Scab-eating and 2011 Scheduling

Well, my mileage was actually down last month, from 161.23 to 147.15 miles (you might recall I had hoped to eclipse 200 miles run for the month). But I felt a good many of those miles were quality ones (it helps that a large portion of those were from my 50k), so I won’t quibble too much. Thus far, December is looking quite good—I’ve been tallying at least 7 miles each run, and though I’ve not done any big mileage (yet—the plan is to change that this Saturday), my legs are still feeling limber and strong. I just signed up for what should be a pretty taxing trail ultra (another 50k) in early January (the Harbison 50k, on Saturday, January 8), so let’s hope the training remains strong (and the sweets-eating/alcohol-swilling is kept to a semi-reasonable level) throughout the holiday season.

With the addition of the Harbison 50k, my 2011 race schedule is starting to round into form pretty nicely--below is what it currently looks like, though I’m sure to add to it (March of Dimes Shamrock 5k, etc.) as the year progresses:

January 8: Harbison 50k
February 5: Critz Tybee Half Marathon
April 18: Boston Marathon
July 9: Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run (30 miles)—tentative, due to lottery
July 30: Burning River 100
November 6: ING New York City Marathon—tentative, due to lottery

2011 will apparently be filled with lots of miles, and body-willing, they’re going to be fast ones. More on my goals in a later installment.

For now, I’ll end with an interesting, yet distressing/disgusting story pertaining to Calli: the other night, I watched as my dog meticulously chewed a small (pencil eraser-sized) scab off of her buttocks. Using just her two front teeth, she carefully pulled small pieces of it off and ate them, shaking her head disgustedly each time. She did this perhaps five separate times. She now has a new scab where once the old one was. It appears to be healing nicely….

"I'm too angelic to be a scab-eater!"