Monday December 26

Hey, good evening! I hope you survived Christmas! Welcome to some readers who have wandered over here from Perspectives. I wrote a short piece there about the amazing Albert Mesarosh. He's still running at age 73. Wow! I hope I can run that long. I remember, when in my 20s, hearing a girl talk about her father, in his 40s, running. I said, "Wow, that's so cool that he can run at his age!" ha ha. Now I'm 53 and feeling pretty strong. Who knows?

My 26.2 plan ended on Christmas Eve, but I didn't really alter the plan much. In fact, I don't think I did anything different. As a result of being on the plan, I lost 6 pounds, but I'm not quite where I want to be. I will resume the plan on January 1, if not before. In the mean time, I'm not going to do anything crazy. I simply love the way I feel, and I am running considerably faster. Several miles are being cranked out at or below my Boston Marathon pace of 8 minutes per mile, which will be a 3.29.45 marathon. I haven't started serious speed work yet, so I'm feeling good about where I am.

I did have a bad day of eating yesterday, Christmas Day, but, hey, it didn't kill me. I had a great 7 mile run this morning with a lot of the gang in Bedford, plus, Lester, my oldest son, was there to run with us. It was a beautiful morning and a great time.

We had a great turn out for our Santa Hat run on Saturday. More than 100 runners participated, and together we raised more than $600 for those who transport cancer patients. It was a great morning. As soon as the run was over, I headed to Bloomington Hospital to check on my neighbor Roger. He had coded earlier that morning, so I was very concerned about him. I found him in better shape than I thought. He's doing pretty well again today.

Today and this evening we had our family Christmas celebration. Part of the tradition is for my three sons and me to go on a long drive to explore unknown territory. Today we wander through eastern Greene County and then over to Monroe dam. We took tiny country roads and saw lots of interesting things.

Tomorrow is hill repeats for me. I hope you don't think I'm sick/crazy, but I am really looking forward to them. They are unpleasant at the time, but yield really good results. Kinda reminds me of this (from Hebrews 12:11,12):

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.