Update

Alive...

Everything

I give you so much of me, more than I ever expected I would want to, or be able to give.

You have my daylight, and I give my moonlight so that I can give you your dreams.

Soccer, and ballet, and gymnastics, and school, and races... Playgrounds and bookstores and libraries and swimming and boy's days and prayertimes... Homework before you can play, and lima beans before another piece of bread...

One look at you and it's obvious; I am in you. But you too, are in me. In all that I do, and all that I want... Inseparable.

I haven't given you the easiest path, and God knows I don't do things right a lot of the time. But there's not a day I breathe that you aren't with me.

I love you.

A Race and A Brick

This morning I ran the Knights of Columbus 5k in Birmingham. I should start by saying that I felt great going into this race. My legs were fresh - ha, maybe too fresh considering they only had an hour of running in the last 6 weeks. And I felt skinny. Now I know this sounds like a chic thing to say, but I guess the last few days I had been eating a little less than normal and a little more healthy than normal, and it made me feel - well, skinny.

Anyway, I woke up at 653 and walked the dogs, then ate my mini-bagel and banana, and then fed the dogs. Grrr, the dogs. Mars is, well, in the doghouse. So they are eating their food and Mars walks to the front door and poops on the hardwood. They NEVER do that! So he and I had words, and I the day was not starting out good.

I got to the race in a little bit of a hurry after being delayed by the clean-up. I registered and did a warm-up mile, and then got in line to pee. After waiting for a few minutes they called the runners to the start line, so no pee. Didn't really become an issue, but it still would have been nice to go!

I positioned myself on the 3rd or 4th row of people and the gun sounded. I quickly made my way to the front in the 2nd pack. The lead pack of 5 was about 50 yards ahead by 1/2 mile, and our pack of 6 was another 50 or so yards ahead of the next group. By the 1 mile marker, our pack was spread out and the lead pack was about 100 yards ahead of me. My watch said 5:53.

Now my goal was 6:25 pace, and when I saw 5:53 I knew I had blown the race. I was breathing pretty hard and I knew my legs would start to feel heavy soon. I slowed the pace while trying not to wither completely.

No one was passing me, so I still felt good about things and knew I was still close to or in the top 10. The 2nd mile came at 12:52 and I knew a sub 20 was now out of the question. Now I would just try to salvage race positions.

The 3rd mile had a longish gradual incline that seemed to slow me even more, but I was trying so hard to keep my legs turning over as fast as possible. I got to what I recognized as the last few straights and checked my watch - 18:10, but I wasn't sure exactly how far was left. 2 people passed me in the last half mile, the only 2 that passed me the whole race.

I crossed the line in 20:38, 14 seconds/mile slower than what I needed. So, once again, pacing is everything!! I think the 6 weeks off to recover from the broken heelbone didn't really affect my speed or aerobic ability too much - I did tons of cross training and flexibility/strength stuff to try to maintain that. But it definitely affected my ability to race smart and know how fast I was running.

After the race I was surprised to learn I had finished 1st in my age group, and 12th overall. Not sure how many total racers there were - I'd guess around a hundred. I even got a spiffy plaque to take home, my first real award for running!

I went home after the race, took the dogs to the park to play, and then loaded my bike in the SUV. I drove about 75 minutes to Weaver, the start of the Chief Ladiga Trail. This is a rails to trails success story, a 33 mile paved trail in eastern Alabama that (hopefully) will extend further into Georgia soon and become even longer.

I rode 25 miles out in 1:12, and then cruised back in 1:30. I then topped the 50 mile bike with a 1 mile run to officially make it a brick and then I called it a day.

Riding the trail was extraordinarily nice. I especially appreciate not having to constantly wonder if a car is about to mow you over. And although there were several road crossings, I never had to come to a complete stop to wait for traffic - I was able to pedal the entire time.

Rails to trails rocks!

