Looooong overdue Reach the Beach race report

(I was originally going to post this in late September, to put it in context - the kitchen has been done since early October.)

Since my last update (September 10), a few things have happened, not the least of which is that we have made some significant progress on our complete kitchen remodel. The cabinets are in, the flooring is down, the walls are painted. All the new windows are in, the countertop is on (yesterday), the lights are in and functional. Still waiting for the stove and sink to get re-connected which will be huge (hopefully Friday). We've been doing dishes in the bathroom sink and grilling/picnicking/toaster ovening since the beginning of July. My wife's patience has been tremendous. She even let me have my way with the dining room wall, which was perfectly fine sheetrocked, but I got to cover it up with some huge (18" and 24" wide) pine boards from a local sawmill. I think it looks nice.

The running story is that I continued between 50-60 miles a week for two more weeks, then had to cool it a little last week, took a few easy days and a few days off, and resumed activities this Monday with a new focus...

The first week since my last update was getting ready for the Reach the Beach relay, which CMS 'mate JJ had invited me into only a couple weeks prior as a fill-in for an injured team member. The relay runs from Bretton Woods in the northwest corner of the White Mountain National Forest down to Hampton, NH on the southern coast. The distance has varied over the years, but this year's course was 203-ish miles. It's always around 200 miles.

Monday (the 11th) I did 5 miles with Nate Hausman from Gordon before lunch.

Tuesday I did 6 and a half miles in the morning and then 3 and a half at night in the dark with a headlamp and reflective vest to get ready for Reach the Beach - two of my three legs were in the dark.

Wednesday I ran down to Patton Park in the morning and met Abram KJ for a Cutler loop. I had planned to run home, but was feeling pretty gassed afterwards, so gladly accepted a ride home from him.

Thursday I did 6.6 on the roads in the morning at 7:11/mi. pace.

Friday I got the kids to school, then loaded up my gear and headed to Hampton. I met up with the team - Jim Johnson, Kevin Tilton, Matt Veiga (all of CMS); the legendary Josh Ferenc; Eric MacKnight and Shaun Donegan from metro-Saratoga, NY and a bunch of NH guys I didn't know - Andrew Huebner (who ran 2:17 last year), Andrew Drummond, Chris Dunn (a different one than I was expecting), Matt Garfield and Derrick Hamel.

We piled into the team minivans and headed north. I was in van 2 (runners 7-12) with Hamel, Huebner, Garfield, Dunn and Tilton. Kevin was also our driver for the majority of the 24 hours we were out there. We indulged in some pre-race chit-chat on the ride, grabbed lunch at Subway and got to Bretton Woods around 2:30 for our 3:30 start. I was nervous about how well I'd be able to run on only a few weeks of consistent training. I knew the projected expectation was 5:45/mi. for me, but I was really hoping to just run 6:00 pace, especially for my first leg, which was 8 miles in the dark.

Here's an early shot of all of us at Bretton Woods, before our 3:30 takeoff:

Matty V. started things off for us, running the first leg up and down Bretton Woods. There were only five teams starting at 3:30, all the other teams had gone off earlier in the day at half-hour intervals since 6:00 am. Teams were seeded based on their expected times and Jim had given us an ambitious goal of all sub-6:00 pace legs, with some significantly faster.

It was hard waiting around with all the normal pre-race nerves for such a long time: we got to Hampton at 10:30 in the morning, got to Bretton Woods at 2:30, the race started at 3:30 and I didn't run my first leg until 8:00 pm. It was cool to see our guys run so well and that just built up the excitement as I waited my turn. Matt came down the hill in the lead and we never gave it up. From the time JJ took the second handoff we just passed teams the whole rest of the way.

Those of us in Van 2 hung around for the first couple exchanges, then we drove ahead to exchange 6, where we (Hamel) would receive the baton (snap bracelet) from Ferenc. At the exchange, the sun was setting and we were getting ready to have to start wearing our night gear, which we would don from 6 pm to 7 am. Derrick ran a really strong first leg for us, keeping the momentum that the van 1 guys had generated while it was still light out. When Andy Huebner left on his first leg (#8), I knew my time was drawing near and the darkness was finally settling in.

