My December 2012 Running Report

In December, my total mileage skyrocketed, far beyond my monthly goal of 100 miles.  I just finished a relatively short 3.25 mile run, giving me a month's total of 155.63 miles.  This means, of course, that I averaged just over five miles per day.  However, although I did put in some "long" runs (7.5 was my longest), much of the increase in mileage was due to me running twice on many days, in the morning and then late nights after work.  The convenience of a 24-hour workout gym with treadmills, combined with cooler temperatures and lower humidity for the outdoor runs, facilitated my increase.  I ran every day in December, now making my daily running streak 245 days. 

Although there were some public running races offered in December, I begged off entering them due to the simple lack of satisfaction I get anymore from participating in public races.  For one, I don't dig paying the progressively more expensive fees to register for them.  Also, the constraints imposed on me with the time and place of a race run counter to my freedom the rest of the time to choose when and where I will run.  But most of all, I discern a sense of unwillingness on the part of other participants to be more sociable.  Instead they seem emotionally insulated and clannish.  Who knows, though, maybe I just need to try a few more times and see if I can't break into some of their "circles".  That being said, I still have no plans for entering any races next month...

NFL Dolphins, Giants, Tebow, Season Ending

With one week left to go in the National Football League regular season, my two favorite teams both seem destined to miss the playoffs.  With the Miami Dolphins, this fate has sadly become the expected norm each year, although they very well could be sporting a 10-5 record instead of their actual mediocre 7-8 had some very close games not slipped away from them.  Yet I feel optimism, for a change, about their future because of their new coach Joe Philbin and rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill.  They also have a chance at finishing at .500 this year should they beat New England in their final game (but not likely).  We'll see how things go next year.  But the other team I support, the New York Giants, have gone into a tailspin after leading their division most of the season.  Now they are on the outside-looking-in as far as an available playoff position is concerned.  And yet, they were in the same improbable situation for getting into the playoffs last year and ended up winning the Super Bowl!  So I can't count them out until they are mathematically eliminated...

It looks as if Tim Tebow will be leaving the New York Jets after this season, possibly ending up at Jacksonville.  The Jaguars, who could have traded for him after Denver signed future Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning, would have filled their stadium for the Gator Heisman Trophy winner and two-time national champion.  Instead, the Jaguars chose to go with a second-rate quarterback in Chad Henne and now sport the worst record in the NFL.  I expect poor decisions from them in the future as well, so I'm a bit skeptical right now of Tebow ending up there.  As for Tim's short tenure with the Jets, I don't know what this franchise was thinking by trading for him and refusing to use him all season, even in the face of an extremely dismal year by their starting QB Mark Sanchez.  I used to like their coach Rex Ryan, but now I think the dude should be fired (doubtless to resurface on another team). Not only did he blow it with Tebow, but he also allows an atmosphere of open dissension on the team, with players commonly speaking out to the press against each other and their coaches...

Emphasizing Private Journaling Over Public Blogging

It's been a while since I've posted an entry to this blog.  There are various reasons for this, but the main one is that I have entered a more introspective period in my life.  I want to write, but not in such a public forum, as I have some personal issues I want to write about in a private journal.  The writing discipline continues for me, but the writing is taking place elsewhere.  This doesn't mean that I won't occasionally make an entry here from time to time.  But for this season, at least, I wouldn't count on seeing regular articles on this site.  Not that they won't pick up at some time in the future...

Lesson from Lord of the Rings

I have been watching my DVD collection of Lord of the Rings lately.  In a movie series of this scope, there are many new aspects to the story and its presentation that reveal themselves to me with each viewing, and it is fun to make new discoveries.  But one thing that struck me from the first time I ever saw it (and this isn't quite so apparent in the book) is the sense of epic importance that the present moment, the "now", so to speak, held for most of the story.  If the protagonists didn't focus intently on whatever happened to be immediately before them, then not only would their futures be in peril, but often also the future of Middle-Earth (author J.R.R. Tolkien's name for his fantasy planet).  The movies' extended version tended to mitigate this almost constant sense of urgent crisis by adding some scenes that gave some (usually humorous) respite to the drama.  But the more commonly-shown edited version is very, very intense.  And that brings to me a lesson of sorts that I can choose to follow.

The lesson is this: I may not be living in a time and place when and where the fate of the world hinges on my actions from one minute to the next.  But the fact still remains that this IS MY life, my one shot at it in fact, and it is only through this present moment that I can live through it and make a difference.  Maybe my choices won't have a gigantic instant effect on this often sorry world I live in, but they can contribute down the line to something better. Maybe I should just step up to the "now" and increase my intensity a couple of levels!

I am looking forward to watching The Hobbit when it comes out in theaters soon.  I hope that Peter Jackson, the movie's director, has been careful to include all of the book's events (something he failed in with his Lord of the Rings undertaking, as good as the final product was). For there is another big lesson from this tale as well, a lesson that the earlier animated version of The Hobbit completely omitted... 