Next week I travel to western Alabama for the Camp Partlow Duathlon, a 2m/17m/2m race and my first multisport race of the year! Woohoo!

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin...

Back on My Feet

I'm running again!!

Yesterday I ran for the first time since the RNRAZ half marathon, which I suffered through with a stress fractured calcaneous. I ran on the Trussville sports park trails for about 3 miles with my pup Max.

I felt great. I felt so good that I don't think I'll suffer any significant setbacks from the 6 weeks off. Max was impressive, running right alongside me and NOT tripping me the entire time!

I'm jumping right back into the racing scene with the Knights of Columbus 5k on Saturday. Maybe this will be the right time for that elusive sub 20.

So I read an article about Functional Threshold Power testing on the bike last night and tried to test mine this afternoon. I wasn't sure what power to set the computrainer to, so I picked 230 watts. Last season I was using 230 watts for my 3 minute intervals. Today I worked my ass off to pull 230 for the whole hour but I did it and survived. So for now, for what it's worth, I'm calling my FTP 230 watts.

After the FTP session I trekked to the pool with plans to cover 3000 yards. HA! I think the biking tapped most of my energy because after a fast 1000 to start, I was toast. I pulled up and did a few 200s and I was done.

I think I'm going to do a mile time trial later this week and see where I stand. Last year early season I made a goal of a 30 minute mile and never was able to reach it, but I feel like I can do it right now. We'll see...

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin...

God, Jesus, and Elvis

The kids and I rode past a cemetary on the way home from the bookstore yesterday. Tess noticed a group of perople gathered and asked why they were all standing there.

I explained, "Well, when people die sometimes they are buried. And that's called a grave..."

She then picked it up, "Oh and their families can come and see them whenever they want."

"Right, you got it."

"Well, Daddy," she continued further, "Who was the first person to die in the whole world?"

"In the whole world?"

"Yea..."

"Well, Tess, I'm not sure..."

Then Emma chimed in, "Was it God?"

"Well, no, because God is still alive and he's all around us."

Tess asked "Was it Jesus?"

"Well, Tess, Jesus did die but then he came back to life."

Then Anna, sweet sweet Anna, asked "Well was it Elvis???"

God, Jesus, and Elvis... We laughed all the way home.

Season Planning

9000 yards swimming in the last 7 days is the highest one week volume ever for me. This week is bike concentration. I'm starting to plot out the race season. I know it will include the Spokes for Strokes Century on March 16. It definitely will include the Powerman or Whistlestop Duathlon in April, the Bolder Boulder 10k on Memorial Day, and the 24 Hours of Triathlon in August. I think it will also include the Gulf Coast Tri Half Iron in May. I'm still not sure about IM CDA; it will cost me about 1500 to get an entry this late and having a little trouble stomaching the fee while trying to eliminate/pare down debt. Too bad Dave Ramsay doesn't have an envelope for IM fees...

Boys Will be Boys

I let Mars and Max roam free in my unfenced backyard to play with their friend Bowser from the house next door. They played merrily for about 45 minutes before they decided to venture into the woods behind my house. I went after them, but they were quickly out of sight.

I stayed in the yard, whistled, called their names (as if they respond to them...), and waited. Bowser has roamed free through the neighborhood for the last 3 years. Several times before he has followed the kids and I onto the trails, left us after a couple of mile, and then wandered back home sometime later. He always explores, and he hasn't gone missing. So I wasn't too concerned initially because I knew Bowser could lead my boys home.

So I waited about 15 minutes, although it seemed like hours. I had all 4 kids of my kids plus 1 extra with me at home; I couldn't just leave them to go chase dogs. But I cou;dn't just let my almost 6 month old puppies disappear either. So I herded the kids inside, threatened to withold dinner for anyone that left the house before I returned, and started hiking the trails to find the dogs. I made a quick 1 mile loop with no sightings. I looked down over the sports fields. Nothing.