My first leg started at the Madison Elementary School and ran 8 miles along Silver Lake, mostly on Rtes 113 to 41 before turning onto Ossipee Lake Road and ending at a Lutheran campground where I would hand to Chris Dunn (the younger - recent USM grad). I knew the pace had been hot for our boys most of the way, but I was really just looking to run 5:50's or something, so when my Garmin beeped in the dark and showed "5:19" for the first mile, I was a little scared, a little excited. I tried to stay relaxed and managed a 5:34 second mile. Mile 3 was a 5:39 and could sense the slowing trend, but I still had 5 miles to go. I passed one runner each of the first three miles and wouldn't see another soul until mile 6.

Mile 4 was a 5:50 and I had a gut check. I was still ahead of goal pace, but losing time each mile. The leg was mostly flat, but I didn't know what was ahead and I also had no sustained efforts of this length in any recent training...

Mile 5 was a little downhill and I managed to claw out a 5:42.

Mile 6 continued mostly downhill and that was a 5:43 and I felt safe.

Finished with two 5:44's, although I know I slowed quite a bit over the last quarter mile on the dirt roads before I handed to Chris. And I still really ran up on him (foreshadow) before handing off.

I was pretty delighted with a 45:19 for 8 miles based on the running I had been doing. Even in the two weeks since, the glow has faded, but at the time I was really feeling good about it.

I had my longest leg out of the way (my next two were 3.5 and 4.1 miles) and that was a relief. But the fun was just beginning...

We closed out our turn with Dunn and Tilton and then grabbed some food at the exchange (Kevin's elementary or middle school!) Then we drove ahead to exchange #18 where we hoped to catch a little rest before we got the baton back from van 1.

It was a little after 10:00 pm when we finished up, and we were expecting them around 1:30 am, but it took us a long time to drive the course down to the exchange zone. I think we got there at 11:30 or so, still giving us two hours of potential rest, but there was little if any actual sleep that took place, and I didn't have any of it. I stretched out on the grass a couple times and reclined in the front seat of the parked minivan, but the closest I came was a couple really good yawns.

At 1:20, van 1 came in, tired but psyched - they had been passing 50-60 runners per leg - and shortly after that Ferenc cruised in and handed to Derrick and we were off again.

Derrick, Andy H. and Matt G. all had tough second legs, in the dark, hilly, foggy and tired. Matt and I sort of bumped at the exchange as he came off his long leg and I tried to go hard for a short three and a half miles on no sleep at 3:30 in the morning. I cranked a 5:08 opening mile, and then didn't have a whole lot of gas for the next two, but they were ok (5:36, 5:38) based on everything. The last half-mile (my second leg was only three and a half miles) I was trying to pick it up and had a left turn off the main road, then a right onto this sidewalk that led into the exchange where Chris Dunn the younger was waiting. I had a nice little downhill and came soaring in and Chris wasn't quite moving fast enough and I basically ran right up his back. We both went down on the concrete, I was right on top of him and only scraped my knuckles, but I was so dazed by the whole thing I couldn't react very quickly to get off him. I found the crumpled baton underneath us and handed it to him. He had let out a noise of exasperation, frustration and some other stuff as he went down, but he got up with a bloodied knee and took off for his 8 mile leg!

At the next exchange I apologized and he said he forgave me, but that he had run angry the whole way. Can't say I blame him. I had quite the adrenaline boost myself from the whole ordeal, but it wasn't going to last until 8:30 when I would need to run again.

Kevin finished off our second turn in Brandon Newbould's backyard by Bear Brook State Forest just before sun-up and we all re-convened briefly (both vans) before Matty V. took us into the home stretch. We were psyched to be into the final 12 legs, but still had some ground to cover. Going back through some now four-month-old texts, I can see Jim's 7:23 am announcements that "Andy (Drummond) got the scalp" and "we are in first". With 8 runners left to run we had overtaken every team, some of which had started 10 hours before us. Granted, this is not an ultra-competitive event, it's more of a team-builder, but we were certainly taking advantage of the opportunity to do both (compete and team build).

