Training over the holidays is always so hard but I managed to have some good training runs while on vacation. The week of 12/16 started with the Jingle Bell 5K in Somerville, MA. This race is always a good time, but it has been getting more crowded the last few years. This year was no different but we swerved our way through the crowd and finished at a nice pace overall. My Santa hat has now been in 4 races and thus is less than $1 per race; a good investment from CVS I'd say. After the race, we helped support the local bars and enjoyed some of the local sponsors, like Harpoon Brewery. Overall, a good way to start a vacation!
Vacation week 1 took me down to north of Philadelphia. While in PA I got in two nice runs with Amy, my tour guide for the area. Run 1 was a short easy 3mi to loosen the legs after driving and sitting in a car for a number of hours. Run 2 was a really nice long run in Tyler State Park. The state park was nice and quiet and a bit challenging at times. We put together a nice 10mi run and the only issue was that the downpours the night before had swelled the Neshaminy Creek and made a trail impassable. Oh well, we turned around and hit the hills again heading back to the car. Overall a fun run in PA.
Vacation week 2 took me back to western NY. I got in 2 nice runs around Christmas, though both were shorter since they were mid-week. I saved the long run until this past Monday, New Year's Eve. Though the snowstorm that hit Boston on Sat/Sun was not too bad, it did leave enough snow, slush and ice that made footing a bit treacherous on Monday AM. On top of that the wind around South Boston and downtown was awful - nothing like 25F with a 20mph wind to help motivate you along. That said, it was a nice run and fun to see the city getting ready for the New Years Eve festivities.
Finally, to help start the new year I had dinner with RJ and his family! It was a great way to spend the day and kick off 2013. It had been a while since seeing RJ, 3 months in fact, and it was very nice to catch up with the entire family, helping me remember what is important around this time and what to look forward to over the next 3+ months of training!
With the start of 2013, I've decided to actually tackle a new goal. While a marathon is a challenge, I know that I'm not fast nor will I ever be so. My goal of breaking the 4hr mark for a marathon will be a challenge and hopefully something I can accomplish. That said, I don't want running to be my only challenge and as such I plan to tackle a triathlon later this year. To accomplish this, I went to the MIT gym today and went for my first 1st pool swim in years. Ugh, what a surprise - who knew that 50m of freestyle could be so tiring!! After a few laps I decided to keep it simple and just make it to 15 minutes of swimming. Hopefully my muscle memory finds my 10yr old swimming form and this gets a little easier. For the rest of the week, I plan to run 6mi tomorrow from Crossroads and then 10-12mi this weekend.
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