Closing Out 2016

I wasn't sure when or if I would get around to this post because I have had serious motivation problems lately. I woke up this morning intending to do it but then decided to do other work first including putting all the horses out to pasture for the day. In fairness I didn't put them all out, my brother-in-law put one out. So I finished and now here I am looking back at the past year or actually as the title says, Closing Out 2016.

Statistically the year would be considered a bust in some areas and a success in others as far as running and fitness are concerned. My weight, I won't even get on a scale, has certainly increased as I spent to much time using stress as an excuse to overeat and more importantly, eat the wrong things. Additionally my consumption of beer was to much for the amount of activity I was doing. I'm not going to make specific resolutions but I do hope to improve in all of those areas. All of this is connected to my knee injury that happened in October of 2015. I finally had to stop running in December and I had surgery to repair a ruptured meniscus and also what they call micro fracture surgery to "regrow" cartilage. I was on crutches for almost 8 weeks and did nothing except physical therapy. The day after I got off crutches I left and drove cross country to visit friends and family. It was a good trip that included some minimal walking that I didn't even document but near the end of the trip I decided to do a "race". It was an 8 mile trail run in Colorado that I walked in crazy adverse winter conditions. That was my first race of the year though and it felt good to get something under my belt. That was on April 30th and was the total of my documented "mileage" that month. I had a total of 36 documented walking miles up to that day.

I continued doing races even though I only walked them fast because I wasn't supposed to be running. I walked 3 more events through June and in June my walking mileage increased to 113 for the month. After that I walk-jogged a few races until I got to where I am mostly running them again. My first race that I decided I was going to attempt to run it all was August 21st in St. Louis and I did run the majority of it. I walked my next two in Colorado with friends and since September 17th at a race in Pleasanton I have been running and my training has been running.

For the year I participated in 20 Races bringing my total to 195 since turning 60. I documented 428 miles walking and 195 miles running for a total of 623 miles for the year.

My reading total was 65 Fiction and 46 Nonfiction books during 2016.

While this is a brief "Look Back" it serves its purpose of documenting my miles and my reading two things that I get a kick out of recording. My next post will be after the first of the new year when I am scheduled to race in Richmond, California. I hope to do a better job getting motivated to write this year as well as continue running, reading and visiting family and friends as time and money allows.

Appreciate Your Health & Final 2016 Races

The past couple of months have given me several reasons to stop and think about health. I mentioned in my last post that I had been fighting with a chest cold and missing several days of running. When I raced the Spirit of Giving 5K in Modesto earlier this month I finally reconnected to a rival/friend who I had not seen since the Escalon race when he left really discouraged by his performance. He beat me the majority of the times that we raced in the 60 - 69 age group but because he is several years younger if we did 5 year age groups we would both usually finish on the podium. The reason that I bring him us is because he started having serious health problems and struggled to get a diagnosis. The good news is that he finally got a diagnosis and is getting treatment the bad news is that it is something that can't be fixed, just managed. He's back run-walking now and it was great to see him at the race.

On Thursday of last week I was running on the road and my foot clipped a bump in the road and sent me sprawling. While I got skinned up landing on my hands and knees before flattening out completely I was fortunate that I wasn't seriously injured. Needless to say I was sore after and even more so the next few days including the day I did a Double 8K my final races of 2016. While in San Juan Bautista at the Double I spent time waiting around for the awards ceremony I spent time talking with several guys in my age group and the 70-75 year age group and we all agreed that we were Blessed to be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other no matter how slow we were getting. We all knew people who were either injured or ill and no longer participating. And then to reinforce our comments a 78 year old runner tripped over a loose board on a bridge and went down busting up his face.

These thoughts aren't to be negative or maudlin they are simply to remind me to be grateful and make the most of opportunities when they present themselves. Here is a picture of my boo boos from my fall the Thursday before my Saturday Double.

Obviously nothing serious but it is all the aches and pains that don't show up in pictures that remind me of how much worse it could have been.

My final three races of 2016 were the Spirit of Giving 5K in Modesto and a 5K-3K Double in San Juan Bautista. I'm so much slower than I was just a year ago that it would be hard to believe if you didn't take the knee surgery in February out of the equation. But that was just part of it, another part is in my control and if I want to get any faster even as I continue to get older then I need to lose weight. As we all know, talk is cheap and if I don't do more than simply talk about weight loss I'll continue to gain weight and as a result, slow down. While I'm not calling it a New Year's Resolution I am going to make a better effort to lose weight this year and better racing will hopefully be a byproduct.

Spirit of Giving - Modesto

That's a wrap on 2016 racing and blogging!