I can't put off fulfilling my aspirations until "later": NOW is the only time guaranteed me, and it's "about time" I realize that on a deeper level...

News Flash: Found Empty Seat at My Nearby Starbucks

I am sitting here on a dreary, cool morning here at the Magnolia Parke Starbucks writing this, from my preferred seat at the long, narrow counter facing the parking lot window.  My routine, which used to entail early morning visits here to write and study, changed a few months ago.  Then it was relatively easy to find a seat.  Now, though, I usually stop by (and much less often) in the early afternoon and as often as not can't find anywhere to sit, with all of the coffee-shop-squatters and their laptops/notebooks dug in by that time.  So instead I've become a regular customer at Donut Connection just down the road and never have a seating problem there.  Their brewed coffee is just as good (I tend to stay away from the espresso bar concoctions anyway) and their sweets put Starbucks to shame.  Still, today the opportunity presented itself for me to get down here a little earlier and...lo and behold, my "spot" was available!

I love this weather, as long as it doesn't rain, that is.  This, to me, is prime running weather, so maybe I'll just climb down from this high chair and get ready for a nice jaunt around the neighborhood...

****
Three hours later...
I went out running like I said I would, only the dryness had changed to a light drizzle.  Still, it was a very pleasant four mile run...

December Mugginess, Leaves, and the Blowers

Just when I think that December will bring about cooler, wintry weather conditions favorable to outside running here in Gainesville, it gets warm and muggy.  Yesterday I was looking at my local 24-hour weather station and the screen gave the current temperature at 81 degrees, with the forecast high for the day of 78! They also predicted some light showers in the evening.  Instead, what really happened was torrential rain and a thunderstorm.  Not that we couldn't use some rain: in general, northern Florida has been more prone to drought in recent years, causing a forest fire hazard.  Still, I wonder what's going on with the weather forecasting here...

The trees at least seem to think that winter is approaching.  I was walking around the block with Melissa the other day when we passed a house possessing a large maple in its front yard.  The presumed owner was out there meticulously vacuuming up some of the myriad fallen maple leaves that he had carefully gathered up in a large pile.  I looked up, though, and saw that the tree was still loaded with many browned leaves, some of which were falling as we passed by.  I noted to Melissa that this guy's yard, after he had finished clearing it out for today, would be covered again with leaves tomorrow.  She confirmed this to me the next day when she went on another walk. 

Gathering leaves at this time, raking them in, and putting them in containers may seem like an exercise in futility, at least until the trees shedding them are completely bare.  But those doing this earn much more appreciation from me than those obnoxious leaf-blowers.  These folks have a limited, territorial view of their "home" that ends on the other side of the street in front of their house.  I have seen different neighbors blowing fallen leaves out of their own yards onto the street...and then stand there in the middle of the street with their leaf-blowers and blow them to the opposite curb, directly in front of their neighbors' houses!  I even once ran by one of these people and he continued blowing leaves directly at me as I passed!  Nice guy...

Proud of Son Graduating College

Yesterday my son Will graduated from the University of North Florida with his Bachelor of Arts degree, and doing so with magna cum laude honors.  I am very proud of him and know that, whatever he decides to do in the future, if he pursues his dreams with the perseverance and character which he exhibited with his undergraduate education, he will be successful and happy!  Way to go, Will!

December Business Picking Up

Once again, I've reached the time of the year when business drastically picks up where I work.  I may not be writing quite as often on this blog as I have been, at least until things settle back down.  In any event, I'm doing fine and hope you are too!

Tried a 7.5 Mile Run Today

Seeing that I just might be running in a 9.3-mile (15K) race next Saturday (see yesterday's article), I thought I'd see what it would be like to approach that distance, which I haven't run in many months.  So I ran 7.5 miles a few hours ago without too much difficulty.  But I didn't enjoy it and thought that pushing that kind of distance at this time in my life might just NOT be a good idea.  So I have decided to keep my distances at a lower level.  I may participate in 5K and 10K races in the near future (December has some 5K races around town).  But the main thing is that I will be going back to my earlier training regimen...

Upcoming 15K Race: Should I Enter?

This year I skipped Gainesville's Tom Walker Half-Marathon, which took place earlier this morning.  I ran it last year and enjoyed it, setting a personal record for half-marathons.  The race takes place on the Hawthorne Trail, southeast of Gainesville.  But next Saturday morning, the Season of Hope 15K (9.3 miles) will be held at the same location.  This distance, which would be a challenge, is still in my range of allowable distances, albeit on the far end.  Should I sign up and run it?

Since I am passing up on half-marathons for the foreseeable future, this type of event might represent a good substitute choice.  Still, it was such a grind getting up early in the morning this past Thanksgiving just to run that 10K race!  Is my memory beginning to erode on me?

Well, the registration deadline is December 6, so I have some time to mull it over.  I think I could handle the distance, even though I haven't covered nine miles in several months.  In the meantime, I'll continue to train on the same level I have been...