An Unconventional Tree
Miles, Smiles and More.
December has been an incredibly busy month, and I’m not even talking about the 100+ miles I ran this month before Christmas. Just as the month got started, I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, a reality that has caused a cosmic shift in my life choices. You’ll hear more about that in subsequent publications and posts, but rest assured it has not slowed down my running. The biggest party I attended this month was my Run Club’s annual Christmas Social, where my friends presented me with very fitting and funny Christmas gifts. (Keep reading to learn more).
As a family we travelled to Key West, FL and held a small but important memorial for my father-in-law where we spread his ashes into the sea. I was able to run with the the United States Southernmost Run Club before returning back to NC and continuing north to celebrate Christmas in Virginia with my wife’s sister and her husband visiting from Australia.
With only five days left of 2024, I’ll be spending the next few days reflecting on this past year before putting it behind me and going headfirst into 2025. A year of significant life changes that will tax my emotions and fortitude. Yet, through it all, I will remain steadfast and committed to my running, especially my goal of qualifying for Boston.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of you! Thank you for continuing to read The Long Run and follow my journey in life. I hope you find it amusing, insightful, provoking and a little inspirational and motivational to get on your own fitness journey so that you too may stay active for The Long Run of life.
Replacement Socks from Irreplaceable Friends
I should have known something was up when my wife told me she wanted to go to the Run Club Christmas social. This struck is me as odd because she’s never been to the previous events and generally avoids people and parties. So when she was persistent in her desires to attend this year I should have known something was up.
Why are runners so open to sharing “poop” stories? Or maybe it’s just me.
Whatever the case, it’s clear that I’ve shared possibly one too many stories about how I’ve lost my socks on a run! If you’ve read any of my previous publications, especially during my Marathon build, than you’ve read about those moments where a bowel movement has nearly gotten me banned from multiple states.
After completing the Raffle announcements, my friends presented me with a basket full of gifts and a Christmas Tree (see above) made up of toilet paper. The gift basket included Dude Wipes, multiple pairs of socks, new shorts, a shirt, a Christmas sweater and my own “Positive Poop” and to top it all off a book about never trusting a fart and my own journal to keep track of “Places I’ve Pooped”.
As wild as these gifts are, each of them are more than fitting and applicable to my running lifestyle. Truly, these are gifts that will be put to use!
Thank You!
These gift ideas were spearheaded by my close friend Robert, who just weeks earlier called my wife at work to ask what size shorts, shirt and socks I wore. Of course my wife knew, this was why she was so adamant about attending the party!
Roberts a great friend and started a group chat with many others that all pitched in for these appropriately inappropriate gifts! I’m truly humbled and extremely appreciative of all the people who pitched in, donating their hard earned money and their time and effort to assemble such a gift. I’m truly a lucky man to have friends like this.
Thank you Robert, Chrissy, Carrie, Jan and Mike! I’ve ran with each of you on multiple occasions and had many great conversations during those runs. It’s been an absolute pleasure to see each of you improve your running by leaps and bounds and it was a privilege to get in a few miles with you during your training.
Robert has been my no.1 training partner in 2024 and throughout the last 5 years I’ve probably ran no less than 1,000 miles with Robert. In all those hours together, I think he’s heard almost every story about me losing my socks.
I’ve seen Chrissy conquer two World Majors with the Chicago Marathon and the New York City Marathon and was lucky enough to get in multiple training runs with her for those Majors. She’s hosted multiple club socials and has become a welcome face and club leader. I consider her a friend and her presence at the club is always welcomed. Thank you Chrissy for the gifts! I really do appreciate you and the gifts.
While I’ve only ran a handful of times with Carrie, I’ve seen her almost every week of this past year. I’ve seen her determination and discipline with her training and weight-loss journey and it’s been motivational! She’s stepped up to be a leader at our Tuesday runs, her pre-run group selfie pictures have become a staple and expectation now. Thank you Carrie for pitching in on the gifts. I really appreciate it and everything you do for the club!
I remember when Jan showed up to one of our weekly runs for the first time, she was very shy and appeared to be new to running. Over the years, I’ve gotten to know Jan more and more and we’ve even built up an annual rivalry at the January Java-Jog 5K. It’s a friendly competition, but always fun. I was there with her when she ran a sub 60-minute 10K for the first time, Robert was there too of course. I consider Jan a friend and it’s been a great to see the incredibly strong runner she’s become. We’ve ran the trails together, the road and the track. Thank you Jan!
