Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Still alive!

Ok, since there are some people out there who actually check on this neglected corner of the interweb, I'll leave a new blurb. I promise: I'll try to be better!

Last Sunday I was supposed to run the last race of the year. The California International Marathon in Sacramento. This race was originally not on my schedule, since I had planned to run St. George in early October. Unfortunately I sprained my ankle rather badly in early August. The training for St. G. went completely down the drain... A total mileage of 89 miles in August and September are just not enough for a good effort.
So I decided to shift the focus to CIM, and use St. G. as a long, fun, supported trainings run (flights and hotel were booked after all). Once in the Southwest, I tagged on a visit to Zion NP, where I hiked the Narrows, and some climbing at Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas.
Once I was back I jumped into preparations for CIM. 140 miles in October, 120 in November. Good speed workouts, good hill work. Then... a week before the race I get a cold... Nothing too bad. I was still planning on going. Drove up to Sac on Saturday, picked up the bib, got dinner, was in bed at 8. Fell asleep...at 11. ugh! Woke up at 2! (Alarm was set for 4). At this point I decided not to run. A rather tough decision...
Even tougher is the decision to take some time off. Not to jump into planning events for next year. There are some events I'd really like to do, but I think I need some distance to be able to come up with a reasonable plan for 2011.