Welcome to the mid-west where you can run and out and back and have the wind in your face both ways.

Having done a marathon where I had to travel, I would not recommend it unless it’s a bucket list type race. Sleeping in a hotel is poor sleep to me so recovery sucks. And it’s expensive on top of that.

I have kind of fallen into doing summer and winter as maintenance. I think my racing days are kind of over though so there’s that. I have tried to stick with running hard during the summer but the 100+ temps just kill me (literally sometimes). During the winter there is snow and ice on the ground (we got 8" of snow this past Sat) so that is not the best time to be working hard either. I’m re-thinking what I’m doing and I think I will be spending the summer/winter in the gym doing strength work. Running is gonna get dialed down to 3-4x a week. Probably no more than 4 miles or so during the week and no more than 8-10 miles on the weekend.

Best way to answer this is look at the mileage you’re doing and compare it to a conventional marathon plan. If it’s more or less the same then it’s probably a decent plan.

Jury duty honestly is the worst. I did it once and it was just kind of a pain. I am glad I acquired lifetime immunity to it.

Weekend was pretty awesome. Got off work early on Friday so I was able to lift some stuff at the gym which I haven’t done in a while and apparently the gym has made all the weights heavier in my absence. I wish they would announce these things. Saturday the girlfriend and I braved a winter storm to do a day trip 3 hrs down the road. That was beyond fun. Went to a science museum, rode a ferris wheel and did some shopping. It was so much fun until the drive back. It snowed for about 10 hrs straight and my home town picked up about 8 inches or so of snow. Driving back we got to drive about 40 mph on a 75 mph highway. We turned a 2:45 drive into nearly 5 hrs. It was utterly exhausting but still tons of fun.

This week I am going to work on getting back to more lifting. Scaled it back severely while training for the 10 miler I DNS’d so we’ll ramp it back up and scale the running down. I have no races until summer of next year I guess?? We’ll have to work out what a mixture of running/lifting looks like with no races on the calendar.

This weekend should be a ton of fun. I have to work today so I am just phoning it in at work. It’s still work if you’re parked in front of the computer right? And WFH means it still counts if you’re in your undies right? I might go to the gym and try to lift some heavy things afterwards and I need to clean out the car for tomorrow. Tomorrow the girlfriend and I are going on a day trip and taking her kid to a science museum about 3 hrs away. So we will get to spend all day together including 6 hrs in a car which should be a lot of fun. We will find out how much we really love each other I guess. Even odds that one of us makes the other one walk home.

That is so awesome. I just looked at my goal for this year and it looks like I am coming up on the halfway point for it. So I just need to get 350ish miles in the next month or so and I’ll be good.

The cross training thing is awesome. I also focused on that this year and managed to avoid any injuries. I also ran a whole lot less miles because I was spending more time lifting (and dating) so that could be a factor.

I am grateful for everything God has done for me this year. Started this year in a very rough place just two mos after a good friend’s suicide. God brought me to a group of people who helped me tremendously. In such a better place with that grief right now. In May I met my girlfriend. In June we started dating. I am thankful for her and her kids. They make me so incredibly happy and everyone in my family (except my dad) loves her more than me. In July my grandfather turned 100 and I got to go celebrate with my entire extended family. Then I got to go to Disneyland afterwards. Over the past 5 mos I have fallen more and more in love w/the girlfriend and I think she may be the one. I am so thankful for her. She brings me out of my shell and makes me interact with other people which is good for me whether I admit it or not.

And I haven’t even begun to thank God for the good health he’s given me this year. I’ve managed to avoid any major sickness though I did get covid for 2-3 days and the girlfriend came over w/chicken noodle soup. Other than that I’ve been able to run (though not as much as I’d like) and lift (though not as much as I’d like) and avoid any major injuries. I’m just so grateful and thankful for everything He has done for me this year.

Race days can be rough. You made it though and you made at least one of your goals. This is great work.

