Monday, January 19th - MLK Day

AM: 11 miles, moderate
30 degrees, cloudy

PM: 4 miles, easy
35 degrees, mostly cloudy

Met again with the GRCers for a run at "The Line." The guys went a little fast, so I hung back and ran the last 6 miles with Melissa and Nate. The culmination of my increased mileage and attending the concert yesterday took a toll on my legs; today was just a maintenance day.

After the run Reaves provided us with a Bear Naked breakfast of granola and yogurt. I obliged since the New York Times informed me that TRUE Obama supporters eat Bear Naked Granola. You might be an Obama supporter if...

Ran an easy 4 miles in the afternoon because I doubt I'll have a chance to run tomorrow :)

Sunday, January 18th

16 miles, moderate
~30 degrees, cloudy

Ran with 11 (!) of the GRCers at Riley's Lock, and averaged 6:00-6:30 for most of the first 13 miles. It felt pretty good too. I rushed out of there after the run to get ready for the We Are One Inaugural Concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Saturday, January 17th

9 miles, easy/moderate
Frigid. Single digits and negative wind chill.

Met at the store with Billy, Matias, Jonathan, Max, and new guy Owen for the usual "Ernst Loop." We finished at a moderate pace along the canal. Last night/this morning was reminiscent of my college days... went to the Wonkette "Ball" last night with PHughes and then to a bar... and woke up to run with the team very few hours later.

For the week I ran 67.5 miles - my longest week in at least six months. And, thankfully, it felt great!

Friday, January 16th

4 miles, easy (treadmill) + Gym
Right within the ASHRAE Std. 55-2004 comfort range.

It was ridiculously cold today. Not State College or Binghamton cold, but cold enough now that I have acclimated to DC. I think the wind chill was 1 degree Fahrenheit. Plus I earned a light, easy day of running. And I desperately needed to go to the gym. So I ran 4 miles on the treadmill and followed up with a particularly intense (for me) core workout and arm/chest lifting. Good workout.

Thursday, January 16th

11.5 miles, hard
20 degrees, dark

Met the the GRC crew for our regular track workout. We ran 3x 2K/1K with 400m jog rest. I felt much better for this workout than I had last week, thankfully. Here are the splits:
6:26 / 3:11 ; 6:21 / 3:05 ; 6:26 / 3:11

Wednesday, January 14th

AM: 8 miles, easy
20 degrees, early
PM: 1.5 miles easy, Gym

Met with Max and PH for the usual Columbia Heights Crew morning run in RCP. Glad to get the run out of the way early so I can enjoy tonight's Syracuse(#8) -Georegetown (#11) bball game! Let's Go Orange! Went to the gym and did core work before the game.

Tuesday, January 13th

10 miles, moderate-hard
35 degrees, dark

Met with PR after his deadlines to run a light workout. We did the usual Western Ave. loop and threw in 15x 60/60s. PR, after a week of stress, little sleep, and enough red bulls to kill an Ox, began babbling incoherently towards the end of the run.

Monday, January 12th

7.5 miles, easy
27 degrees, early morning

Ran in RCP before work with Patrick Hughes and Max Lockwood. It's nice to get the run out of the way, but work is a drag afterward.

Sunday, January 11th

16 miles, moderate-hard
40 degrees, mostly cloudy

Met Bain, P. Hughes, and Klim at the aptly named Difficult Run for the "Balloon Loop." The trail was as expected: muddy, slippery, and challenging. Bain led the way and I tried to hold on. Klim provided some much-needed calories halfway through the run as I was starting to lose energy. Lesson of the day: make sure to eat before long runs and/or bring GUs. This was the first run over 14 miles I have done in months so I had forgotten that lesson.

Grabbed lunch with the guys and Melissa and Caroline after the run where the guys pounded a six-pack of Rogue Dead Guy Ale. There's nothing like a beer after a long run :)

Saturday, January 10th

12.5 miles, hard
35 degrees, mostly cloudy

Met with the GRCers at the cross country course in Derwood for an XC workout. We ran 6 laps of the 2K course in a 3 min/2 min fartlek. It was tough and reminded me of how much work is ahead. Ran 2.5-3 miles warm up and cool down.

