2007 into 2008

So 2007 was not one of my better years in terms of training and racing. The year was plagued with illness and injury and I never really had a chance to get going. The highlights of the year in racing were the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, SOS and the Staten Island 6 hour run in which I came in 7th overall. Ironman Lake Placid was a total bust this year, but that is ok. I wasn’t well before the race and at least I attempted it. Many people would simply have said screw it. The best time I had training were the two weeks I had in Spain where I ran about 150 miles in two weeks and swam about 8 miles. At least I finished 2007 strongly and setup to have a good 2008. The light year was reflected in my overall distance. For 2007 I had 2425 Cycling miles, 1200 Running miles and 92 swimming miles. I’d like to see my 2008 distances be more in the range of 4000, 2000 and 150 respectively. These are just arbitrary numbers I am coming up with; I have no idea if I’ll be able to do so much. I’ll have to take it one week at a time. In any event, 2008 started off with my usual New Year’s festivities. First was an early morning run with my friend Larry around Prospect Park. It was a cool rainy day and we were both feeling tired from the evening before. Larry from drinking and staying up a little too late and me from having a full day skiing, bowling and eating in the Bershires, followed by a mad 183 mile dash home in my car to make it to my friend’s New Year’s Eve party before midnight – which I did make. However, the run woke us up and afterwards we reconvened for our annual Polar Bear New Year’s Dip in Coney Island. Fortunately, it had stopped raining by then and 1000’s of people were out on the beach all ready to plunge into the icy Atlantic. The group I was with all plunged ourselves into the water several times. It is such a rush going into the freezing cold water in nothing but a thin bathing suit. I felt so good every time I came out of the water. An amazing sense of well being infused my body and I was laughing and smiling and yelling in joy. After getting out of the cold water, the air temperature felt so warm that we all just hung around in our bathing suits and threw a football around. It was a great day to be alive. After we left the beach, we headed back to Larry’s house where his wife had prepared the most delicious chili and her secret recipe for Hot Toddy’s – A drink consisting of tea, run, fruit juices, spices and other ingredients which shall remain secret. I hung around for several hours eating, drinking and talking until I started to feel the tiredness creep through my body and I could no longer hold my eyes open. I said my goodbyes and walked back home where I promptly took a much needed nap. Unfortunately, on this second day of 2008, I awoke with a cold and sore throat. I am not going to rush my training and let the cold subside before I pick it up again. There is no point in sucking in my cold germs and giving myself Bronchitis. I’ve had that the last two January’s in a row and don’t want to go through that again. I’ll just rest until I feel better. Lastly, for a great bit of news, I walked into my house this evening to find out I’ve been accepted into the Vermont 100 mile running race. I am so excited, nervous and a bit sad. Excited, because I’ve wanted to do this race for a while, nervous because my shin has been problematic and sad, because it means that I will miss Ironman Lake Placid this year. It will be the first time in 5 years that I will not be doing Lake Placid and I might not be able to get into IMLP for 2009 if I don’t go up to the race site. But that’s the price you have to pay sometimes to get and do the things you want. So it’s time to get serious about rehabbing my shin. I finally shaved my leg and broke out with my TENS unit. Hopefully its regular application will help alleviate the problem. I’ll just have to see how things go over the next few weeks and months.