Heard on the Street

1) Jeff P. and Trevor D. are running their first 50-milers at Ice Age in May. Whoo hoo!! Exciting.

2) Paul Melby defended his Resolution Run 5K title on Saturday by crossing the line with two other runners. Way to go, Paul!! Have you seen this year's jackets? From the front they are VERY bright orange. Very nice jackets, as usual.

There are at least 12 of us running Lake Wobegon on May 14. Here's the race postcard that arrived in the mail today. Pictured are River Runner buddies George, Travis and Monty.

This race is the best deal around. $45 til 3/31. Great drop bags ...

... long-sleeved technical finishers shirts, custom finisher's medals, great post-race food, top 3 finishers in 5-year age groups receive Wobegon mugs, chip timing.

Resolutions. It's time I revisited my 2010 resolutions, and set some for 2011. Here's what I resolved to do in 2010 ...

•Get more sleep. 5-6 hours per night over the long term isn't healthy. I pretty much spring out of bed each morning with a things to do list for the day just waiting to be tackled. Not so good. Still not getting enough sleep.
•Learn to say "no" when appropriate (especially to myself). Much as I'd like to, I can't do everything. (This goes hand in hand with my first resolution.) I think I've done pretty well on this. I've given up some volunteer activities and in that regard, my life feels less frenetic.
•Take a day off each week (or two) from exercise. This will be really tough. (This goes hand in hand with my second resolution.) I have made zero progress on this one. I very rarely take a day off. But ... when I swim I consider that cross-training day as a break for my legs. But now with all the exercise options I've got, it's going to be really hard not to do anything.
•Not be such a packrat. Much improved!! I hauled away carloads of stuff.
•Try an Olympic distance triathlon. (Notice I said "try". I'm still not convinced I'll not end up getting hauled out of the lake on a kayak ...) Nope. Didn't get it done. No tris in 2010.
•Run a marathon I've never run before. (Barring some unforeseen circumstance, that will be Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon on May 8.) Done!! Times two. Lake Wobegon Trail on May 8 and Outer Banks on November 14.
•Run a 3:35 marathon. I ran a 3:33 at Wobegon. Yee haw!!
•Visit a state I've never been to before. Done!! I visited Maine in April after running Boston.
•Read a book each month. Get back to reading the newspaper every day. Ummm ... needs improvement. I read only a few books and tended to get way behind on the newspaper, though I did read them all eventually.
•Say "thank you" more often. I still need to work on this one.
•Say "I love you" more often. And this one.

All in all, I think I wasn't a total failure even though I didn't hit all my goals. I'll try harder in 2011.
 
In 2011, I resolve to ...

• Lose weight. Don't have a number of pounds in mind. Just want to feel better about how I look.
• Get more sleep. Goes without saying. I seem to require a little cat nap just about every day.
• Log all my exercise each day. (Before I forget ... today was 2 hours on the Stairmaster and then an 8.03 mile run in the late afternoon.)
• Run at least a mile each day. So far, so good. I just gotta stay uninjured.
• Run a marathon I've never run before.
• Get a stamp in my passport. I got a passport in 2010. I've been out of the States once, in 1977 (Norway with a brief layover in Denmark). I would love to be able to swing a trip abroad.
• Say "thank you" more often.
• Say "I love you" more often. << These last two will perennially be on my list I think. >>

2011 will be a year of big changes for me. I'm only hoping that I can maintain some semblance of normalcy for myself and my family. I'll try my best.

Good night all ...