Merry Christmas!

It's a chilly 18 degrees here, just north of Boston, where I am spending the Christmas holiday with my family. When I was packing for my trip, I originally planned to bring my outdoor gear so I would be prepared to run outside in the colder temps. But, I ran out of room and had to leave the extra layers behind. So, there will be no running for me today. I did manage to get a 6 mile run in on the treadmill yesterday. One of the advantages of my LA Fitness gym membership is that I can go to any of their facilities so when I travel I try to take advantage of that and yesterday morning I went to their gym in Stoneham, MA.

So, today I will be focusing on one of my other passions - cooking. I'll be in the kitchen most of the day. Our Christmas day dinner menu includes:

• Roast Turkey with Herbes de Provence and Citrus


• Sausage and Herb Stuffing


• Corn Pudding Casserole


• Zucchini Gratin


• Paula Deen’s Old Fashioned Holiday Glazed Ham”


• Basic Mashed Potatoes

I did most of the prep work yesterday so today I'll be pulling it all together. There will be 12 of us at the dinner table today and holidays for me are all about spending time together, sharing stories, reflecting on our good fortunes of having one another and, of course, sitting at the dinner table enjoying good food!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
John

8 Mile Run and Then Cookie Baking Time

With Christmas being just 1 week away, I decided it was time to 'get into the spirit' and there's nothing like baking batches of cookies that make it feel like Christmastime at home. So, today I started my weekend off with an 8 mile run – my usual loop around Doylestown – and then I got out the mixer and went to town making cookies. Made 4 batches today and am planning to make 2 more batches tomorrow. Cookies at Christmastime just go hand and hand and bring back so many childhood memories of the fun my brother, sister and I had helping our mother with her baking. Even though we weren't together today, we may as well have been in my mother's kitchen, crammed around the table mixing the batters, filling the cookie press with dough, pressing the cookies onto the baking sheets, decorating our artistic creations and of course, listening to Christmas music in the background!

Today I didn't use a cookie press but I still had vivid memories of filling that metal cylinder with dough and deciding which design plate to use. Instead, I just resorted to dropping the batter onto the sheets – a bit more primitive I guess. Perhaps, 'rustic' would be a better choice of words. (It's nice to know that a word like rustic can be used describe 'easier' and 'less complicated'!)

So, here's my cookie list this year. I'll be filling decorative tins tomorrow to pass out to neighbors and friends at work this week. In my book, there's no gift better than one that came from someone's kitchen. Home is where the heart is and today my heart was in the kitchen (after my 8 mile early morning run of course)!

• Chewy Coconut Cookies
  
• White Chip Chocolate Cookies
  
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
  
• Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kisses
  
• Orange-Frosted Cranberry Cookies
  
• Frosted Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies
  

Enjoy!
John

Intervals – Mixing it Up!

I realized this morning as I was heading out to the gym at 5:30AM that I really wasn't looking forward to the hum-drum boredom of what was quickly becoming my '5-mile duty' on the treadmill. I asked myself if my running had lost its purpose. After all, I had planned and trained for my first full marathon for 16-weeks and now that I have that behind me, I was feeling kind of lost. I also noticed that I wasn't feeling as excited logging my running workouts into my Garmin Connect account because I was classifying them as 'fitness' rather than 'training' events.

Could I possibly be suffering from Post Marathon Training Syndrome (PMTS)? Perhaps… It's been less than a month since I achieved a goal that I had dreamed of completing for more than 3 years. Certainly, it's understandable that I'd be feeling out of sorts, right?

So, as I was driving to the gym I realized that I needed to mix things up a bit today so I decided to run intervals. I stayed away from intervals during my marathon training based on advice I read for first time marathoners (especially those of us who are in their 50's) – I just wasn't willing to take on the risk of injuring myself.

But, today is a new day and I'm at a new stage with my running. I have a marathon behind me. I've already accomplished that goal. I can cross that objective off my bucket list.

Yes, running intervals was just what I needed today. The time on the treadmill passed quickly and I felt completely energized after my workout and through most of the day. Today I challenged myself to run 6x100 intervals with a 1-mile warm up and a 1-mile cool down. Certainly not the most rigorous interval set but it's a start.

Run: Intervals by jbaker614 at Garmin Connect - Details

So, in the spirit of continuous improvement and staying motivated, I hereby commit to run intervals once a week. No excuses. Thursdays will be the day – Interval Thursdays!

Happy and Safe Running,
John

Just for Fun!