I returned home dejected. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't want to just sit and hope they might find their way home. I loaded the kids into the truck and we went searching. We drove around for about 15 minutes, but no luck. I was beginning to think I'd never see my boys again...

We returned home, resigned to a dogless fate. I felt awful. I just adopted these dogs from the shelter 3 weeks ago. I have been given the responsibility to love and shelter and feed and care for them, and I lose them in less than a month.

We got back home and the kids went to the backyard to play and - THERE THEY WERE!!! Right where they had left from more than an hour prior. Except they were soaking wet, as was Bowser, and Max had lost his leash (both dogs were still leashed when they left). I'm guessing they must have ventured to the Cahaba River, about a mile away through the woods, to go for a swim.

Well, I guess all is well that ends well.... Those boys...

Ironman Switzerland 2007 Photos

I finally ordered my photos from Zurich, so here they are...

Progress, and Sick?

I've been on the bike and in the pool more the last week. Total time not that impressive, but I feel like progress is being made. I'm slowly upping my sustained watts on the computrainer. Last year at this time I was doing 5 minute intervals with 170 watts, now I'm riding 175 indefinitely. Gotta love that!

I don't think I ever appreciated the cumulative benefit of training that you get from multiple consecutive years of training until this month. I've been swimming since July of 2006, with the exception of a couple months off in November and December. It's always been a struggle for me, and I was afraid the couple of months off would put me back at square one. NOT! The yards just flow by so easily it's amazing. I can push hard and then take rests by swimming with an easier stroke without having to grab the wall and gasp. Yesterday I stopped at 1000 yards - my shortest swim this in 2008 - because of a headache and feeling kind of pooped after a trainer ride.

Speaking of headache, I think I might be starting to get sick. I was watching UAB crush Marshall in basketball at Bartow Arena last night when I felt the first hint of a scratchy throat. That plus yesterday's headache and a little more achiness today than I can explain away with training soreness leaves me concerned that I'm about to get hit hard with flu-like stuff. YUCK! But I should expect it. I mean, the last couple of weeks in the ER probably half of the people I've treated had the flu. It's hitting us big-time this year, so watch out!

Until next time, thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

As Good as Can Be Expected

His last words spoken were "How's it lookin' doc?"



I responded, after a few seconds hesitation trying to summon the most appropriate thing to say to a man who likely would be dead within a few hours, "Well, I guess as good as can be expected..." And then I took his hand, gave it another squeeze, and he drifted off into that unconscious abyss between life and death.



He was 72. It seems appropriate to say only 72, because I think he should have lived much longer. He never smoked, or drank too much, he fought in wars and represented his people in the political arena. He had a colonoscopy every 5 years and a PSA annually. He took his pneumovax and routine flu shots. He did everything he was supposed to do.



Then again, he was 72. To me, that still seems old. It's more than 20 years longer than my dad lived, and almost 20 years longer than my dad's dad. But this guy had none of my family's bad genes, or bad habits for that matter.

This was the first time I had met him. He was lying on an ER gurney, gasping for breath but not particularly anxious or panicky. He was alone.

Three months prior he had gotten up to pee in the middle of the night and passed out. A doctor's visit followed the next day, and an xray led to a biopsy which showed metastatic lung cancer. He was given a prognosis of 6 months to live. Chemo and radiation wouldn't help him, and the cancer was too extensive to remove surgically. But he told me he never believed them; he thought he would beat it somehow.

For 3 months he toiled along, occasionally having some trouble breathing and coughing a little more, but doing reasonably well. No more doctor visits. No hospitalizations. He didn't tell his family - "didn't want to get them in a worry about nothing" he said.

But the night he came to my ER he started having a harder time breathing. He stayed home struggling for most of the night but when he collapsed to the floor in the bathroom and slammed his right chest into the commode he couldn't stand the pain and was having even more trouble breathing. When he arrived by ambulance about 4 am he was on a 100% oxygen mask with oxygen levels only about 90%, his heart rate was in the 140s, and he was breathing about 40 times a minute. One thing that I try to teach my residents early on is to try to differentiate the patient who is sick sick versus not so sick. This guy was sick sick - no doubt.

