Nice sunny day felt good to be running it did not feel the slightest bit cold.

2:31 PM 1/5/2009
4.7954 miles
30°F
Current:Clear
Wind: SW at 7 mph
Humidity: 43%

1. I would love to find a way to keep from being too busy to run, whether it is by running early in morning or what.
2. We have been on vacation during the Bix now for two years in a row. I miss that and the Eldridge Moonlight Chase.
3. I would like to do at two half marathons, probably the Quad Cities Distance Classic and the Quad Cities Marathon Half-Marathon.
4. I would like to get serious about improving some of my shabby times. I can't remember when I last got a real PR.

I'm not sure if setting goals is the greatest idea in the world, but here are my goals for 2009, as I continue my effort to run a race in all 102 counties in Illinois.
Coming in to 2009, I have run races in 27 counties, mostly in central and northeastern Illinois. My first goal for the new year is easy enough: I would like to add 13 new counties this year. I ran in 16 new counties last year, so 13 shouldn't be too difficult.

In February, I decided I would like to run a race in all 102 counties in Illinois. Up until that point, I had run races in 11 different counties. I have given myself 14 years to accomplish this goal. I had hoped to run races in at least 10 counties a year for the first four years, and at least five counties a year for the next ten.

So, my first goal for 2008 was to add at least ten counties to my county total. In that, 2008 was a huge success. I added 16 counties to my total and have now run races in 27 counties. Only 75 to go.

I got up Christmas morning and what did I see
Streets covered with ice glistening back at me
I had to get my training miles in... What would I do?
I grabbed some sheet metal screws and drilled them into each shoe!
I jumped up on my feet and walked onto the ice
No slipping, no tripping, Now isn't that nice!
I ran for an hour... I could have run all day
Even Mother Nature could not stand in my way
This idea was simple... even pristine
I got in an issue of Runner's World Magazine

DA

These last couple of weeks have been very difficult ones. The body has been willing but Mother Nature has not. In fact , she's been a real aggravation. Between extreme cold, high winds and lots of snow and ice, my training has really suffered. I didn't write last week because I was waiting for my anger to cool. Though I was able to run 11.5 miles on Sat. Dec.13th, on Sunday the 14th the winds were so exhausting I was only able to do 13.5 miles before I nearly collapsed. I needed to do 18-20.