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December recap: this is not a 2011 recap post

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Let's take a look at my December - and only  December - goals. December Goals Make sure to keep getting enough sleep and good food as training ramps back up.   Mostly check. Don't be afraid to ask for rest if you need it, but don't be a lazy bum. Check! Get the bike fit straightened out. Oops. Plan a mini-vacation for somewhere in the middle of IM training.  You'll appreciate it when it shows up. Our mini-vacation dollars are going instead to expanding our family.  That should be just as relaxing, right? Spend more time in the pool than any other month in 2011 (14+ miles). 24+ miles in the pool this month. I started out December feeling kind of gun-shy about getting back into a training schedule, and that shows in my goals.  I was pretty concerned that my feelings of burnout were going to get worse, not better, and that's a terrifying way to feel 6 months out from ironman.  I decided with my coach to push the official start of our training back a week so

Fairfax Four Miler: race report

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Over Thanksgiving, Amy and I came up with the NYE plans for the mafia.  We'd run the 4 miler - together, as friends, no racing just doing what we love, together - and our wives would stay home and cook us dinner.  It was, we decided over the third bottle  glass of wine, the best way for everyone to spend the evening. By the time the actual evening rolled around, we'd managed to drag both Allison and Emily into our evening, and without even a little bit of planning, showed up looking like this: Those sparkly hats say, "Happy New Year" and we managed to run at least .05 miles of the race before they blew away.  I warmed up by doing the following: having the worst run of my entire life the day before, swimming 10,060 yards earlier that afternoon with Emily, eating a bagel an hour before the race started, oh, and then forgetting to leave/leaving things in the car enough times to actually warm up the legs a bit.  The weather was brilliant, far better than the 28ยบ an

a year in races

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And it has been one hell of a year. I kicked off the year by running a 5K with my husband of almost 12 hours.  We ran it easy with a friend and a little kid singing the Super Mario Bros theme song. I didn't race again until I was pretty deep in half marathon training, when I was lucky enough to have Amy pace me to a 5K PR  that still stands: 24:15.  I was pretty cranky about this race, but not as cranky as I'd be a month later when my back spasmed and left me in bed for almost two weeks.  I showed up at the starting line at the National Half, and ended up having a day that looked nothing like what I hoped it would be.  I'm still proud of what I did that day . After that, I focused on healing for a while until I accidentally ran the 5K in Boston with my girls, then another 5K with another recovering-from-injury friend .  It's easy to see why I hope to not run this distance in 2012.  My next big race of the year came mid-May, when I crossed the finish line of my fir

a year in photos

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I enjoyed this post so much last year when I stole it from Liz that I've decided to do it again. January It happened a few minutes before January, but it was the big event of the month. February New bicycle comes home. March I break my back into a billion pieces . April I break in my new spring crotch bike seat with 30 days of cycling . May I graduate . Cross a finish line . And then relax in Jamaica . June   Puppies go swimming. July I climb a LOT of hills. August My form actually starts to improve . September I have the best - but not fastest - race of my life . October My girls come to visit . November The poet runs his first full while I blow up the half . December We decide to make our family even larger . So long, 2011, you were pretty fabulous...