He was still coherent, and still competent, despite being critically ill. I sat down beside him, held his hand, got within inches of his face and talked to him while the rest of the ER staff started IVs and got EKGs and blood drawn.

He told me his story, as best he could with the little breath he had. He asked me to call his daughter and explain what was happening, and I did.

His labs and xrays and ekgs revealed to us that he had a heart attack within the last couple of days, that he had multiple broken ribs from the fall, and that his cancer was eating way at both lungs as well as his entire spine, his femurs, and his pelvis.

And so I had to talk to him, about what his options were and about what we could and couldn't do for him. I told him that this wasn't something that he could fix, and that he was going to die within the next day or 2. His daughter arrived.

We all agreed that we would do whatever we could to make him comfortable and let him die as peacefully as painlessly as possible. I ordered repeated shots of morphine and ativan, and we let him drift away.

Ya know, each person has their way that they need to deal with things. Some people won't understand that he wouldn't tell his family he was dying. They might think it was selfish or get angry. But everyone handles their problems uniquely, and there will never be, cannot be, a right or wrong way to handle many of life's scenarios. There can only be your way, his way.

In the end, he got what he wanted. His family never had to worry about him. And as I talked to them in the ER that night, I knew that they understood his decisions. He was intelligent, independent, and strong - and that's how he needed to be remembered.

I guess it went about as good as could be expected...

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin. [This story has been altered slightly to protect confidentiality]

Mars and Max

Meet Mars (left) and Max (Right), the newest additions to my family. M & M are 5 month old brothers that I adopted from the humane society. New training partners!!!

RNR Arizona Half Marathon Race Report

Yesterday the story finally ended.

Normally after a weekend race I'm ready to post a race report Monday morning. But this one was a little different, so the race report is a few days delayed. Let me explain.

The PF Chang's Rock n Roll Marathon was on my sights since late summer. It was to be my Boston qualifying race, my breakout event. I was gunning for a 45 minute PR performance that I was confident would be cake.

But things didn't go exactly like I thought they would.

First, in mid fall I had a mild IT band flare that cut short my long runs for a month. Then in December I had posterior hip pains that necessitated another 2 weeks without running. When I ran again, on January 2, there was a new and unexpected pain with every left foot strike.

Now last August I suffered a right foot 3rd metatarsal stress fracture, but that completely healed and is pain free. So I was NOT expecting this new left foot/ankle pain. The pain cut short my run on the 1st to 4 miles, then the following day the pain continued and cut my run to 3 miles.

I decided not to run any more before the RNR race and drop from the full to the half. On Friday, 2 days before the race, I ran 3 miles to see if it was better. It wasn't. I decided I would run anyway.

Race morning Sunday I lined up at the starting line nervous about the ankle/foot but intoxicated with the excitement that comes with these huge races. I LOVE mega-races. I positioned myself in the 3rd of about 30 corrals, opting not to go to the 1st corral like my race number suggested I should.

We started and the ankle/foot hurt immediately but was tolerable. Before the race I had rubbed 2 different pain relieving creams on it and taken (yes this is a raceday no no but I was desperate) ibuprofen. I think without the pain relievers I wouldn't have made it as far as I did.

5 k came in under 22 minutes and I was feeling good with only a little pain. But by 5 miles the ankle was hurting more, and by 10 k the pain was sharp and starting to limit my pace. 10 k passed in just under 44 minutes (which interestingly is still the fastest 10k I've ever run - ever...).

By 8 miles my pace had slowed and I was limp-running. It is such a terrible feeling when you start to drift back into the pack, knowing that all the work you put into the early mile is going for naught. And I drifted. Way back...

Miles 10-13 were at 10 minute pace, and I was miserable. I didn't pass a single person after mile 9. I considered walking, or dropping, but I knew that when I stopped running I would barely be able to walk and that seemed even more unbearable than running with the pain.

