Goals, Nostalgia, Playlists, ...

Now is the time to begin planning your 2011 season. I am having all my athletes fill out a goal sheet for 2011 - I want to know what their "A" races are, what they feel their limiters are, their strengths are, their dream goals, ... We all know that when you write things down, they become that much more real. I have therefore filled out the same sheet that I send my athletes for myself. My big limiter is the fact that I don't swim. I am a decent swimmer and I rely on this, but I should really be swimming more consistently, and begin this in the winter months. It's too easy to wait again until it's necessary and then begin. I'm no longer taking the easy route. I want to switch it up so that my own routine feels different, new, awkward, and challenges me to reach - outside of what I have typically done over the last 20 years. Listen, if you have been doing the same thing every November, December, January, ... for the past bunch of years, it's time to make some changes because we are all in this to grow and move forward, right? I'm all about the present and future. I could care less what I have done in the past. Oh, and for those of you that feel your off season should go from October until January, again, this is my opinion and my blog, unless you are a pro who significantly could use the r&r, now's the time to focus on strength gains and maybe running base/speed. Yes, speed.

OK, enough of that. This past Sunday, I had to give a nutrition seminar in New Haven at Lululemon, so instead of running in Monroe, Ken and I met at our alma mater - Southern Ct State University. This is where I really began running, 22 years ago. I was Ken's RA at Neff Hall. I haven't been back to Southern in maybe 15 years and I could hardly recognize it. There are so many new buildings and the campus is really impressive - It's a real University now!

Ken and I met in the parking lot for Moore Field House. I suggested we run north towards West Rock and Hamden on Wintergreen Ave. I had vaguely forgotten my run routes around Southern - I knew that there were a few areas where the wrong left or right would leave you in a dangerous neighborhood (a baseball bat to the back and wrench thrown at me back in 90' while riding through one such neighborhood still remains in my memory). But as we headed north on Wintergreen, it all came rushing back. We made the left up towards West Rock, and then picked up the trails that circled lake wintergreen which is beautiful and the trails are covered with pine needles just as I remembered. Funny, 22 years ago when I began running these trails, I never gave thought to the fact that I'd still be running and competing 22 years later. I thought about this as Ken and I circled the lake twice. Back then, my dream was to race the Hawaii Ironman someday. I wanted to do the race just once in my lifetime. All these memories came flooding back. And all that we were doing is running, placing one foot in front of the other - something so simple that doesn't require much, yet has provided me with a ton. I don't know - the nostalgia on this day was quite cool. It didn't make me sad at all about the fact that 22 years have past and time has flown by, but rather made me smile at what the past 22 years have brought. This place was where I found my passion, decided on what I wanted my career to be, and most importantly, met Lisa.

I've been running a bunch lately and with that I've been adding more playlists to my ipod. Some of the stuff I've been listening to:

Foster The People - "Pumped Up Kicks" is a cool track.
The Temper Trap - "Fader" and "Sweet Disposition" are great tunes, in my opinion.
Linkin Park - "The Catalyst" - these guys are always solid.
Band Of Skulls - "Friends" - great song.
I also listen to a lot of Jay-Z, as well as some Keane, Paper Tongues, The XX, Civil Twighlight, to name a few.

Two final notes; I don't edit this "journal" since I want it more organic, so apologies if there happens to be anyone reading this who may find type-o's, bad grammar, boredom, ... More importantly; Congrats to Gus and Jen - Lisa and I are really thrilled for the two of you.

Cheers,

EH