Wrap it up

The last half of December was pretty solid.  On the 15th I did a great 6 miler at a 7:35 pace, including a 7 minute pickup.  The 18th I did 4.5 miler - again a decent pace (7:35s again).  My last run in Mass for the year was a fairly lazy 7.3 miler down to Davis and back into Arlington - a 8:23 pace - which I did before work. 

I wrapped up the year in Wickenburg AZ.  I did a 5 miler down to the high school - which had a locked and alarmed (?!?) track - paranoid bunch up there!  The last mile of this run I did 7:17 uphill mile (GAP of 6:59).  I was a bit smarter and did the mile downhill the next day - for a 6:38 pace (6:47 gap).  Lots of fun running out there.  Will miss that warmth when I head out tomorrow in the single digits to kick off the new year.

A long winter's nap

It is kind of sad that this time of year gets so busy and hectic - if you can handle a bit of cold, it really is a nice time to get out and enjoy life.  Alas, holiday parties, kids stuff, short days make things mildly stressful for most.  To keep my own sanity I made it out for a nice 6 miler today around 3:30.  Headed north-eastern-ish to the mt. auburn area, and then down to the charles via the bb&n crossing.  A bit of a change-up to my normal routine.  Then I did the normal 6 mile loop under a brilliant sunset.  Pacing was pretty fast for 4 miles: 7:52, 7:47, 7:23 and 7:42 - never really pushing it.  Slowed down the last 2 miles due to ice on the trail - and finished with a decent 7:51 overall.  Physically the best i've felt in about 10 days. 

Not much running last week - did a kinda pathetic 5 last thursday morning with a sore side and hamstring.  Side has been hurting for over a week now.  Hope nothing major is wrong.  No real plans for racing now - think i'm going to end up missing all the holiday races.  oh well.  back to the grind next spring after some easy running and cross training.  I did 75 minutes on the old rower last week - so that is an all time high.  think i'll get a lot of mileage out of that this winter.

Three More Runs

Last Thursday I made it out from work for a kinda boring 4 miler at a pedestrian pace.  It was a 'just getting out run'. 

Saturday I had a good run down to Davis and back at a 7:48 pace.  Run felt better, but I took a spill early on - running on Blanchard through Belmont.  My whole side has been sore since then - really jarred me good - although nothing broken or anything.

Today I did 4.5 from work.  I was feeling ok early - but my hamstring/groin started to hurt after a mile or so - and so I pulled back on pace a bit.  We'll see how this feels Thursday - but I'm thinking - between this soreness and my general lack of motivation - the Yulefest isn't happening.