Ok... with the holiday season upon us, many of you may be looking for gift ideas for that special runner in your life, or maybe a runner friend, pal, comrade. Check out The Running Store at Cafe Press!

Holiday Gift Ideas for Runners by Cafe Press

Final Race for 2011!

Race: BCRR 5.3 Mile Jingle Bell Run by jbaker614 at Garmin Connect - Details

What a beautiful morning it was to run in my FINAL race for 2011! There were blue sunny skies with a temperature of 35 degrees with no wind to speak of. Today was the 2^nd race in the Bucks County Road Runners 2011-2012 Winter Series – 5.3 mile run ("Jingle Bell Run") in Tyler State Park. There were a couple hundred runners this morning and I placed myself in the 9:00 minute pace group, finishing in 43:39 - placing 153th out of 318 runners. That's an 8:15 minute mile! I ran this same course 2 weeks ago during an informal run and today I managed to beat that time by over a minute. So, as my final race for 2011, I was very pleased with my performance.

2011 was my comeback year. After injuring my right foot during the summer of 2010 (a non-running injury I must add), followed by 2 surgeries and 10 weeks of being non-weight bearing, I returned to running just 1 year ago in early December 2010. I was determined to get back on track and re-build my confidence to train for my first full marathon.

Throughout 2011, I ran a total of 19 races. Here's a recap

• Ten 5K Races – PR 24:51
  
• One 5.3 Mile Race
  
• One 10K Race – PR 54:42
  
• One 13K Race – PR 1:10:57
  
• One 10 Mile Race – PR 1:35:54
  
• Three Half Marathons – PR 1:59:02
  
• One 18 Mile Race – PR 3:08:30
  
• One Marathon – PR 4:23:46
  

Next week I will be fulfilling my volunteer obligations with the Bucks County Road Runners during the Tyler Challenge 10K Race on December 18. So, I will be there on the sidelines helping with the logistics. My next opportunity to race will be on January 1, 2012 when I run the Cham-Pain 5K.

Happy and Safe Running!

John

Running and Business Travel

After months of hardly doing any traveling for business, my travel schedule has picked up and I find myself on the road again during the week for the past couple of weeks. I realize now that I was taking so much for granted while I was training for the Philadelphia marathon and my work schedule kept me close to home. Now, I have more planning to do when it comes to packing my suitcase (making sure I have enough changes of running gear for the week) and making sure I select a hotel that has decent exercise facilities. Last week, when I traveled out West, I fully expected to run outside but the Santa Ana winds squashed that plan! Wind gusts up to 80 mph were roaring through Albuquerque so I had to resort to Plan B and do all of my running indoors on the treadmill. This week, I am traveling out West again and will be visiting Denver and the hotel where I am staying has a very nice fitness center.

While traveling, I also have to focus on eating properly and making sure I stay hydrated. In the past, I would always notice, on average, an extra 3 pounds whenever I would return home from a business trip. Part of the challenge of traveling is being away from my routines (bringing my lunch to work every day and making sure I eat plenty of fiber). Fiber and water are my friends when I am on the road. If I neglect these friends while traveling, I tend to suffer the consequences which are a bit uncomfortable J

So, business travel presents some additional challenges for those of us who want to maintain our running schedules while we are out of town. Packing enough of the right gear, selecting a hotel with a decent fitness center, staying hydrated, eating properly and getting enough sleep (especially when there are time zone changes involved) are all factors that need to be taken into consideration to make sure your next business trip doesn't find you holed up in your hotel room watching your favorite news channel and getting depressed over the current state of world economics, the pathetic condition of our political landscape, or the very sad stories of either missing or abused children. Now I realize I have another reason to run!

Happy and Safe Running!
John

Racing Again – Covered Bridge 5K

Today was the official kick-off for the Bucks County Road Runners Winter Series with a pretty tough (hilly) 5K course in Tyler State Park. It was a perfect morning for a race and the turnout was great! I surprised myself with a pretty strong finish, considering the course – finishing in 26:24 (unofficial time – results are yet to be posted). I can definitely see an improvement in my performance as well as how I feel after the faster races. In this race, I managed to kick in strong with the hills and managed to pass some of the 'speedsters' who left me behind during the flat part of the course. My overall place was 144 but I don't know the total number of racers or how I finished in my age group. Hopefully, results will be posted soon.

Next Sunday the series continues with the Jingle Bell 5.3 Mile race. Let's see if our luck continues with the weather so we can have another perfectly beautiful running day!

Happy and Safe Running!
John