Happy new year! In with the new '14. Wishing you all an active, injury free athletic year. I want to put all the bad experiences of last year behind and move on to hopefully better ones this year. I shall cherish the positive memories of last year, but unfortunately, be compelled to deal with any lingering situations this year. Traditionally, we make resolutions, and like bones, they may be broken. My top ten list will include the usual, some will be continuations, some may be possible and some may be improbable, but it doesn't hurt to dream. Come to think of it, didn't Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr do that? Obama is certainly thankful.
Top ten resolutions for this year (not necessarily in order):
1. Continued athletic success, especially with racing and competition.
2. Health.
3. Wealth.
4. Wisdom.
5. Employment.
6. Training (stepped up).
7. Change.
8. Teamwork.
9. Diet.
10. Travel.
Now it's time to expound on those resolutions.
1. Last year, I did 102 races, which is less than the previous year. This was largely due to health issues, particularly the shoulder injury I suffered at the beginning of the year, plus the usual relationship issues, forcing me to divert my energies elsewhere; I'd prefer to be with someone. Although I'd like to match or beat my highest total of races in a single year, my main goal is continuation; march of last year marked 2 decades + 2 years since I began competing.
2. To do the aforementioned, I must maintain good health, largely through fitness and diet. That means I still won't smoke or drink, and naturally, do my best to avoid injury and illness.
3. This resolution has always failed but you never know; this might be the year. Maybe I'll get rich the easy way by winning in the powerball or the hard way with some breakthrough opportunity.
4. Hopefully, as I progress, this continues to improve. I made it this far through trial & error, & experiences. Thus far, 2 out of 3 (healthy, wealthy and wise) has been my case.
5. Since the quick fix (lottery) has thus far never panned out, I'll need to keep my job to survive.
6. To get the glory (race win), one must train. I plan to up the ante with quality workouts, such as speed work and long runs, which I have been notorious for missing.
7. Obama's slogan. He is the change America needs. However, I too, must utilize this. I revolve to make some adjustments in my normal scheme of things. Like Rick Scott says, 'let's get to work'.
8. I want to continue doing relays, both as a team captain and participant. In 2008, I eliminated most series participation, in lieu of individual events because I sacrificed too many running races that I loved the previous year. I will likely adhere to this resolution this year (limit to 2 series or less). However, I want to increase the number of individual relay races.
9. Continue and hopefully improve upon my nutritional regimen, such as my no meat diet.
10. I will travel as necessary, meaning doing only races that have some significance or purpose to me. I'll avoid just racing to race if it is far.
Today's agenda-1st race of the year
I usually do the run, walk, crawl 5k. I picked the middle option because it is extremely difficult to find a racewalk with awards. However, after I got ripped off (the guy given the title had jogged throughout and many witnessed that but the race director bought his bogus explanation that he learned a new walk technique) my overall win last year, with the insult to injury being that the cheater was put on a pedestal, I promised myself that if another opportunity arose, I'll take that; This was that year.
Conditions were not good. It drizzled throughout (did keep some of the heat down), was windy and humid. The already scheduled late start (11 am) was delayed due to registration. I wasn't even in the top ten when the race began but by the grace of God, I was in the mix. Although my time still stunk, it was good enough to beat all women and get me on the podium. I took a risk and fortunately, I got my first award of the year! Like Jon W, I contemplated a double header but my time/distance calculations convinced me it would not be wise (too much of a risk missing the 2nd race). He proved me wrong and won both events; congrats!
FYI
You may have noticed much of this blog seemed like a carbon copy of the previous year's post. Testament to how life can be similar yet different. Get out and run!