Those last few miles I kept thinking about Momo's post about her friend with cancer who still runs religiously and about taking running for granted. I was going to finish this, because I could. No matter the pain, I still could.

I was able to get a little bit of a kick at the finish to cross the line at 1:46.

When I finally walked post-race, I could barely put any weight on the ankle and I was suffering. I hobbled over to collect my gear and went straight to my rental car. I considered waiting for my peeps, but my misery didn't need to be shared...

I got on the interstate and drove solo for 250 miles to the Grand Canyon. I hadn't planned the side-trip, but I needed some time to reflect, and I needed some instant inspiration to pick me up.

Let me tell ya the GC is a damn good place for inspiration! When I left the race in Tempe it was mid 60s. When I got out of the car at GC it was snowing with 4 inches on the ground and 30 degrees, blue skies (mostly) and crisp crisp crisp. I hobbled around the South Rim for a couple of hours and felt the morale return.

This race meant nothing, and that's how I needed to treat it. There will be more races, there will be a time when I'm not always injured.

I got back in the car and drove the 250 miles back to Phoenix, then hooked up with friends old and new for a fantastic dinner and poker.

And life was good...

I returned to Alabama Monday and met with the orthopedic surgeon Wednesday. The xrays show a fractured calcaneous - the heel bone.

6-8 weeks of no running for me, but the bigger question is how do I keep from getting injured so frequently in the future? Already I never run more than 30-35 miles a week. I do a ton of cross training. I've decided to start taking calcium supplements. And I'm going to have a stride analysis when I can run again. But beyond that, I don't know....

So there it is... Anticipation, Loss, Excitement, Defeat, Inspiration, and Hope...

Life is good.

Thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin. Next time I'll tell you about the latest (surprise) additions to my family!!

First Swim

I swam Sunday for the first time since 24 HOT.

I was nervous about it, afraid that anything and everything I have learned over the last couple of years about swimming would be gone - ya know, use it or lose it right... But with the nervousness came a little excitement that by jumping in the water and starting to work on my weakest event, I was in a way committing myself to and beginning training for Ironman.

It's a good thing the water was in the mid 80's because if it at all felt cool I might have just climbed right out and headed for the steam room. But it felt good, and I felt good.

Oh it wasn't pretty.

Take an ugly inefficient stroke and give it a 3 month break and what happens? It gets uglier and more inefficient.

But it was easy at least. I swam 5 x 150 then a 250 and stopped for time constraints rather than fatigue restraints. This was definitely a satisfactory result for me - after all it was less than a year ago when I still couldn't swim a 1000 yards straight.

And with this swim I commence Ironman training.

It feels good to be back!

Steamboat

As much as I love vacation, the best part is coming home.

We returned home to Birmingham at 10 last night after a marathon day of travelling after spending the week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. When we stepped out of the airport, I was expecting, maybe hoping for, temps in the 60's - not unusual in the deep south in January. Instead I found 20's and felt like I was still in the mountains, sans snow.

Oh, the snow. Wow the snow. We arrived in Steamboat on the 26th and it snowed every day. More than 2 feet during our 6 days there snow. Snow snow everywhere!! It was truly a winter wonderland. Hmm... Ok, it would have been a winter wonderland except it was TOO DAMN COLD!!

Oh... The cold. Curse the cold... I'm talking it only climbed higher than 15 degrees (yea, unfortunately I AM talking Fahrenheit here folks) once. When Emma and Tess did ski school for a day, the high was 6. They started the lessons at 0900 - it was below zero. They toughed it out for a 6 hour day but didn't want to ski anymore. Too cold!

So we spent all of the other days tubing and sledding and snowballing and sliding on the snowslide we made near our condo.

