Decembering

I've found that winter running usually involves two basic types of running for me; Treadmill running/Running on Roads. Both are better than the alternative (No Running). Both of these types are not my particular ideal methods for running.

I usually run on the roads only when I have to, I love trails, paths, woods, anything that's not just pavement. Off-road surface has been helpful in terms of easing the pounding that running does to my legs. I'll take any chance to ease that pounding since I've had to deal with shin-splints and near stress-fractures in my shins in the past. Plain Road-running is a seasonal thing since I only have to do it in the wintertime.

Treadmill running is just boring, plus I don't even own one so I usually have to borrow a friends or try to find a gym if I need to use one. Treadmill running is sometimes decent if I have a T.V. in front of me. Last week I got to see the Celtics kick the 76ers butts during a casual 8 miler on Sonya's treadmill. But I'm not happy with the Celtics now, losing to Garden State (one of the worst teams in the NBA) is pathetic, and the Lakers game... well I'm gonna put it this way: Celtics 1, LA's Referee's 1,000,000. So LA, do you have a football team doing well? Hockey team? NO. I can't wait till the Lakers come to Boston in February.

Something cool though:
Usain Bolt (Olympic Champion, World record holder in 100,200, 4x1) went to a Celtics game at the TDBank North Garden last week. Apparently he's a big fan.
pic of KG and Bolt:
Man, if I were KG I'd be asking for Bolt's autograph! That's a lot of Awesomeness in one picture.

Anyways, I had a chance to get away from the roads/treadmill yesterday. I went to run a workout at the Brandeis track. This time we didn't have a large crowd; just me and Marc Boutin (from Westford, MA). Marc and I warmed up 20 minutes, then John had us run 7x400,2x200 with 2 minutes rest in between. We ran a pretty solid workout and cooled down 20 minutes.
Overall it felt good, I hadn't worked out in a week since I had been weak from being sick but I felt comfortable running the workout.

Today, I ran about 8.5 miles on the roads. Did this big loop from my house to Brookline and West Roxbury to home. As I was crawling further away from home I kept thinking that I should turn around and head back. I make this mistake a lot when I run at home. If I do turn around and head back, I usually come back and find that I haven't run far enough according to my watch. I don't know why this is. Maybe I'm not used to running a lot of miles from my house? Over the summer, I usually drive 2 miles to Cold Springs Park and do a lot of convenient runs from there, rarely did I run from my house. Well, Today, I kept going, ignoring my watch and made up a loop that ended up being about 8.5 miles. It worked out well, I was pretty content with the distance.

No choice for now, but to continue Decembering. Staying at home, seeing friends, running a ton. I was pretty content with my grades for the fall, could have done better in one class.. but for now I'm gonna relax and enjoy the break and winter running. I might start doubling next week.
Go Pats!