At some point a runner realizes that they are in fact a “Runner”. Over the past year I’ve probably completed at least 50 runs with Mike and in that time I’ve seen his mind transform from simply “trying to run” to showing up and shrugging at a 6-miler with a sub 10min/pace. Now Mike is on the Marathon training build and I look forward to joining him on many of his training runs. Mike and I have ran on the track together, the wooded trails and the roads of Clayton. I consider him a friend and someone who I look forward to running with weekly. Thank you Mike for the gifts! They will be put to use.
Racing and Running in December
The month kicked off with the annual Mill Chill 4-miler where our club shows up in perpetual hope of winning it all. Our women’s team took 2nd Place for the second year in a row and our men’s team took 7th Place! The club as a whole won the “Largest Club” award for having 50+ registered runners for the race.
I showed up to this event with no intention of racing, but rather get in an easy 4-mile run while capture video of my friends racing. Dave and I arrived early and we got in 3 mile run before the race even started. Once the race started, I logged my 4-miles in an easy 36:51.
It was a great event under incredible conditions with incredible people. This annual event is one our runners look forward to every year to kick off December and close out the year strong. No doubt we’ll be back at it in 2025 looking to improve our standings!
Just one week after the Mill Chill 4-miler my family traveled to Key West, FL for a week of vacation and to hold a memorial for my late father-in-law Frank. This trip was more of a family obligation to fulfill the wishes of Frank, than it was a vacation to relax. However, as I was going to spend a week in Key West, I might as well get in as much running as possible since we didn’t have much else to do.
There’s something unique and special about exploring a new city or town in the early morning, especially on a run. It’s one of the things I love about running, the ability to explore on foot, it’s different than in a car or a motorcycle. It seems so much more personal and up close as you notice and pay attention to the environment around you. On Key West, the only thing up as early as me were the chickens, delivery drivers and the handful of other crazy runners up early getting in the miles.
My friend Tony who I run with here in North Carolina spends a decent amount of time in Key West and recommended I link up with the Southernmost Run Club. To my wife’s dismay, and yet not surprised, I linked up with the club on Tuesday and Thursday morning for a group run. As we say in Clayton Area Runners:
Running with friends is better.
That same sentiment is true even at the southernmost point of the United States. On Tuesday I met up with the club and one of their runners, Hillary was doing 2-miles of intervals, so I jumped in on that effort and got to help her in her training run. Following those 2 miles we met back up with the group and made the 2-mile return trip back to White Street Pier. It was great morning and it encouraged me so show back up on Thursday morning.
I ran every morning while in Key West and followed it up with a dip in our pool at the rental house. For a week it was running in paradise followed by time in the heated pool stretching and recovering. My last run in Key West was an incredible sunrise route that proved to be awe inspiring.
After a week in Key West covering 29.86 miles in total while running, we returned back to North Carolina just before Christmas.
Back in NC, I decided to set up an impromptu and last minute Christmas Scavenger Hunt Run for the club. I knew numbers would be low since it was last minute and many people were already traveling or committed to other endeavors, but I decided it would be a good time for anyone who was available and so off we went.
In teams of two or more, we traversed our small town in search for 10 items of Christmas decor and took a selfie with them. My team was Karmen, Carrie and myself and we covered an exact 5K to find 8 of the 10 items.
The next day my family and I drove to Williamsburg, VA to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning with my sister-in-law and her husband. We would be in Williamsburg for less than 24hrs. So when we were packing up the car, my wife was surprised I of course packed some running shoes in preparation of running.
However I didn’t run at all in Virginia, but I did get in sunrise walk on Christmas morning.
After my morning stroll and coffee we got around to opening gifts. My wife, knowing that running is part of my life and 2025 is a year of building to Boston, purchased me the COROS PACE PRO!
My first true running watch was the Pace 2 that I purchased two years ago for my first ever Marathon build, the City of Oaks Marathon that I completed in November 2023. This watch was a massive improvement over the Pace 2 with an AMOLED display and many other features.
One of which is customizing the watch face.
So far this month I’ve logged 113 miles with five days left to get some more in. All of these miles have been easy with the most of them being done solo. With less than a week left in 2024, my anticipation for the 2025 build process grows.
If you’ve read this far, thank you! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!
The Long Run publication continues in 2025 as I start my build to Boston!