Obstacles and Excuses

I just want to state for the record:  I f*cking hate snow.  Snow is wonderful in the mountains where you can ski, snowboard, or snowshoe.  Snow is beautiful if the amount of snow pack determines how much water, and maybe even electricity your co-op can produce in the spring/summer when it melts.  It's perfect for getting kids out of school occasionally for that wonderful experience of sledding if you have a hill big enough.  I love that kind of snow.

The kind that currently blankets the area, that's the kind I hate.  We've had snow on the ground since the first part of December.  Luckily it hasn't snowed in the last 10-14 days substantially, however the daytime high temp hasn't even approached the thawing point so none of the snow on the ground has melted.  Running outside in the cold I can handle, slipping and falling on my ass not so much.

I'm tired of running on the TM.  Really, really freakin' tired of running on the TM.  I even enjoyed the run I did last week on the indoor track (9 laps = 1 mile and I ran a total of 5 miles) going around in circles more than I have running on the TM lately.

Combine all of the above I-hate-the-current-conditions-funk with real life getting in my way it would be an understatement of epic proportions to say I've had a craptastic week of running.

What do I mean by real life getting in the way?

• crappy days at work, be it you or your spouse or your friends that require company to commiserate with and beers
• said beers leading to horrible nights of sleep - or if you want to be technical you might be able to call it passing out
• having to work all day after the aforementioned crappy night of sleep, and being hungover
• deciding to consume approximately three days worth of crappy food in one day

Some of those were bad decisions on my part and some were things beyond my control, but they all converged to throw a giant monkey-wrench into my plans.

I just need to learn to make better decisions at certain times and to stop sabotaging myself.  'Cause Toledo is only 13 weeks away.

Inspiration

It's that time of year again folks. Every 24 Hour Fitness, Gold's Gym, and YMCA is filled to the brim with people chasing after that elusive creature that appears when the calendar flips over from December to January. You know what I'm talking about, New Year's Resolutions.

What does that have to do with inspiration you ask? Here's what...

People resolve to change their habits or lives and they choose January 1, as the day to start. Be it dire warnings from a health care provider or and example set by someone close to them that they want to emulate, that is inspiration and it comes in many, many forms.

Now, I'd like to state for the record that I'm not a fan of the whole resolution thing, but I do start each year with goals: run 1500 miles this year, get my weight down before the marathon in April, exercise better fiscal responsibility, etc, but I don't view those as resolutions.

However, I am taking some inspiration from some people. The last few months of 2008 I felt like I had no control over my schedule. I felt a day late and a dollar short all the time. I struggled to get my runs in, and in general felt over-freakin'-whelmed a lot of the time. So to take a quote from T, I'm taking action steps dammit!

I'm not making excuses anymore about not being able to get my runs in, 'cause we have a treadmill in the basement and if some friends of mine can do it, so can I. What is it (yeah, sometimes I ramble, but then I'm composing this at work and I keep getting interrupted) you ask?

I'm taking some of my inspiration from this friend. See the first line of the fourth paragraph about getting up at 4:30 a.m.? I'm not getting up that early, but a goal this year is to get all of my runs done before I go to work, even if I have to get up at 5:30, like today, in order to accomplish it. If she can do it, I can to...

So the whole point of this is that inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. It could be the friend who gives up a successful career as an athletic trainer to go back to school because they feel that's where they can make the most difference. It could be the family member battling against that fucking disease cancer and trying to make the most of the life they have left. It could be the school teacher trying to reach the kids in their classroom. Hell, as far as I know I might even be the inspiration for someone.

The key thing though? It's not recognizing that inspiration is there, it's acting on it. So I am. Up early. Trying to learn new things that will allow me to make a bigger impact at work. Trying to just be a better version of me.

Memo

To:  All of the people who gave me crazy looks on my run today

From:  KP

I know, I know...I was a huge inconvenience to you by running in the street next to the curb in all of the space that is reserved for parked cars.  I know, if somehow you'd lost control of your car while you were a) lighting a cigarette, 2) talking on your cell phone, or III) eating and swerved 15 feet to the right you would have hit me.  Maybe.

I would love to run on the sidewalk, however until all of the goddamn lazy citizens of this fair West Michigan city see fit to clear the 3"+ of snow we got in the last 18 hours off their walks I'm going to take my chances with the cars that are 15 feet to my right and that I can see in order to avoid the ice that is lurking under the snow.

So there.  All I need now is the smiley giving the finger.

2008 Recap

Time for a little looking back on the year 2008 in running.  I know, I know exciting stuff.

For the year I ran 1344 miles which means I almost ran the equivalent of Grand Rapids to Salt Lake City, UT.  I was  just 10 miles short.

I averaged 25.7 miles per week.

My lightest week was 4 miles (Oct 27-Nov 4).

My highest week was 52 miles (April 28-May 4).

I averaged 112 miles per month.

My lightest month was 42 miles, November.

My highest month was 173 miles, April.

I increased my mileage by 19.7% over 2007 (you can see how my monthly totals look over the last few years in the chart up top) and I still managed to miss my goal of 1500 miles.  October and November killed me.

I ran the following races:

one 5k

one 10k - set a whopping new PR

one 8k

one 4 miler

one half marathon

and two marathons

...all in all a pretty damn good year running-wise.