Time to review my goals from January

I was cruising through my friends' Facebook stati (I guess the plural of status is similar to the plural of octopus)and my good friend at Empowering Moments - Personal Training for the Body, Mind, and Soul asked the question - how are those New Years Resolutions coming along? At first I thought, man I'm killing it. But then I wondered, am I? So below, I've relisted them with the current updates:

1. Run everyday and accumulate at least 1500 miles
- So far so good...on pace for 1600 miles

2. Break 18:30 in a 5K
- first race is in two weeks - we'll see how it goes

3. Break 65 minutes in the Charlottesville 10 miler
- done - Ran sub 63 minutes

4. Break 24 minutes in a 4 miler
-Men's 4 miler is in December - we'll see

5. Run at least 3 races of 10 miles or more
- 2/3 complete - scheduled a marathon on October 31

6. Run a marathon or 2 half marathons
- ran a half marathon, full scheduled on October 31

7. Qualify for Boston
-remains to be seen on October 31. Back-up plan is Richmond in November

8. Do at least 100 push-ups in a single set
- Got to 70 and then fell off the wagon. Need to restart program.

9. Do at least 15 pull-ups in a single set
- Got to 7 and then fell off the wagon. Need to restart program.

10. Do at least one 50 mile ride on my bike.
-Wow, completely forgot about this goal. I haven't even had my bike out yet. Time to get started on this one!

Looks like I'm on the right track for 7/10, but I have some work to do. I'm going to try and hold myself accountable for the rest of the year and hopefully get there without screwing up my marathon training. But since many of my goals hinge on that marathon, I'll let the others go if something has to suffer.

Being flexible

Day 579 - August 2, 2010

The alarm went off this morning and I hit the snooze as fast as I could. A morning run just wasn't going to happen. My legs were still tired from Saturday and I was suffering a bad "case of the Mondays". Instead, I packed a bag and decided I would run an old favorite. As soon as I was done at the office I drove over to the old neighborhood and ran the trails around the lakes. It was a great change of pace and the six miles I logged are much better than the two I would have struggled through had I run this morning. Some days I don't have that kind of flexibility, but I'm glad I did today!

A perfect morning for a long run...

Day 577 - July 31, 2010

...and I took advantage! I meet a friend at 5:30 and we were off. The temperature was about perfect in the mid 60s and the humidity was very low. Around mile 4, the sun started to break the horizon turning the clouds a fiery pink before rising above them and passing up the opportunity to fry us on the open road. Even with our planned stretching and rehydrating breaks, we were finished with the 16 miles before 8:00! I felt great and probably could have done another couple of miles with no trouble. But, I'm happy with my 43 for the week and 182 for the month! My goal of 175 turned out to be a piece of cake.

The streak is now 19 months complete. Here are the stats:
July - 182 miles
YTD - 212 days, 954 miles, 123 hours, 15 min, 30 s
Streak - 577 days, 2415 miles, 312 hours, 21 min, 26 s

back to back hour 1 hour plus runs

Day 570 - July 24, 2010

Got out early again today and ran another 8+ miles. That gives me 23 in the last two days and 44 for the week. I need 36 more to get to 175 for the month! After this week, that should be a piece of cake (Famous last words!)

Daily commute

Day 569 - July 23, 2010

Today I ran to work. Now for some, that would be no big deal, but I have a 20 minute drive on a normal day. Commuting to work for me requires a 14+ mile run. Perfect for my long run this week and right on schedule for my marathon training! The best part was I convinced my carpool partner to join me. I "picked him up" two miles into the run and we ran the rest of the way into the office. We were both pretty tired, but it made the run more fun having someone to commiserate with.

Today's run also put me over 900 miles for the year and gave me 130 for the month. With 8 days remaining, I only have 45 miles to go to reach 175! That would be my best month since college. Hopefully this will all pay off in October!