Happy Vomit-days

Aaah the holidays. I spent a lot of mine in a dark room with a fever accompanied by a nasty stomach bug and left it in day-after Christmas stockings for all to enjoy. Sorry to everyone who contracted my nasty bug.

Up until I got that bug, my Christmas was going great. Amanda and I visited her folks, then we visited my folks on Christmas day. I had planned on getting back to Bristol on Sunday evening to take care of a few things on my Monday day off, one of which included a nice trail run.

With the weather being cold and snowy, not many people are heading out to the local city park to make use of the trails, which means that I can run them and have them all to myself. Just me and the sound of the snow and sticks crunching under each stride. I think it's also more about motivation. Most people just aren't motivated to get out in the cold and do anything. Sure it's cold, and if you're a runner or cyclist or hiker, it will be cold for the first few minutes, then you warm up, I guarantee it! Rule of thumb is that, when doing outdoor exercise in the Winter, dress as if it's 10 degrees warmer than it actually is. This accommodates for you increase in body temperature and will keep you from overheating.

Another issue of motivation comes around this time of year, which comes in the form of resolutions. Everyone at some point has made one, and more often than not, broken one. I know I have. Resolutions are good in that you've set a goal for yourself, but most of us don't take into consideration what motivates us to accomplish these goals.

I can use this blog and my marathon as an example. I've always wanted to run a marathon, or attempt to finish one, but never really had the motivation to do so. So, a good motivational idea was to use it as a way to raise money for a charitable donation. Not only do I get to run the marathon, but I can use it to do some good at the same time. Your goal doesn't have to be big, nor does it have to be really all that important. Just as long as you do it for the right reasons and have the proper motivation to see it through. We all know that "will power" isn't exactly what we make it out to be.

It's the most wonderful run....

Ten days since my last post and it has been a busy ten days. I've had lots of work to do before the new year approaches which means that my blogging has been lacking. I have been running though!

I've come to the realization that running trails is much more fun than running on the roads. This makes sense to me since I'd rather be riding my mountain bike than my road bike if plan to ride. The trails offer a nicer cushion to land on when I'm running which means that my plantar fasciitis doesn't flame up nearly as early in my run.

During my last run there was still quite a bit of snow in some areas of the park, especially the trails. I ran part of the cross country course out there, but added a little more trail to the loop and ran part of it in reverse. When I was running the reverse section, I had to run up a hill, not a big hill, but a hill and it reminded me of that scene in Rocky IV where Rocky ditches the Russians following him in the car by ducking off the road, then he runs up the mountain and yells 'DRAGOOO!!!" a bunch of times. Well, my ascent to the top of the hill wasn't that dramatic, but I thought about it anyway.

I'm going to start planning running routes at Sugar Hollow Park on the trails since I can create lots of options. Running trails also keeps me off the roads and away from crazy drivers, especially this time of year when everyone is out shopping and hating other people.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Snow, snow...and oh...snow.

Old Man Winter is trying to make an old man out of me, I'm certain of it. It's tough to get motivated to do anything when the weather doesn't cooperate. I've spent the entire day at the house with my wife and we both worked on our own little projects and watched a couple of movies.

Hopefully I can get out and about tomorrow, maybe even run on the dreaded treadmill at the YMCA. I did get to go for a short run last week, mainly to test my foot's pain threshold. It held up really well and I felt good the entire run. As much as I'm not a runner and don't really like to run, I'm eager to start putting in some miles again.

I'll take suggestions. What do you do when it's too nasty to get outside to run or ride?

Cross training

It has been a few since I last posted on ye olde blog and I do apologize. I've been trying to catch up on everything after being gone for Thanksgiving.

I haven't done much running since my foot had been bothering me after my last run  in sunny Florida, so I've started using my first love as a cross-training method to keep me somewhat in shape. I've been doing some mountain biking since it doesn't hurt my foot and I sure as heck don't mind riding! They say cross training is important, but riding doesn't really feel like training to me, however, running does. It does feel nice to switch it up a little though.

I'm going to run today, probably at the YMCA on a treadmill since the weather is extremely cold lately and it's only getting colder and darker by the time I get off work. I generally hate running on treadmills, but they do have TVs in front of them...maybe I'll catch Oprah or something. Is her show still on?

I do want to take this moment to congratulate my running mate's mate, Joy, for completing her first marathon this past weekend in Memphis. She ran the St. Jude's marathon to raise money for St. Jude's and finished under five hours. Way to go Joy!

I will return with a regularly scheduled program, I promise. Thanks for keeping up!