Start of a New Year

Once again, I have not updated this in quite some time. My sincere apologies. Since my last, not-so-encouragingpost, a lot has changed. A year ended, a job began, a job ended, and many more changes. 2011 truly was an amazing year for Patsy and I. After our move across the country the time in the desert has flown by. I know that when I first started this blog I was going to limit it to just writing about running and my adventures therein. It has become more of a smorgasbord of updates and events and will likely continue in that fashion. I am more passionate about running as ever and plan on continuing to be but I have also realized an important lesson. Life needs balance to move forward. And running will always be an option but relationships are the things that are truly valuable. I am going to continue to train and plan on actually running some races this year but that is only if time and money permits. Races are becoming increasingly expensive and I have a hard time justifying spending the money on them. Enough on that.

As I mentioned, it is now 2012, and, once again, a lot has changed in the Carlson household. No, we didn’t move again…yet. Patsy just started her new job today as a primary therapist at an eating disorder facility and I am about to embark on a new adventure and might finally get that MA degree that I’ve been working on FOREVER! I know that it is tradition to create resolutions for the New Year but I have never been one for tradition. So no new years resolutions will be made except to continue to seek the Lord’s will with my life and follow His direction the best I can. I guess if there is one resolution it would be to update this blog more often.  

On the running side of things…I have been running…and falling…a lot. My legs are completely healed from the random bout of tendonitis that had me sidelined for latter part of 2011. For the last month or so I have been patiently logging 20-30 mile weeks and slowly building my fitness. I plan on continuing a slow build so as to prevent another injury-induced hiatus. I have updated a tentative race schedule on the side of this blog but as always, that is very tentative and really comes down to affording the race fees.

As I mentioned, I have fallen quite a bi as of late. I recently purchased the new Brooks Pure Grit shoes and love them. The only issue is, they are too “Gritty”. What I mean is, the traction they provide has caused me to stumble, bumble and face plant not just once, not twice, but three times in a week. That’s right, three times my knee, hands, and chest have met the ground with such force that I have only recently been rid of the scars of these events. One such bumble I blame on the rain and my stubbornness. I didn’t turn on my headlamp simply because I didn’t want to and quickly met the soggy ground with my knee. The other two instances were due to a simple laziness. I’m not going to blame the shoes or anything else except my own lackadaisical running stride. Falling does have its advantages. It wakes you up from any lull that you may be in, and it also causes more attention to be paid to stride. Thanks to these falls, I am currently enjoying a 2 week streak of no falling. *Knock-on-wood*

            In other news, I am planning on having a go at another road marathon in June. When I was in MN over Christmas Break, we traveled to Duluth, MN and I was reminded of how beautiful that area is. I am already thinking about an ultra up there but would also like to have a redeeming run at a road marathon and I think that Grandma’sMarathon would be an awesome opportunity for that. The logistics for such a run will be interesting to work out since I currently live over a thousand miles from Minnesota but it would be a good excuse to see the family again. I’ll keep this updated on that idea as well.

Well, battery is about to die! Happy New Year to all!

Jog on!