December HO!

'Twas a lovely month involving the conclusion of classes, and Santa's reign of toys. This is a bit irrelevant now, but the Scared of Santa website offers a wonderful collection of children shrieking with fear while visiting Santa.

I was also inspired by Jewbacca, who taught me about Jewish traditions while he rang in a rocking Chanukah.

What follows is a summary of my running, though I confess to forgetting most of the details. I have also recorded memorable events and occassions, as always.

1-Dec
70 min
2-Dec
21.5 min warmup.
30:53 6 mi tempo run (5:09 pace).
13:40 2 mile cooldown.

This was a quality workout. Went up to the Green in Philly with Thomas P. I ran evenly the first 4 miles, but slowed down a lot on 5th and likely the 6th.

3-Dec

I think I missed today; I have no record of running. It may have been the day I helped Stacy take her car very early to the mechanic and thus called it a day.

We went to see Harry Potter that night which, dare I say, was magical! Goblet of Fire is quite possibly my favorite of the Potter book series, so I had monumental expectations. The film necessarily had to eliminate much of the character development and plot complications of the original novel. Silly muggles! On a side note, I read that JK Rowling has been obsessed with death since the passing of her own mother, and this is one reason she keeps snuffing out her characters. Oh, and by the way, I think that "snog" is a brilliant substitute word for kiss. Way to go, you saucy British wordsmiths!

4-Dec
1 hour 43 min, Patapsco Park, with JB. It snowed lightly last night, but the run was acceptable.
5-Dec
57 min. Tonight it snowed again, with authority.
6-Dec
14 min warmup.
38:48 total workout around Ardmore Park (which is a little over 1 mile (maybe 10 seconds). 6 X mile with around 90 seconds rest: (5:20, 88r, 5:08, 94r, 5:10, 90r, 5:09, 91r, 5:12, 91r, 5:08). In retrospect, this was a decent workout, given the snow, bitter cold, wind, and trainers that I wore. I didn't feel like working out today.
10 min cooldown.
33 min later in the day.
7-Dec
67 min.
Party, pizza party. GA's had a radical pizza party, straight out of 3rd grade. The bu$ine$$ office went a little cheap, as last year we had a nice meal at the conference center for our holiday party. Makes no diff to me, however.
8-Dec
63 min
9-Dec
15 min warmup
32:56:00 tempo run around the park, in trainers, on the roads, in the cold and wind and snow. 6 loops, so a little over 6 miles. Not the most extremely awesome workout ever, but at least I did one.
10 min cooldown.
10-Dec
1 hr icy run.
11-Dec
92.5 min long run, around Philly. Snow still on the ground, had to slog through the roads.
12-Dec

Must have skipped today, as I have no record of running. I know that I did turn in a 50-page research paper for my developing countries class, so that project likely sapped my time and energy. I did a bang-up job on the paper, which investigated whether Disney should open up a theme park in India... my verdict: yes, but not for 10 years and only if there is favorable infrastructure and economic development. India will be the most populous country in the world in the next 30 years, and multi-national companies better take the country into account for their long-range plans. China's economy is forecasted to overtake the US, and India is forecasted to become the 3rd largest economy. This could of course change, but the times appear to be a-changin'.
13-Dec
1 hr
14-Dec
11 min. warmup.
22:14 tempo run. I think it was cold, and I had a finance final due, and I just got in something around the Ardmore park road loop.
11.5 min cooldown.
15-Dec
61 min. Freezing rain today; what a delight.
16-Dec
15 min warmup.
32 min total workout of 6X1k: (2:56, 2:57, 2:58, 2:56, 2:58, 2:56; rest 2:30-3 (200m jog)
15 min cooldown.

Windy today, and I was drained from a long week. Still, I was glad to get in some work faster than 5 min pace.
17-Dec
74.5 min. Tried to go shopping today, but didn't accomplish much. Did get a few hairs shortened on my scalp, however. Also went to see Pride and Prejudice. Not bad... for a chick flick.
18-Dec
88 min. Patapsco park. Although snow had melted elsewhere, a great deal of the white stuff still clogged the trails. At times, the run felt like skiing. Definitely too much ice for a comfortable run, but I was happy to survive.
19-Dec
71 min. Baltimore?
20-Dec

2-3 mi. warmup.
32 min, 6 mile tempo.
15 min cooldown. This workout must have been at NCR rail trail, in trainers. The ~18 mile drive out of town is generally worth it.
21-Dec
60.5 min.
22-Dec
14 min warmup.
24 min is written in my log, but I definitely did an interval workout today. Oh well, probably a totally awesome, world-record setting performance that will now be lost for the ages.
24.5 min extended cooldown.

