Thursday: Christmas Eve Run

I love that on holidays, my running group generally organizes a run. Today we met at 7:00 AM for a 6 mile run. We met at the gates of Percy Warner park and left from there. There was a huge group at the outset of the run, so I got to catch up with several people I had not seen in a long time. Also, the entire group ran the same route, which never happens. The whole group ran the first two miles at a relaxed pace, so there was a lot of chatting. For instance, I learned that Lanse had read Olive Kitteridge , which is a book that I asked for for Christmas. He gave it a great review.

I learned all about Sam's master's thesis, which will involve a comparison of how different Jewish authors (maybe women authors) define success. AND, very exciting, he is getting to go to NYU and learn Yiddish this summer. Have you ever heard anything so fascinating on your morning run?

Finally, I had a long talk about Garmin heart-rate monitor GPS systems with Chris and John. John has a 20% coupon that he will let me use if I want to buy my own. My heart rate monitor broke, and I have been bereft without it. I really would like to have something that tracks my mileage and keeps a record of my pace and lets me know which zone I am running in for the duration of my workouts. I feel that this is the Garmin Forerunner 310 XT. I think I would get a lot out of my workouts and be able to track them at a more in-depth level. Right now, my tracking is "I ran four miles today" or "I ran long today and went about 13 miles".

Now, as I was running with Chris and John, they were able to tell me that we ran the first two miles at a 7:58 pace, before stepping up to a 7:35ish pace for the last four. Such great information.

It made me realize that, as usual, I am the person that jumps out to run and tags along. I may be running 7 minute miles, I may be running 8 minute miles and I am totally dependent on someone else to tell me how far I have gone. I'm not really keeping track, I am just running. A little more Forrest Gump and a little less Prefontaine. The same with biking, I am just tooling along. Maybe a heart rate monitor would take me to the next level. Maybe, I would take a more scientific approach to my training and not just be along for the ride.

Anyway, I have to make this decision before January 4th, which is when John's coupon runs out. I could also just try to hang with John on runs, as he can drill it. Whenever I run with he and Chris, it seems that we are chatting about our children, and then suddenly it is an all out sprint to the finish with farther left to run than I can sprint.

After my run, I wrapped up my Christmas presents, put Ivan down for a nap (after he had colored my laptop with a ill-tended sharpie marker), and packed up to head out to my mom and dad's house. Every year, we have a dinner of shrimp gumbo on Christmas Eve. Some of our neighbors and my aunt and uncle were in attendance. It was such a great evening, which I finished up by visiting my friends Robin and Jeremy, who were staying at their parents house around the corner.

Such a lovely night!!!!!