/racing. So its best to be prudent with it. I figure February first is the cutoff date since if im not paid by then I wont get a discount at the Distance Classic half marathon in March.

The other main reason is the club has seemed to go from a fun club to one thats mostly money oriented. Has much has a non profit organization can be. The number of people regularly attending has dropped noticably. Some days its almost sad how few are there. It seems most decisions are made with saving/making money in mind and not about the members enjoyment. They have gotten rid of many fun things, a corn roast, 100 mile club to name a few to save money. They keep using the reason of putting more money for the shoe program or endowment while building a good size bank account. Maybe if enough of us dont pay it will send a message. Since money is their main concern Im not sure I want them to have mine. Of course maybe I need to be more charitable.

Merry Christmas and Happy running!!

Snowy Sunday

Todays run went better. Even though I slept in and got there late. But they waited for me. So the 4 of us, Bob, Len, Carrie and me took off for a 7 miler. The roads were snowed covered but the snow had stopped. Basically it was just cold. It was my best run of the week, even in the conditions. I probably could of gone longer but it felt like enough to me. Was odd because I cannt remeber when I was late for a Sunday run at 9 am. Guess I was more tired then I thought last night.

Wheres my mojo??

I felt like I lost my mojo this week. My desire to run was lost. Even today while I did get in 8 miles it wasnt a fun lets get out there and run. Good thing I had podcasts to listen to. Thank you Dan and Nik.

But this week I returned to work, on midnight shift. I always feel tired while working nights no matter how much sleep I get in. Blah. I was on track to make 1600miles but now I dont think Im going to make it because of several factors.
*Being on Midnight shift.
*Twisted ankle in November.
*The cold I had in November.(November wasnt good to me)
*The cold. I havent had alot of desire to run in it.
*I should of done more miles earlier in year.
*My foot leg was bothering me. Need to stretch more.
*Im moving end of the month. Wont have has much time to move next week.

I try not to make excuses but those are the reasons I probably wont make it to 1600 miles. Notice I didnt list the Holidays. Bah Humbug I will run on Chrismas. This week I have not had my regular desire to run. Hopefully it will be back soon. I get this way occasionally but usually only lasts a day or 2.

The streak ends.

My 19 day running streak ended yesterday. It was a short streak but I felt I needed it. And getting back to work, on midnight shift none the less made it tougher to recover from runs. My foots been hurting, thinking plantaars fascitis flaring up. Hurts worse walking around barefoot. I hardly been stretching might be the problem.

This is probably going to be a cutback week. I was over 40 for 2 weeks in a row for first time ever. Need more weeks like them. But think I should stick to 5 or 6 days of running, I seem to need that day off, even though I would like to get a few extra easy miles in.

Tonight had a fun run with Bob, Rick and Len over in Girard. It was cold but good company on the run.

Back to work

I had a good week. Especially good weekend. I have run 18 days in a row. Not sure if the streak will continue since im back to work starting tonight. I got 42.3 miles in this week. Last week 42.1. I think I will shoot for 42 again next week. I realized later on that this was first time I ever did 2 weeks in a row of 40 mpw. I guess I never thought about it. I have had bigger weeks when I was marathon training but I guess never had that much 2 weeks in a row. Now to shoot for 3. Since im working wont be has easy.

FA

Im such a wimp. I woke up at 6 to go run at 7 for this run put on bye the trail club, http://teampr.info/urineo.htm I had planned to do just one loop. But I woke snow on the ground and it was 17* out. I lollygaged around, then finally drove to park and got there about 8. Which is when I normally show up. I was going to either jump on trail alone or just stay on roads. But a few of the guys were about to start the second loop, only knew what but heck I can run with almost anyone. The trails there barely had a dusting of snow. Other then being frozen were in good shape. One of the guys I ran with came from Pittsburgh, the another came down from Cleveland. And I had trouble getting moving this morning, good thing I didnt have to drive that far. I stuck to my plan and just did one loop of 8.3 miles. They continued on. One guy was planning to do the whole 50 miles, he's signed up for a 100 miler next spring. Other guy was going to do around 32. Made me feel wimpy. One nice part of running trails with going that far is they were going at a nice easy pace. We even stopped at the covered bridge to talk to some others that were doing the loop in the opposite direction. Maybe next time I will do a less wimpy 2 loops.

The quest continues.........

My quest for 160o miles is still on track. I need 104.7 miles left this month to make it. That works out to less then 5 miles a day. I plan to do some longer runs. If this keeps up will be my biggest month ever. Considering im not in an actual "marathon plan" and just base building for my next marathon. I havent canceled my plans to run Cleveland marathon. Im hoping im back to work real soon, january at the latest. So I should have a better base and do more miles then in other training phases. Well thats the plan at least.