I kicked the blankets on the floor

So I am pretty confident I will sign up for a 100 mile this year. Most likely it will be Kettle as it is local and a bunch of friends are doing it. I have not quite settled for the "just finish" or "run w/ a friend" deal yet. I mean I want to say that and probably need to, but as that famous line says, "Forget it Jake...it's Chinatown." The thought of doing some great big circle training run from home sounds interesting. Take cash. Buy drinks along the way. Blow down a couple hot dogs at Speedway. Go real easy...like 4-5 mph pace. Be out there for hours. I'm going to dig into that. I'll have to find cool people to do it with. Someone who can take a two minute story and drag it out for 30 minutes with multiple side bars. I have a few friends in this league. It might be fun to investigate. It would be a combo of parks, trails, streets, etc. Make it one giant adventure with a few surprise elements. No...nothing with cheese in it, that's too obvious and besides Grabowski went the cheese route and I couldn't even listen to the story.

54 40' or fight

Well...time to stop whining and lace the shoes back up. I guess it is common to hope for a full recovery before resuming training, but that isn't happening. Angela invited me to the Funk road group run for Saturday and I went out. Hoping to get in an hour I almost got to 2 hours. Knee was a bit tender afterwards and I assumed I would shack up for a few days. Skip that I went out for a 1:15 jaunt today and made it happen. The dang ball game is on and it's time to go long. Mallach mentioned "the stick" worked for Brian's IT so I grabbed a scrub brush handle out of the garage and made that "my stick." It did seem to have a positive affect and I think I will work the spot over again tonight. Deb said something that just rang true. "I encourage people to try and get outside everyday and put in some type of activity." The biggest problem with being a one trick pony is just that. When sidelined one does not fill the idle time with anything else. I believe I am ready to do that if for nothing else because I weighed in a 185.5 this morning. Starting to resemble Gary Coleman. Not sure that's true, but it is the first name that popped into my head and I'm too lazy to go back and think of something more apropo. I am reticent to continue rambling on about my training, or what should work best for me. The decision has been made to get out every day and put in some good old fashion miles. Just ramble through neighborhoods, run up snow covered hills, and meet up with friends who basically discovered the true meaning of Christmas before I did. Not sure why I always end up running more in the Winter, but perhaps it is because the adventure meter is high. When I was a little kid, my brother and I waited for hours at Gram's just to have someone bluster in out of the cold windy outdoors just to spin us the deer update. Uncle Jim this, Cousin Sherry that, Pink Ferd this. They were in the ball game. Ultra running isn't kind of like that it is exactly like that. That is the reason why some of you have heard me state the following when by standers asked what we are doing. "Can't you see we got the damn ball game on here."

...but the British kept a comin'

Glad to report I ran a half hour today with Dean and Andrea. First time out in 20 days. I cut it off there just to see how things feel tomorrow. My friends recommended that perhaps I should consider stretching or core training. Stretching just seems dumb, but the core thing might be something I need. I'm already twisted steel, but a little weight loss would be bodacious. Perhaps carrying less of me around would be better. So I did a few push-ups and sit-ups. I did the plank routine and a range of motion exercises for my knees. I then saw the wife's 8 pound dumb bells and did 3 easy routines. All this was super low reps because I hate being too sore the next day. I don't have a plan, but if I did it would be to do a little more everyday and also add other exercises. I am in workout Limbo. At one moment in time you have world shaker thoughts and at the other extreme you realize you just lucky to move around. If you have never been to workout Limbo this is where all your old workout buddies from HS and College have come to rest. When it just doesn't seem worth it any longer. You slowly start to conclude that the masses who now own the endurance sports have it right. I am slowly getting sucked into average...and eventually there is not a thing I will want to do about it.