In The Gap

I have termed this time of year as "The Gap". It is my way of dealing with winter. Here is how it works.

Fall is the best running time of the year. One is generally in the best shape of the year and racing hard. You use that conditioning to carry you as late into the fall as possible. Somehow, if you can make Fall last through December then you have done well.

Spring begins March 1st in my book.

So, winter is January and February. That is the gap between Fall and Spring. It's all about closing the gap.

Training

Right now, I am just trying to maintain. While I had some great runs in LA, I only have been running mid 40s for mileage. Too much family stuff going on.

I have been getting one tempo run per week in, but it has been a process of re-learning tempo runs. I did not run tempos all last lear, so it feels like I am doing sprint work outs.

Family Stuff
I was able to have that conversation with my father-in-law. It went well. He actually said my blow up was for the better, because it forced us to talk through things. Funny... on my side of the family we talk through things to talk through things, not wait until a bomb goes off.

He went through triple bypass today and looks like he will be okay.

My brother-in-law is a hero. He held it together while giving CPR to his dad for over 6 minutes, then watched his dad get difribed 3 times. Then got on the phone to all family members telling them what happened.

This hero was in my Boy Scout patrol when we were kids. Our Scoutmaster used to preach how he had one life saved for each Eagle Scout he produced in the troop. We used to talk about what an honor that would be to have saved a life in the troops' eyes. My brother-in-law earned it with stars. The paramedics even told him the following week that he did a text book job at it, and that the survival rate of what he did was about 6% for the recipient.

Too bad the guy is going through a horrible divorce.

So, we are back in town, and dealing with crappy cold.

As much as I piss and moan about LA being a bad place to live, I really enjoyed it this time around. I guess it was because I was able to see so many childhood friends and got to let out the explorer adventurer in me. Some of those areas I ran I had not seen for almost 30 years. I remember them like yesterday.

It was also great to see a group of people who I remember being screwball kids all grown up with kids themselves.

Races

I really want a copper Kettle for my stove. Especially since I was denied one (denied myself) last year.

I want to do Leadville, but $225 is steep for one race where DNF is more likely than unlikely.

I want to do Ice Age 50 again, but mothers day weekend sure puts a damper on that one.

Not sure if I could pull off a 100M or a 100K for the new Zumbro Bottoms in April.

I am going to volunteer at Chippewa.

I am going to volunteer at Superior Fall.

Not sure about much right now.