I believe it was tonight that I took part in the "Santa Run" with some Bryn Mawr runner people. Basically 20-30 runners dressed up as Santa Claus and ran to 10 different bars within a 5 mile course. This was quite a rowdy and I confess, a hilarious evening. The Santa horde ruled the night!
23-Dec
63 min. Not feeling too chipper today. Did some Christmas shopping, which was chaos and madness. I think I did all right, however.
24-Dec
79 min, around Haverford. Headed up to EB, the land of Stacy and Wangs. We had a very nice meal, and later Stacy and I went to church. We showed up to church at 11pm, only to find that the service started at 10:00pm. Not to be thwarted so easily, we found another church down the road. This Methodist church was a good find, as they gave out Jesus "birthday cake" after the service, and had a rock and roll band. It reminded me of an SNL parody of contemporary church services, but I didn't mind. Go God!

25-Dec
0 miles. Merry Christmas, no run. After presents in NJ, I kidnapped Stacy back to my parents' home in PA, where we enjoyed more holiday fiestas! I consumed an absurd amount of cookies and enjoyed chasing the cats around. My dad displayed the pool construction again, which is coming along nicely. We watched Elf that evening, now one of my favorite movies. "You're an angry elf!"--Buddy
26-Dec
0 miles. I intended to run today, but a visit to the "Book Barn" ran late into the day and I rested. My achilles has been sore, in any event.
27-Dec
66 min. A relaxed run around the trails (though they are wet, and some stream crossings were nigh on impossible. At one point I acrobatically leaped across a series of rocks, but wouldn't dare press my luck on the way back.)
28-Dec

I worked out today near my parents' house, along Warwick Furnace road, in trainers. This is a rolling, 2 mile stretch that is about as flat as I can find around here. Though I originally thought of doing an 8 mile tempo, all I could muster was 2 X 4 miles. This was still a good and long strength-building workout.
9.5 min warmup.
22:14 for 4 miles
5 min rest .
22:45 for 4 miles.
8.5 min cooldown.
29-Dec
68 min recovery, hilly run.
30-Dec
17 min warmup. This run took me to County Park Road, one of the steepest roads man ever imagined and dared to pave. My car has difficulty ascending this beast, but I decided to perform a hill workout there. Don't believe me? Here is a map of the route, courtesty of google maps. Sadly, it was only about half a mile to the top, but it did climb almost 250 feet in that half a mile (358 feet to 603 feet above sea level). I believe that I did 2 X full hill, then 4 X half the hill, then 4 X short, steep hill sprints. I tried to run fast, but just continuing upwards was quite a challenge. The rests were long, as I had to descend back down, and the steepness made it hard to descend. I think my heart almost exploded. My legs hurt to much to sleep that night.
39:45 (3:25, 4:58 rest, 3:28, 4:26 rest, 1:30?, 2:00rest?, 1:28, 2:19rest, 1:28, 2:28r, 1:27, 2:23r, 45, 78r, 45, 85r, 45, 92r, 45, 55r).
17.5 min.

I took a nap later today, before going to King Kong with my parents. This movie was large and in-charge. I give it my blessing. Maybe a bit too much bestiality, though. And where is Kong's family?

I've been reading Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers this break, a 750-page novel that I determined to read after visiting the home where Dickens penned it in London. Pickwick is this rich old cat that strolls around England falling into trouble and getting crazy. It's very reminiscent of Don Quixote, and almost an "errant knight" tale like Spenser's Fairie Queene.
31-Dec
63 min around the trails. Oh, the hills didn't feel great today.

I picked up Stacy and headed to Baltimore, where we convened with Matt and Becky for New Year's Eve in the Inner Harbor. We dined at California Pizza Kitchen, watched others play games at ESPN zone, and ultimately ended up in a bar with live music and football, before stepping outside for impressive fireworks, silhoutted against a pirate-like ship. I scored an awesome "Happy New Year" hat. How many months can I wear it around and still be stylish? I'm guessing around 3-4.
Cheers to '06!