Our van stopped at Dunkin's for some breakfast and I was grateful for the sausage egg and cheese and the coffee in preparation for my final four-mile leg. Derrick, who was running first for us, had a really short leg, so we had to leave him before he got the baton to make sure we had Andy H., our next runner in place to receive. Derrick absolutely crushed his final leg, and handed to Andy, who had a long stretch for his final effort. Things were getting a bit blurry at this point with the lack of sleep, hard running, adrenaline, caffeine, etc., but we were joined by a now-finished van #1 at each exchange and it was fun to have the always beaming Ferenc around before, during and after my final push. I got the baton from Matty G. in an otherwise quiet office park and took off, hoping to run my last 4.1 miles respectably. I was cruising at 5:40ish pace toward North Hampton until I hit a red light crossing route 1 and had to wait for 40 seconds to get going again. There was a safety official there, but he held me up until the light changed. Not that 40 seconds makes a huge difference over 203 miles, but it nonetheless killed my final leg and dropped my average pace to 5:50's. Plus, standing still for that long in the middle of my final leg made for a killer re-start when I could finally go again. I handed to Chris Dunn the younger, with no collision this time, and cooled down a mile or so while Ferenc drove our van ahead. I was feeling really good at this point, all things considered, happy to be done, but proud to have acquitted myself ok on a team that was far fitter than me.

Here's a picture from Andy D. of me finishing up my final leg:

Chris handed to Kevin and we all drove ahead to Hampton Beach to run it in with him. We were excited to see him striding up the sand toward us, and chased him in to the finish chute, as the announcer told an empty parking lot who the winners were. We congratulated each other and then all headed home to crash before the awards and after-party started. It felt a little funny to be competing so hard with noone around to see it, but it was a great time. Not sure if it will ever happen again, so I'm glad I got to be a part of it!

Overall, we ran 203 miles in 19:13:22.4, which means we would have broken 19:13 without my two delays (traffic and collision). We averaged right around 5:40/mi. the whole way and ended up among the fastest teams to ever complete the relay. (Hard to compare times because the course has varied over the years. However, there were a couple Bucknell alumni teams the first years that ran comparable times to ours. And I think another Tilton team that was close, too.) It would have been interesting to have another team nearby running a similar pace.

Here's the link to Andy Drummond's awesome video for anyone interested who hasn't seen it yet on facebook:

Team Cutters Reach the Beach 2017

And photo album.

End of the week/Racing Plans/Random Thought

The last two days (since I claimed spring was kind of here) it has been more seasonably normal and back in the 20's. The sun has been bright though, at least midday when I've gotten out, and it is noticeably stronger than it was during the super cold from a couple weeks ago. This leads me to my random thought:

(Yesterday on the run I was thinking about how strange it is that winter begins with the shortest day of the year and it also begins ten days before the end of the calendar year. I'm always thinking about the days getting longer during the winter months and trying to celebrate each minute of extra daylight, so I was dividing the year into other categories and I came up with this:

if you divide the year into 5 equal portions, you come up with 73 day intervals. If you centered the "first" interval around the shortest day and just for simplicity call that December 21, you'd have the shortest 20% of the year, which I'll call "the dark fifth", from November 15th - January 26th, which means that today is the last day of that interval. It gets a little trickier from there, but I decided that I would add the 37 days from Jan. 27 - March 4 and the 36 days from October 10 - November 14th and call these "the gray fifth". It's confusing because they're not continuous, but it's just a gray season before the dark season and a gray season after. "The bronze fifth" is March 5-April 9 and September 3 - October 9. Silver is April 10 - May 16 and July 29 - September 2. and, finally, the golden fifth runs from May 17 - July 28, centered around the (sometimes) longest day of the year, June 21.)

I ran eight miles in 57 minutes on the William Fairfield loop.

Today I did the Lord's Hill full snowman loop in reverse for 8 miles in 56 minutes.

I went over 200 miles for the year (just before JJ crests 300). The only month last year that I ran 200 miles was December, so I'm definitely staying ahead of where I was.

I'm also signed up for 5 races already, which is an unprecedented amount of foresight, and I'm hopeful I can make it to them all:

Bradford 5-mile and 6k; Sat., Feb. 10 - Heather and I are planning to run the husband/wife category for the first time since 2008, which ended a string of four years straight for us. We were first in '05 and '07 (we both ran our best times in '07). Since our last appearance their have been some really fast years (Mahoneys and Vassallos) and some years when we probably could have won. It will be fun to be back after ten years away.

Whitaker Woods Snowshoe 4-mile; Sat. Feb. 17 - this is the reschedule and should work out because I'll have some freedom to travel while Heather and the kids take to NJ for school vacation.

Half at the Hamptons; Sun. Mar. 4 - Heather and I signed up with five friends in support of our friend Amber's debut at the distance. I'm secretly hoping I might have to make Derrick Hamel work to run sub-1:15 for the win.

