:-(

Canceling

I'm having a real hard time canceling my marathon entry. There's obviously no way I can do it, yet I can't actually cancel my entry.

The truth is, I don't really have to cancel. I don't get my money back, and I have guaranteed entry for next year anyway. I could just as well go down to the expo and pick up my number, my shirt, and goody bag. I'm actually tempted to do that, but I know I'll never wear that shirt if I didn't do the race. And I've found the expo to be annoying the last few years. Definitely no sales that were worth going for. So what's the point...

In other news, I did run 4 miles on the treadmill tonight. The Simpsons and Seinfeld helped pass the time.

Poland Spring 5M

I've been running the 6 mile loop in the park with my gf the a while now. Over the last few months she's consistently been finishing a few minutes ahead of me. Since I used to be faster, I've found this depressing. Not that she's beating me, but that I've gotten slower. (This is definitely part of the reason for the diet.)

She, on the other hand, is loving the fact that she beats me. And so as the time for today's 5M race came closer she was doing some trash talking about how she was going to beat me. What could I say? I thought the same thing.

Like usual, we were there last second. And so although the races now have corrals separated by speeds, we were forced to start with slower people, leading to the old crush of people I'm used to. We were separated pretty quickly, and within minutes I could see that she was about 15 seconds ahead of me. Just after the 1 mile mark I lost site of her and assumed that she was pushing on way ahead.

And then, as I crossed the 2 mile marker I saw her on the other side of the road. A part of me was thinking that I should slip by her and not let her know, but then I decided to try and make it more fun. I called out to her and pushed ahead.

That was the last I saw of her, but I was never really sure where she was. I wasn't too concerned, as I was pushing as hard as I could anyway. I felt really good for the next few miles, until about the end of the 4th mile, when it started to get rough. I could sense that I was slowing, but I was trying my best to hold on. I think I saved just enough to put on a final burst before the end.

My final time was 40:10. Well off my PR from last year of 39:00, but better than I expected. And sadly for the gf, better than her. There's always next time....


I was pretty happy with my splits as well:
8:43 in the crowd
8:03 that's better
7:58 feeling good
7:42 how 'bout those negative splits?
7:44 worse than it looks, as it includes a burst at the end

So negative splits most of the way. I was happy enough. For now.

We met a few of our friends there and took some pictures afterward. Unfortunately, we all had busy days, and went our own way afterward.


One funny thing that happened is that during the 4th mile a friend tapped me on my shoulder. He said "whoa, what did you eat over the holidays?" I was feeling pretty good then, so for a moment I thought he was complimenting me - inquiring about what special fuel I had eaten. And then I realized he was talking about my physique. :-( To be fair, I think it was the stretchy shirt that I was wearing for the weather. But just to return the favor, I'm posting this picture of us comparing the babies, I mean bellies.


Don't worry though, the diet has just begun...

Diet

I'm exhausted from the holidays, but I am trying to turn over a new (old?) leaf here....

I started the diet today. As per the scale, it's 13 pounds in 13 weeks. (But I think the scale was off today. Don't be surprised if I lose ground tomorrow.)

Instead of cookies today, I had an apple and a banana. And broccoli for dinner. (Ok it had oil, sugar, and soy sauce on it. But hey, it was broccoli!) Tomorrow morning I run...

Four months

I don't know if this happens to everyone, but it happens to me. Every now and then I feel like I haven't spoken to an old friend of mine for a while. I'm tempted to call right then, but since we haven't spoken to each other in a while, I'm anticipating a longer and more involved conversation. And since I may not have time at that moment, I plan to call later. Of course I never do, and then the amount of time since we've spoken (and therefore the time necessary for a conversation) grows....

Do you see what I'm getting at?

I've been meaning to post a "catch up post" for the longest time. I can't believe it's been 4 months. It's embarrassing. So what's happened in 4 months? (Besides for the Dow losing over 3000 points.) Well...

There have been a few changes. Professionally, I've got a new job. It's a better job, but it comes with more responsibility, and takes more of my free time. Socially, I'm busier too. :-) It's a good thing, but it takes a lot of time I might otherwise be blogging. Not to make excuses... well actually, yes - those are my excuses. Take 'em or leave 'em.

In the beginning I kept up with the running, but over the last few months it's tapered down. Not to nothing, but to less than I should be at.

So after the marathon last year I settled into some 50 mile months for the winter. Then I brought it back up again as the weather got better, but you can see how I've come back down again. In September I ran 40 miles, and October isn't looking very good at all. (And that's including 12.75 miles this past weekend.)

I'd like to say that part of this has to do with the Jewish holiday season, but somehow I've managed to keep up my training in previous years when I was training for a marathon.

Oh, the marathon? Yeah, that's not happening. Actually, I have another wedding to go to on that day. When the wedding date became clear I was still planning on running New York this year. Then I started thinking about perhaps running Philly, and got invited to another wedding that weekend. (It doesn't stop there - I've actually got 3 weddings to go to in November!) I don't blame all the happy couples, but once I didn't have a set schedule, my training went to pot.

I actually just got my number in the mail. (Kind of depressing.) My first year I was 33474. Last year I was 25872. I had hoped for 4 digits this year, but I was going to have to settle for 18465. Not sure how my canceling will affect this, but I think it will still be a while before I end up with less than 5 digits.

Back on the Jewish Holiday schedule, two more days remain: from tonight until Wednesday night. Thursday morning, I weigh myself and begin my diet and exercise plan. I'm not sure of what it will be, but it will be something like "15 pounds in 15 weeks". (It might be "20 in 20" - depending on how cruel the scale is on Thursday.)

Finally, I just want to give a shout out to the few people who reached out to me in the four months of "radio silence". I've really come to think of many of you as friends, and not having the accountability to you guys has allowed my training to slip. And so to those people who refused to let me get away with it: Thank you!

(As for everyone else, I hope they find their way back to this blog. I've always enjoyed the sense of camaraderie here, and I hope I can get it back.)