The weekend sucked and was kinda awful. There was an incident on Friday where I just utterly failed as a potential parent to my girlfriend’s kid. Then the dog slipped his collar and disappeared so I utterly failed as a dog parent as well. I missed my race because I was up too late Friday night (close to midnight) driving around in the dark looking for the dog and up way too early Sat morning driving around looking for the dog. I’ve only been training for this race for months and it was an A race for me but no biggie. Not the least bit upset. I did eventually find the dog around lunchtime Sat so I got him back at least. I’m still pissed at having to DNS the race though. Looking at the results the time I was targeting for my A goal would’ve put me 3rd from last in my age group anyway. Had I blown up and trucked in to a > 1:55 time for this 10 miler I would’ve been in last place. Maybe it’s for the best. I did make some awesome mac and cheese in the insta pot though. That counts for something right?

This Thanksgiving week I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m doing my last race of the year on Thanksgiving day. It’s just a 5k and I’ve done no 5k training so I’m not really in any shape to aim for a PR there. Will probably just phone it in and make peace with the fact that this year really sucked racing wise. No PRs of any kind at any distance. A whole lot of missed running goals. Maybe my racing career is more or less over. I’ve honestly not done any big race since Jan 2022. Something has always come up and maybe the universe is telling me something. Something to think about while pounding out 4-5 miles today.

Complaint: Not enjoying the taper for Saturday’s race. Only ran 5 miles this week with a rest day in between runs. The legs felt completely dead and it was a struggle to hit my target race pace even for half a mile. Zero confidence in this race now.

Confession: I am way into my overthinking space about this race.

Uncomplaint: Been spending the time rolling/stretching the calf trying to fix the PF. That is a giant PITA but seems to be working.

Complaint: Girlfriend has been harping on me about my high blood pressure. Says I need to go to the doc. I feel like the doc is just gonna tell me to drop 20 lbs so I need to do that first. I guess that starts after Thanksgiving. Maybe this is why men who have wives live longer?

Complaint: Have not slept well in several weeks. I have no idea why.

Weekend was super busy but lots of fun. Hung out w/the girlfriend Friday night and tried to help the kid w/the homework. Not sure if we made any big progress but maybe we did? I have zero experience having heart to heart talks with 9 yr old girls and I am learning that parenting is super tough. Why did no one tell me this? Saturday the girlfriend and I went on a very romantic date that was a lot of fun and Sunday we managed to have a little tiff and the evening did not go as well as either of us would’ve wanted it to. Such is life sometimes I guess. I did manage to get a nice, slow 9 mile run in the middle of all of that.

This week is race week. I have the 10 mile Turkey Trot on Saturday. I am going to be taking it easy training wise and trying to taper and not to freak out. I have no idea what to set for goals. The long runs have been fine on my legs but the stomach has not cooperated and the weather change has left my allergies with me unable to breathe. Weather is supposed to be 50 for a low and 70 for a high so the weather will be nice at least. Currently the only “injury” I’ve picked up is some PF so we’re working on the calves this week.

Charity running it is.

I’ve been thinking that I really need to simplify my life. I miss pandemic lockdown when life was less busy. This weekend is no different. Girlfriend has been working tons and tons of hours lately but I get to hang with her all weekend. Helping her kid w/homework tonight and we have a game night planned for Sunday. Kid continues to struggle and we are running out of ideas. Both of us are frustrated but we will see how tonight goes. I’m frustrated with the kid at this point because the kid seems to have given up on school and nothing will motivate her. We have tried every bribe to no avail.

Complaint: Work problems. I have clearly lost my boss’s confidence in my ability to do my job. He constantly brings people in to second guess me and never has my back. Problem is I honestly have no idea why this has happened or what changed.

Complaint: Girlfriend has expressed a desire to put antlers and some kind of costume on the dog for a holiday photo. Posting this complaint on behalf of the dog.

Uncomplaint: Since the city re-opened the main road the traffic in my area has gone down significantly. It’s like night and day. I can now run without being quite so worried about being hit. I can also get in and out of my street with no issues again.

Complaint: I miss YT. Can’t get myself to sign up for premium. Can’t get myself to remove the ad-blocker either. Won’t let the terrorists win.