Friday, January 9th

0 miles.

Learned how necessary it will be for me to run in the morning. After a week of boredom at work, at 5pm on Friday I got the old "Um, yeah, so I'm gonna to need you to go ahead and come into work this weekend. That'd be great." Never got to do my run... oh well.

Thursday, January 8th

5 miles, easy
35 degrees, sunny

Woke up and ran in the morning. Unfortunately I didn't give myself enough time to run any more than 5 miles. I'm meeting with the GRCers for happy hour tonight so I needed to get the run out of the way in the morning.

Wednesday, January 7th

6.5 miles, hard-ish - workout
RAINY, cold

Tonight I met with the largest group of GRCers ever at our weekly BCCHS track workouts! These workouts are definitely starting to catch on.

It was raining pretty hard when we started and the track was flooded with several inches of water. Still, for some reason, we pressed on with the workout: 600m repeats. I bailed after 8 intervals since my head just wasn't in the workout. That, and I was running pretty slowly and not getting anything out of it. In a lame attempt to make up for cutting the workout short I did some extra stretching and massage.

Tuesday, January 6th

8 miles, easy + Gym
35 degrees, rainy

Ran 8 miles on the Mt. Vernon Trail in the morning before work. In the rain. Eww. Followed with core work and leg curls/extensions at the gym. I'm feeling significantly more in shape after just a few weeks at the gym... it's exciting to see progress! We'll see how tomorrow's track workout goes...

Monday, January 5th

3 miles, easy - Gym

Monday of Mondays... first official day back to work in over two weeks! After work I hit the gym and consciously avoided the guys cruising the weight room - a new and disturbing phenomenon at this otherwise conservative gym. Only did core work and arms/back. The gym is extra busy with all the New Year's Resolution types... it will only be a few weeks until I can use whatever machine I want, when I want.

Sunday, January 4th

14 miles, moderate
30 degrees

Ran the "Cougar Run" at Greenbelt Park with Reaves, Askey, Bain, Melissa, and Diego. Caught up with Reaves and Askey after the holiday and reviewed the bowl season thus far. Melissa and I discussed this year's Oscar flicks and began to discuss plans for Oscar Bash 2009!

Today John and I officially celebrated our one year anniversary! I love my boy.

Saturday, January 3rd

10 miles, moderate
35 degrees

First GRC group run of the year! Met with Bain, Melissa, Justin, Max, and Patrick Murray at the store and ran the "Earnst Loop."

Friday, January 2nd

7 miles, moderate
30 degrees

Ran a similar loop through Central Park as yesterday. The glamour and novelty has worn off. This run has only confirmed that NYC is a fun place to visit, but is not a sustainable place for me to live. Traveled back to DC today.

Thursday, January 1st - New Year's Day

8 miles - moderate
17 degrees and sunny

Woke up after a fun and glamorous night at Tavern on the Green and ran a lap of Central Park from my cousin's. The change of scenery was pleasant, but this asphalt path reminded me how grateful I am to have so many accessible, soft-surface trails in DC.

Wednesday, December 31st - New Year's Eve

7 miles - easy
40 degrees, sunny

Ran an easy 7 miles through RCP in the morning before catching the bus to NYC. I felt the workout from last night every step, but enjoyed the serenity of the park. Ran into Klim, Bain, and Max along the way.

In review of 2008:

I also celebrated the New Year in NYC last year, but I find myself considerably better off this year: I ran my New Years Day run around Brooklyn last year and could barely withstand the pain in my tibia. I quickly recovered and began training for the Boston Marathon with Patrick, Jake, Bain, and Dwyer. During those first few months of 2008 I found myself improving my fitness and by April I reached my peak. At Cherry Blossom I ran a big PR of 53:55 and followed up with another PR and great team race at the Boston Marathon three weeks later, finishing in 2:36:09 as the 100th male. The rest of 2008 saw lame training producing lackluster performances. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my first full year with GRC and look forward to a better, faster 2009!