Jebus Help Me! and Calli's Comeback

It’s been a while since my last post, but there’s no sense posting when you have nothing of interest to post about. Which likely makes you wonder why I’m posting today, when still nothing noteworthy has taken place (in relation to running), and to that I answer: get over it/yourself (and yes, I know it’s not good policy to attack your readers…if you want to keep them, that is).

Anywho, I had a great Christmas (filled with relaxing, game playing, and movie watching) spent with family/friends, and though I skipped a couple of runs in order to do those things, it wasn’t a big loss in the scope of things. However, what is shaping up to be a big loss is my lack of LSD (long, slow distance); as I mentioned in a previous blog post, I’ve been running more miles on a daily basis (and at a slightly faster clip), but haven’t run anything over 15.5 miles (yes, less than half of the distance I’ll be racing) in five weeks—since my last 50k, in fact. Which scares the bejesus out of me, as it likely means I’m ill-prepared for my impending (January 8) trail 50k, which will assuredly hurt like hell. But I’ll try and have fun with it as best I can, and think/hope a good result will accompany that plan of attack (though I also realize that I like pushing the envelope, thus am confident my earlier sentiment, in regards to the race hurting, will remain truthful).

My legs are still feeling great, just shy of 146 miles in (this month)—the increased daily mileage, run at a faster clip, doesn’t seem to be affecting them adversely in the least bit. Speaking of legs, I’m sorry to report that Calli has been hobbled of late—the cold seems to be settling into her bones a little more easily as she ages (she is 10 now, after all). That having been said, I’ve been giving her a dosage of Aspirin each day, and it really seems to be doing her wonders ; the anti-inflammatory and pain-killer seems to be just what the doctor ordered, as she is once again running and playing like a pup (so cats in our backyard beware!).

And for those of you that haven’t yet seen it, some funniness:

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!"