Let's take a look into 2012

Wow, here it is a whole new year and I haven't even posted yet.  So how's the year shaping up so far?  Here's a few of the highlights.....

• The 50.53 miles I ran last week gave me a PR for the year :).
• Had a really crap long run on Saturday.  Started out feeling great and maybe I got a bit too over zealous with the pace (though it didn't feel so) but the wheels started coming off at mile 12 with some pretty icky stomach issues.  By mile 15 (at a much reduced pace since mile 12), I spent an enormous amount of time in a porta-potty at a ball park (aren't you glad I shared?), and after that my stomach wouldn't cooperate when I tried to run.  I pretty much walked the last 5 miles to my car.  If that isn't a confidence squasher two weeks before a marathon, I'm not sure what is!  And to add a few bonus points to this run: I began with beautiful, sunny, 45 degree weather yet it quickly turned into a crazy wind infested snowstorm for the last two miles.  I can't ever remember being so cold ever in my life as when I (finally) reached my car.  Yehaw!
• My daughter came home on NYE with the stomach flu (to get some sympathy from her momma :)) and thus proceeded to give it to everyone else in the house.  I never officially got this bug in the full-blown version as everyone else, but on Friday night my stomach was pretty queasy (night before above long run) so I'm hoping this was part of my long run debacle Saturday.
• This week I'm entering what should be officially the taper phase of my marathon training.  But I really have nothing to taper off of.  The beginning of this training cycle started off with a bang, but after I ran the Denver Rock and Roll Half, things just never came together solidly again.  That was October 6th I believe.  I've run one long run of 20 miles without stopping - and that was on my treadmill - about 7? 8? weeks ago.   BRING ON THE MARATHON, baby!!!!
• I've been under-trained before entering a marathon or two, but I always had a solid base behind me for them and have had no problems covering the distance.  I've never entered a marathon, like this one, having just endured 18 months of heel torture and every long run being a complete disaster.  
• I'm sure I'll live.
• If I don't die.
• I have a huge zit lining my jaw bone.  I'm 48.  Stress?  
• My daughter make me the lovely header on my blog after she saw the large crater on my jaw.  Priceless.
• I put the first half of my year's race calendar on my sidebar.  Typically, I'm not a plan-the-racing-year-ahead-of-time girl, but I applied for this little running gig from a local running store back in September and....I GOT IT!!  A requirement for me to be on this team is to run a boatload of races (mostly comped, thankfully).  The race schedule is a little top-loaded in the first half of the year - this is because my sole goal for the first 6 months or so of 2012 is to get stronger.  Racing will help with that (amongst other things I need to do).  There is no "A" race until at least June, then I'll assess where I am and if things are falling in place, I will race a fall marathon.  If not, then I'll just deal with that then.    I'm trying to learn not to rush this running thing.  One step at a time.  
• I'm not much of a football fan, but how 'bout them Broncos, huh?????
• After reading my good friends Happy Trails blog recently, I was intrigued by the book Steve was reading: Wheat Belly.  I don't have a wheat intolerance, but I do have some other issues (sinuses, weight, overall blah feeling some days) and heard wheat can be a contributor to these ailments so I picked it up.  The book gives some compelling reasons why wheat these days is a very, very bad thing and I'm deeply engrossed in it.  As a result,  I'm going to try to go "Gluten-light".  At this phase of experimentation, I'm not going to obsess if I eat something that may, or may not, be cross contaminated in the cooking process since I don't have problems consuming wheat, but I am definitely cutting out the hard core stuff like bread, pastas and the such (sorry, Jamoosh, no more beer for me for awhile!  I'll still take you to the Coors plant when you come visit though).  So far, I've enjoyed wearing out the test kitchen with Chex Mix cereal, and have made some pretty mean Chex Mix spicy chicken strips.  Since I really don't like to cook, this one item may be a daily staple in my household (wouldn't bother me).  My boys are already sick of them. :)  I'll keep you updated on how this little sans wheat project goes.

• My Heel.  I know you've all had many sleepless nights waiting to get an update on this sucker.  I can hardly believe it was exactly a year ago I couldn't even walk without cringing ....and today I'm running, running mind you!!!, virtually pain-free.  When I started running back in the summer, I still had a lot of pain but as each week passed, the pain lessened to the point where just the other day I thought to myself: I feel nothing.  No pain.  Nothing!  And I no longer go to PT - I gave that up in November, on my own accord....I think I was seeking more emotional support after the whole foot nightmare and it was ridiculous to pay that much $ for basically a few words of encouragement.  He is a great guy though and an excellent PT, I just no longer needed him.  Is that like the best news ever? Yes, yes,it is!!

That's about it for the yearly highlights thus far.  Next week I'll try to write a "Goals for Carlsbad" post ...  which will basically be rewording the above header in as many ways I can think of :).  But for now, I'll close this post with a few pictures I took on a run I did last week at a state park about a half hour south from me called Castlewood Canyon.  My son climbing son likes to do some rock climbing here and there are some excellent trails to run on so I dropped him and his friends off to do their climbing thing and I hit the trails for about 14 miles.  Was yet another horrible run, but the scenery was awesome....so it all balanced out :).  

I hope everyone's year is off to a great start!
Run strong, my friends!