Merrimack River 10-mile Trail Race; Sat. Apr. 14 - I've only run this once before in 2015, post-Caumsett, in 1:04:58. I've been looking at the Master's records and particularly wondering if I have a shot at the 41-year-old single age mark of 1:02:30 that Ethan Nedeau ran a few years back. It would require being faster than I was at age 38, but I was pretty banged up and discouraged at that point in the year. I was running a fair amount still, but something was definitely wrong.

Mount Washington Road Race; Sat. June 16 - I get to go back for the first time since 2015, when I had hoped for a 1:05 (some months before) and mustered a 1:20:15. Improving on that time will be the first order of business, followed by a sub-1:15 goal, which I hope might enable me to be a part of a competitive CMS Master's Team.

spring is kind of here

I know that three years ago on this date we hadn't even gotten our first blizzard yet, that kicked off a fairly epic stretch of winter weather, but it feels like winter is over. We had some early snow and then it got really cold, and it's been really mild lately.

Yesterday I was waiting and waiting for the temperature to rise before I went out, it was supposed to be in the fifties, but it seemed like we stuck around freezing way longer than forecast. Finally, at about 2:30, with 35 degrees on the thermometer, I headed out, hoping everything wasn't too icy. I had gone about a mile and went up this little hill and at the top it was a different season. It was real foggy and about 20 degrees warmer. I stayed in this pocket of warm air for the rest of the run, I think it was the warmer coastal air finally moving inland. When I got home it was fifty at my house.

Sunday at noon, with Heather's parents still toting all our kids around and the Patriots' game still a few hours off, Heather and I got out together on the roads for 6.7 in 51:46. I took her over to Lord's Hill and up the main climb as a part of my efforts to get her on some hilly terrain on the days she's not on the treadmill. We also jacked up the treader with some 3/4" pine to get it slightly uphill with the broken incline feature.

Monday I ran a slight variation on my eight mile loop, heading south instead of north on 97 and running a loop over by the beverly airport. 9.73 miles in 1:05:08.

Yesterday my run in the fog was 8.61 in 59:37.

Today, I met up with Alex Vlahos and Nate Hausman at the Gordon College track for some tempo miles. Alex was really excited (so was I) and Nate was nervous about the workout. We did two easy miles on the track and then set off on the first one. The goal was 3 x 5:48 or so and keep the recoveries short. The first one was right on, although the first lap was fast and the third was slow. I led and Alex was right on my heels the whole way, which was great incentive to keep moving. The recovery was a little long, but that was fine, and we headed into the second one. The first lap was quick again, but then we stayed consistent, for 5:44 second. The second recovery was long again, but this was a January outdoor track workout, so I wasn't feeling like we had to be too strict. The third we were running 84's for the first three laps and then we closed with an 81, for 5:33 on the last one. Did a couple mile cooldown on the roads and called it a (good) day.

Snowmantics

The rest of the week has gone well, with a chance to do a longer run with Heather today while her parents are in town, and an impromptu workout yesterday and a couple runs with friends.

Tuesday I met up with Nate Hausman and Alex Vlahos at the Gordon College track and we ran a seminary loop on the roads. This was a staple 6-miler for Nate and I when I was coaching at Gordon (2012-2015). From the parking lot where we met it was closer to seven miles.

Wednesday I ran out to Lord's Hill in Wenham again and ran the entire neighborhood which is the shape of a snowman. It was a little snowy on some of the roads, but the temp was above freezing, so the traction wasn't bad. The full snowman is a hilly 2-mile circuit that I made a strava segment and also plans for a workout some time later this winter.

Thursday I met Nate and Al again for the same run as Tuesday. The sidewalks still had a little snow left from Wednesday, so we were mostly in the road.

Friday I went back to Lord's Hill and cranked a 5:49 2nd mile during my warmup on the way over. I was running with music for the first time in a while and didn't realize how much I was pushing. I backed off the last three-quarters of a mile before I got to the neighborhood and then dropped it back down for the neighborhood loop which has a couple big up and downs. I ran both loops right around 12 minutes, with a 2 minute jog recovery in between. Then ran home quick for 10 miles in 62 minutes.

Today, Heather and I went out around noon, planning on a 10-mile loop together. It was warm, but we both still opted for tights because it was cloudy and windy. We added on for 11 at 7:20/mi.

53 miles so far in six days this week.

Half of January

With the coldest month of the winter half past, I've already been sick (for most of last week) and missed a couple days of running, so hopefully I'm good for the rest of the winter. We've been through some bitter cold and seem to be settling into a more normal weather pattern, with temps in the 20's-40's, which is also encouraging. We've had a decent amount of snow, but it's virtually all melted, so the roads and sidewalks are clear and the trails are close.

