Planning out 2010

Wow, the end of the season is almost here for me. It's a little later than usual, but it's almost over. I'm trying to plan out my 2010 season. Mark my words, it will end much earlier next year than it did this year! My spring semester in school will be a crazy one. I have 6 classes I am enrolled in. Plus I will be working weekends and volunteering in the gait analysis research lab. That means my spring racing schedule will be an easy one. The races will be on the short side. My summer clinical dates are June 7th-July 30th. So far this is what I am thinking about:

February
3x2 mile Trail Relay

March (all weather permitting)
Xterra Trail 5k - Syosset
Xterra Trail 5k - Bethpage

April
Xterra Trail 5k - Stony Brook

May
LI Festival of Races 10k

June
Great South Bay Tri

July
Montauk Open Water Swim Race
Montauk Sprint Triathlon

August
Amagansett Open Water Swim Race
West Point Triathlon (unless Wingman wants to go back to NH for the Timberman Sprint)

September
Patriot's Half Williamsburg, VA
Warrior Dash

October
Entenmann's 10k
Run for the Ridley (if it does not conflict with the new Army 10 Miler date)
Army 10 Miler

November/December
Blazing Trails 4 Autism (the race shirt is a hooded sweatshirt!!)
HoHoHo Holiday run?
Just keep it fun with easy races

I am still thinking about an Olympic distance tri for the end of July or August. Just haven't found it yet. Wingman and I plan on doing some riding with Wynn this summer as he prepares for his big race in September. I also need to commit to starting my swim training much earlier and be diligent about going. Lots to do and so little time.................

Sunday morning run

OK, first let me get this out of the way:

"I am a horrible person. I made the Wingman get up super early on his day

off two days in a row. And I did not make him a 'trial' birthday cake."

Now we got that out of the way, let's get onto the reason we got up early. We went down to Hecksher Park to do the "GLIRC December Trail Run." Wynn and Teresa had been asking me if I was going down. I was nervous about it because it would mean possibly losing study time. But I got in a lot of good studying on Saturday and Wingman helped me out Friday by being a patient for my ortho practical so I felt like I could take a few hours away from school work to run. Teresa was kind enough to offer to run with me as I plodded along.

The run was a point to point run from Hecksher Park to Vets Highway along the greenbelt trail. Wingman and I got to the park at the perfect time. The park guy was unlocking the bathrooms. Whoo hoo. What can I say, I enjoy the simple pleasures. I did a short warmup run and then went back to the parking field to meet up with Wynn and Teresa for the start. I wished Wingman luck on his run and off we went.

The first part of the run is through the park on the roads and then onto the trails. Thank goodness we had people to follow because we never would have found our way. The path to the trail was not easy to find if you are alone. Plus, once you are on it, good luck staying on it. When you have to cross some roadways, it's not easy to spot the next entrance. The funniest crossing is the one across Sunrise Highway. Holy cow, you have to run along the river on a narrow path and then cross under a bridge on steel grating while in a half squat. As you get closer to the end of this you have to squat deeper to get under a pipe. I told Teresa this was excellent preparation for the Warrior Dash that we are doing next September. We made our way into Connetquot Park and I kept saying "I think we're almost there." Not quite. I forget how long after we got into the park that Wynn came back to find us. He ran with us a bit, but we asked him to go ahead and get a ride back to Hecksher and come back and pick us up.

When we finally got close to the highway, you would have thought I had been wandering around in the desert. I was pointing wildly saying "Look, I can see cars. Over there - cars!!!" Wingman came out shortly after us. He found himself a running partner. I was thrilled that he had someone to run with. She was 70 years old and the finisher of 60 marathon/ultramarathons. She recently won her age group at the Marine Corp Marathon. Here's the best part - she only started running when she was 51!!! Amazing.

We all piled into a minivan to get a ride back to our cars. The driver was a little scary. The u-turn was almost on two wheels. Zoinks!! Obviously since I am sitting here writing this you know we made it back in one piece. We changed clothes and went on to the most important part of the run - the post run breakfast! The four of us went over to a diner and enjoyed a great breakfast. We chatted some more and later on Jen stopped by to join us.

It started raining while we were inside so we were lucky with the weather. It held out just long enough. A huge thanks to Wynn, Teresa and Jen for getting us out to run. And a bigger thanks to Teresa for running with me and helping to pass the time. We'll have to get out and run again soon.

And just in case you forgot:

"I am a horrible person. I made the Wingman get up super early on his day

off two days in a row. And I did not make him a 'trial' birthday cake."

I hope he has forgiven me by now. Don't tell him, but we have to get up early next Saturday for a 5K race.