Offseason Fattening, Part 2

I could use a shirt like this, too, especially after Thanksgiving.

6 months old...crawling, smiling even more, playing with balls and bats and basketball hoops...there's so much to be thankful for.

I've officially signed up for the St. Louis Marathon in early April. Then, it's on to the Ice Age 50K. The fall will find me back at Glacial Trail, and then I'm taking another shot at the Fall 50.

Hopefully there's a sub-3 hour marathon in 2011 as well.

Offseason Fattening

Ahh...the 'offseason.' While I mentioned in my last post that I was reluctantly taking some time off from running, it didn't take long for me to fill up my normal training time with other tasks:

• Eating
• Getting up early to hang out with Eddy -- He has had some terrible nights of sleep and some great nights. We've fallen in to a bit of a routine that involves me getting up and getting showered by 5:30, then getting up with Edwin when he decides it's time to get going. I then hang out with him and entertain him until I need to leave for work, at which point I take him in my Ellie, he has a morning snack, and then takes his first nap of the day. Man, to be napping by 7:30 AM most days. What a life. Eddy is very, very close to crawling right now--doing that back-and-forth dance on all fours before going into a military crawl/worm wriggle combo to get where he's going. He looks more and more like his mom every day, and it's crazy to think at the end of the month he'll be .5 years old!

• Helping myself to leftovers -- maybe this could be considered 'training' for Thanksgiving?
• Work
• Thinking about next year -- Races bouncing around in my head include Chippewa 50k (April?), Ice Age 50k (May), Keyes Peak 50k or Marathon (June), a Sub-3 Spring Marathon or a Sub-3 Fall Marathon, Glacial Trail 50k...or 50 Miles? (October), and the Fall 50 (October). I really wanted to train specifically for the Fall 50, focusing on longer road runs but then realized the kind of running that I like most is the kind of training I did a lot of this past summer--trails--and I had a great fall, winning a trail marathon and taking 3rd in a trail 50k. But is it conducive to running a successful marathon and breaking 3 hours, and running a road 50 miler, if I'm training the majority of the time on trails? SteveQ, resident coach pro bono...I'm waiting on you for some guidance. I'm also waiting to see what Glaven has to say about the 'pro bono' part of that
• Thinking about turning 30 -- Yup, I turn the big Three-Oh on the 30th of December. I really wanted to do a 30 mile birthday run but it's not in the cards, as I'm leaving the next day for skiing in Winter Park. Other ideas floating around in the gray matter for the 30th year include a 30 mile run at least once a month for a year, running at least a mile every day for the year, finishing Atlas Shrugged in a year (for me, much more difficult than an ultra), reading 30 books in a year (would one of Glaven's posts count as a book? They're long enough, but much more interesting!), running 30 races in a year (not sure Ellie would approve), ... and some other ideas not worth mentioning due to the ridicule I would receive.
• Wishing I could be at the North Face Endurance Championship in San Francisco (Loaded Field!!)
• Looking forward to the annual Family Ski Trip (I've only missed one trip in the last 10 years) to Winter Park, CO.
• Eating some more

So there you have it, my monthly update. I hear Eddy stirring...so it's time for me to sign off. Have a great Thanksgiving!