Still Here, Just Slackin on my Posting

Well I have definitely been slacking on my posting while at the same time actually keeping up on my running. When I started my new job I thought I was going to have all kinds of extra time in the mornings to work out, which I do, but unfortunately my weak side tells me that I need to use that extra time for more sleep instead of more working out. I have been running four times a week to prepare for the San Francisco Half Marathon in February and it has been going fairly well. The only hang-up I have right now is that my shin muscle is still bothering me from time to time on my runs. I usually can feel it tightening up around mile one and then it will either get worse or gradually loosen up and not really bother me for the rest of the run. Yesterday I massaged it after our evening run and then gave it a quick rub before my run this morning which seemed to help (today, not yesterday). On the run yesterday evening it was really bothering me – it wasn’t really tight and painful but it was consistently irritating through the whole six miles. Oh well, I guess there isn’t much I can do about it except stretch, massage it, and get back in the cross training groove. I had this problem a couple of years ago but not at all last summer when I was running a lot. I think the main difference between those times (and now) is that I was cross training a lot during the summer months. This morning I had a good run and my average pace was 7:42 for four miles. I tried to pick up the pace on the last mile and it came in at 6:50. Also, one positive thing I have noticed is that legs are giving out before my lungs so I know my cardio is still in great shape.

Jen and I went to New York the week before Christmas and had a great time. We stayed in Midtown at the Waldorf Astoria and went all over Manhattan while we were there. One of the mornings we got up and went for a run in Central Park – it was really cool. Jen has posted a link to some of our pictures on her site; I would say check them out if you have time but chances are if you are reading this you have already been to her blog and you have probably already seen the pictures.

After the 11th of January I will be moving into a new workspace which should enable me to keep up on my posting and blog reading. As it is now I am right next to my supervisor and being a new employee I am keeping the extra curricular activities to a minimum for now.

Oh yeah, Jen gave me a great gift for Christmas this year (in fact I will go as far as to say it was the best gift) – a Garmin 305! I have not yet used the heart rate monitor but plan on doing so in the near future. Just having one along with me for my runs is great since I can now vary my route instead of having to run the same course every day.