Personally, I seem to be capable of running 50-mile weeks fairly consistently without any apparent risk of compromising the torn meniscus in my left knee. If anything, my legs feel stronger and better able to compensate now that I have been running again consistently for a few months.

It's tough not having any definite races on the schedule (until Half at the Hamptons March 4), and little opportunity to find something available on short notice. I'm hoping we might be able to sneak up to the Bradford 5-Mile in a couple weeks if we can co-ordinate some childcare for the morning. My parents, who are almost always available to hang with the g-kids spend most weekends in the winter skiing.

The Whitaker Woods snowshoe race was postponed indefinitely with all the rain last weekend, so I'm waiting to see if the reschedule date will be something I can make.

Friday I did my almost 8-mile loop and expected to feel better than I did. 6:46 pace was a struggle and I felt like I definitely still was not recovered from the stomach bug.

Saturday, with no race I headed out for something. I almost didn't run at all I still felt so crummy. I went two miles and turned around to come back and call it a day. Then something in me decided to add a little on and before I knew it, I was heading out along the Wenham canal in a test of my endurance and toughness. I was running into the wind in the mud on the shady side of the water. I came through to the rail trail, which was clear except for a couple super-dicey sections that I basically had to walk. Got out to rte. 97 in Topsfield and ran up the big hill back toward Wenham and then headed home. Almost 10 miles in 7:14 pace.

Sunday afternoon (3 o'clock) I ran out to Lord's Hill and up. This week I ran the entire perimeter of the neighborhood and came back for about 7 miles.

Finished the week at 35 miles, which was a step back, but a necessary one. Only ran 3 miles the first 3 days of the week, so recovered ok. Just about every day was a struggle to get out.

Yesterday I finally felt ok again and did a loopy out and back 15k under 6:30/mi.

108.75 miles for the year through 15 days of the first month.

Feeling better

This stomach bug had me down from Monday - Wednesday, although I did manage a brief  3 mile tour of town yesterday. It was so nice out and I think it did me some good to get some fresh air and move my legs to remind myself that I'm a runner. We had one kid home from school last Thursday, two home Monday, three home Tuesday and two home yesterday, before they all went back today (except the baby).

It was fifty degrees at lunchtime today and I did the 8-mile loop through Wenham at 7:00/mi. and felt much better. With the continued warm and the rain forecast tomorrow and Saturday, there probably won't be much left of the foot-plus of snow we got last Thursday.

Still hoping to get out for some ok miles tomorrow, but not overdo it before the snowshoe race on Saturday. I'm guessing there will still be plenty of snow at Whitaker Woods, although it looks like it might be a rainy raceday.

Sunday and sick

Sunday afternoon or late morning I bundled up for what I anticipated would be my last run in super cold temps for a while. I ran the same route as Saturday, down to the end of Cedar Street and then up and around Lord's Hill. Sunday was a more sustained effort and I pushed the little climb and felt good. There is this beautiful view as you come off Burnham Street and onto the road that brings you back down the hill where you can see a long way (for around here at least). It made me appreciate the beauty around here, which seems more poignant when I'm barely peeping out of the hood of my jacket with almost no skin exposed.

I ended the week with 64 miles, which matches my highest week since April 2015. I mapped out my plans for this week, looking at getting to 60 miles again comfortably, with Whitaker Woods snowshoe race on tap for Saturday, but then I got sick yesterday and haven't run for two days.

3 more days of snow and cold

Thursday I was up early and there was a big storm coming, so I made some coffee and had breakfast with Heather then bundled up and headed out around town in the dark for a few miles while Heather got on the treadmill. A little over 5 miles at around 8:00/mi. Spent some good hours shovelling after that, and then, on a whim, I threw on my snowshoes and a headlamp after the kids were in bed and trudged around the snowy swamp for 20 minutes or so. I started out trying to run, but the snow was deep (12"+) and eventually it was more of a hands on knees slog. Then I swung back by the house and let Bear out on the fun.

Yesterday it was back to bitter cold, and I contemplated the treadmill, but ended up testing out the roads. They were pretty clear and snow even seemed to be melting in the late morning sun, despite the frigid temps. Mostly I stayed on the shoulder, but hopped onto the sidewalks in spots, where they had been plowed down to an inch or two. Even had a few consecutive sidewalk strides on beautiful pavement. I ran my eight mile Wenham loop in just under an hour.