Oh,, and we went swimming... In an outdoor pool... Yep, it was somewhere around 10 degrees and we swam outside. The pool was obviously heated but to get to it we had to walk barefoot in our swimsuits across the snow and ice. It was so cold that we had to completely submerge ourselves at least every 30 seconds or so because our heads would be freezing... Luckily, the hot tub was only 30 feet from the pool, and it was inside!

I didn't ski, or board, any this trip. I had planned on it, and I could have. My friend J came with us to be the ski nanny, so she could have watched the kids while I skiied. But once the opportunity was there, I didn't want to stop playing with the kids to go play by myself. Maybe it's the reason I do better with kid relationships than adult relationships - I would just rather play kid games 99% of the time. My kids are so cool, so much fun, so loving and so happy. And I have tons of fun with them, even in the moments when they are driving me absolutely crazy.

But I don't think I'm too kid crazy... I'm already scouting days for another trip to the slopes sans kids so I can actually do some ski play of my own. After all, I may be kid crazy, but I'm also an unabashed adrenaline junkie... Soon...

Click on the video above for a little sledding action.

Well, Happy New Year to all of my blogger friends. And thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Tree and House

Sunday the kids and I made a Christmas tree from plywood... Yesterday Emma made a Gingerbread house (with yummy yummy candy attached!) at school...

I love this time of year!

Excited

It's 0415 in the morning and I should be getting toasty warm in bed but I have a kind of nervous energy for some reason, and I'm not sure what it is.

Yea, Christmas is just a week away, and it is my FAVorite holiday. Plus I managed to get at least a few gifts purchased yesterday, so I'm mayb 30 or 40% done with holiday shopping. I know, I know... I ALWAYS wait to the last minute...

But it's not Christmas that has me excited...

My trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado is just 8 days away, and I'm super-stoked about it. It'll be the troupe's first ski trip, Aidan's first every flight, and my first time on skis in 10 years. We almost have everything together for it, with just a few more coats to find and kids' ski lessons to book.

But it's not skiing that has me excited...

I'm running stronger and faster now than ever before, which I'm attributing to a concentration on hip/thigh strengthening over the last couple months and an emphasis on speed and less on distance (for now).

But it's not the running that has me excited...

I'm just not sure exactly what it is... There certainly will be more to this story to come...

Until then, thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

Run or Tri?

So I'm looking ahead at the 2008 multisport season and I'm not sure what to do.

I want at least 1 long distance event as my A race.

The two options are 1. Comrades and 2. Ironman France.

Comrades marathon is the oldest (and many say toughest) ultramarathon in the world, a 50+ mile road race over the hills/mountains of South Africa. The race attracts dozens of thousands of runners each year, making it also the biggest ultramarathon. It alternates courses each year, with odd years being a "down year" and even years being a "up year." The up years add many thousands of feet elevation gain to the challenge of the 50+ miles.

I want to do Comrades, I really do. This race is legendary, and I want to be a part of it. 12 hours after the start, the race director walks to the finish line and fires a gun into the air marking the finish. Cross the line at 12:01 and you have not officially finished the race. The stories of people who slip in immediately before or after the 12 hour mark have become legend, and the first person each year to finish after the 12 hour mark is a national 5 minute celebrity.

Now 12 hours to cover 50 miles seems pretty damn easy. barely over 4 minute miles? Piece of cake. Of course I wouldn't want to finish in 12 hours, I'd want to finish in 11 or 10 or faster. So my goal would be to run, if not all then most, of it. And therein lies the issue - I haven't done an ultra yet, and quite frankly I'm nowhere near sure that my body will hold up to the necessary training to do the miles needed. I struggle to get in the prep miles for 26.2 - how will I get the miles for a 50 miler?

But it's Comrades...

The other option still under consideration (and no, I couldn't do them both) is Ironman France. It's amazing to me how quickly and consistently IM races sell out. I mean, last year IM Switz didn't sell out and this year sold out 6 months ahead of the race. Well IM France as of today still has spots.