Today it was 10 degrees by midday, which was warmer than the forecast high, and the sun was strong again, so I went out again. Just a little over 6 miles, including a good hill in a neighborhood I don't usually run in. Tomorrow is the last of the super cold days, then we may see forties a couple times later in the week. Looking forward to it!

Feeling like a real runner again

The week and the year are off to a great start: after three days I'm on pace for 4400 miles. Just got to maintain.

Monday it was really cold again, so I bundled up for an 8 mile loop into Hamilton just for some variety. My regular loop is mostly in Wenham. I discovered that the Wenham sidewalks are much better, but I was so tunnel vision with my hood up and paying careful attention to every footfall on the snow and ice that I missed my turn and ended up running an extra mile or so.

Yesterday was also right around zero in the morning, so I decided to go short twice. I did a little under 5 miles in the morning, staying mostly in the neighborhoods. At lunch, I met Alex at his office and we did our almost-six-mile loop at 7:40/mi. or so.

Today was the Great Warmup and I had an idea of doing a long run before we get another big snowfall tomorrow. I didn't get out when I had anticipated because Grace was home sick from school and Heather had to work at the church, so it was almost 11:30 when I left the house. It was in the mid-20's by then, which is the warmest it has been in over a week. The sun was shining and there wasn't much wind. I laced up my new Mizunos (Wave Riders) and headed out of the grove. I mapped out a route that would allow me to take another crack at Colton Gale's "Larch Row Bump" Strava CR about 2 miles into a 16-mile loop. I looked on the map a little more closely at where it was, since I had only a vague idea when I tried for it last week. It's a short enough segment that I had to hammer pretty hard and I worked too much to not get it last time.

I was right around 12:30 for the two-mile split, and then I roared up the Larch Row Bump with confidence. I ended up running it in 59 seconds, and the old mark was 65, so hopefully if Colton ever comes back to the North Shore he can give it another go. :) Then I tried to settle back in to the pace I had been running and carry on like it was no big deal. I was running barely above 6:00 pace and feeling ok, so I just kept letting it happen.

I was able to let my mind wander a little more than I have been lately - today was the first day that I didn't feel like I owed every driver a "thanks for not running me over" wave - but I was pretty focused just to keep the pace up. I was a little overdressed, probably because I had forgotten what sunny and 25 feels like, but I was working, too.

I headed down Larch Row into Hamilton where it becomes Essex St. and then Route 22 all the way into Essex. I hopped onto the Essex Turkey Trot course for a brief climb and then angled my way into Ipswich. There were some ok hills, and even through 12 miles I was keeping the pace at or just under 6. The last four were a bit more work, I slowed a little, but it was really good to test things out and feel depleted.

Did a little snowshoe training this afternoon with Grace and Emma to hopefully get them ready for the snowshoe shuffle in Wolfeboro in a couple weeks.

2017 recap/2018 goals

2017 shaped up to be a hopeful year and I'm grateful that I'm motivated to post a recap, which hasn't happened since 2014.

I didn't run a ton (913.63 miles), but that was up from even less (353.5) in 2016.

I had fun being a part of some team events at the Lynn Woods relay and Reach the Beach.

I raced a few times (actually 9 times, if you count each of my rtb legs as a separate race, or 7 if you count it all as one race).

There were some signs of improvement in the last months of the year, including two wins at the Chatham in the Fall 10k (35:49) and the Reindeer Run 5k in Beverly (16:42).

December was the first month since March 2015 that I reached 200 miles for the month (219.84). That's a trend I'd like to continue as I head into the frigid New Year.

My 'C' goal for mileage this year would be to get back to 2000 miles (or 2018 for 2018). And I would be pleased with a C based on the last three years. Some 'C' time goals are 27:59 for 5m and 34:59 for 10k, sub 1:17 half in March.

My 'B' goals are: 2500 miles (basically 200 miles per month, which seems sustainable now), low 16's for 5k, low 27's for 5 miles, sub-34 for 10k, sub 1:15 half in March.

I'll stay away from the A goals for now, since these are all still pretty ambitious.

I'm looking forward to finally making my snowshoe debut this winter, and then following up with some road and mountain races in the spring and summer.

And seeing those familiar, long-lost but not forgotten faces at races and continuing to take advantage of the chances I have to train and race with family and friends close to home.

Yeah!