Since my inaugural IM in June I've wanted to do another. I was trained and signed up for Wisconsin, but had to cancel because of a required court appearance the day after the race a thousand miles away (that - yes I'm bitter - was cancelled 2 days prior to the race...). And I'd like to do one this year, but I'm not deadset on it - I could wait until next year.

One of the advantages of doing the IM instead of Comrades would be the familiarity. I know what it takes to IM train, and I know I can do it. I honestly don't know if I can stay healthy and consistent enough to train for Comrades. If I'm injured Comrades training and can't do either, I'm doubly screwed... But on the flip side, I've already done an IM and, although I do want to race IM again, I also like new experiences.

Decisions decisions...

What do you think? Should I do Comrades or IM France?

Intangibles

Sometimes no matter how hard you try to understand them, things just won't make sense.

It's funny the difference in machines and humans. A machine will perform a function based on a strict algorithm and set of capabilities programmed and (hopefully) never veer from its expected function and outcome. A human, on the other hand, will perform a function based on an infinite number of variables that can never - I believe - be completely and accurately predicted.

And sometimes those variable won't be tangible, and sometimes they just won't be understood.

Like now. I don't understand.

I know, this doesn't make sense. Yea, I'm being vague.

Sometimes just putting letters on paper makes concrete to me even the most vague assertions, and when what is thrown at you all seems to disappear when you grab it sometimes something firm is exactly what you need. What I need.

Then again, maybe this is what I need. Or not.

Who knows...

To Live Long

Overheard at the gym this morning from one of our fittest octagenarians:

"To live long, eat lots of fish and rice and try not to ever think..."

Fish and rice - check.

Now if I could just cut out all the thinking...

Back...

Finally...

The new computer is up and running and I am officially reconnected to the outside world! Kinda cool actually 'cuz I'm using a 42" plasma for the monitor so I feel super techno-savvy when really I'm anything but.

Lots of stuff has been happening, both with family and with training/racing.

The troupe and I spent the weekend Christmas decorating. I love Christmas! We went Saturday to the tree farm an hour north of home where we've gone for the last few years and the kids picked their favorite tree. My mom, who was in town to watch the kids for me while I ran the Jinglebell 5k that morning, got to go with us to the tree farm. It was the first time she had gone with me to get a tree, and I think she was enjoying the novelty.

Anyway, Saturday was spent decorating the tree and house, and Sunday we set up our Polar Express train and Christmas village scenes in the breakfast room, which has yet to be used for breakfast despite 3 months in the new house. The kids love to make the whistle blow. OK, I admit it, I love to make the whistle blow too.

So the Jinglebell Run marked the 3rd race I've done in the last month - 2 10ks and a 5k. I continue to have occasional pains in my left lateral knee that seem to come randomly. I initially thought the IT was flaring but I've pretty much ditched that theory. Sometimes it will happen 4 miles in, sometimes 10 miles into a run. I've religiously stretched and strengthened my IT over the last year and NEVER have pain with stretching or lifting exercises.

Anyway, since I've been getting the occasional pains that I cannot run through, I have backed off the long runs and done more frequent shorter runs. I think this next multisport season will consist of mostly shorter to medium distance duathlons and maybe a couple tris. I've grown to love swimming, but for now it is such an impediment to me actually having any competitive results. So to satisfy my need for competitive results I'm concentrating this year on the du.

Back to the Jinglebell - I cannot get to 20 minutes for 5k. I wanted so badly to do it Saturday, but the Highland Avenue hills had other plans for me. I finished in 20:57, good enough for 3/30 or 40 in my age group and 26/500ish racers. The 2 10 ks this month were consistent if nothing else - 44:14 in the Vulcan Run and 44:21 (44:15 by my watch) in the JCC Montclair Run.

This weekend is the Village to Village 8k. Although it's hilly I'm going to try hard to get close to a 36 minute race.

Well, that's enough for now. I'm excited to finally be back in the blogging saddle, and thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.