(from an artist I like, Mike Mitchell http://sirmitchell.com/)

So, its been a while, but from what I remember Oscar the Grouch was probably my favorite Sesame Street character. Apparently, I was pretty fond of BigBird as well. My grandma likes to tell stories of me going "apeshit," as she put it, for BigBird at a Sesame Street Live show when I was 5. "He just went crazy when BigBird came out, I'd never seen him act like that before" she says. Any way, I still love Oscar and I wish I could find my Oscar the Grouch Halloween costume from my childhood. It had a little trashcan that you wore and everything, it was awesome. Other then our homemade Mr.T costume (which would probably be considered politically incorrect these days) that was probably the best one. I did keep on pittying the fools though, and will continue to do so.

I was kind of a chump a few weeks ago. Running on the treadmill and having strictly indoor workouts was making me grouchy and unmotivated. As a result I fell off the workout wagon for a bit, but I called myself out and got back at it. Last week was 6 days of workouts, and I felt great all 6 days. I did 32 miles of running in 4 days, 3 days of weights, and got some swimming and Pilates in there too. Not too shabby. Right now I'm building the mileage to be ready for some half marathons and trail-runs in the next couple of months. The main focus is base and strength building, so lots of low heart rate cardio with a combo of weights/TRX/and plyo. I'm trying to keep my body weight up too. I feel like I lose to much power when I drop under 173lbs. Its going to be some trial and error with finding a race weight. I'm going to try and keep up over 175, but thats going to take a LOT of calories.

The short break I unintentionally gave myself was good though. I felt amazing last week and I performed better than I had been all across the board. I lifted better, ran better, and had more energy. Friday also turned out to be a beautiful, fairly warm sunny day, and the best run I've had since I've been here. Ten miles of good work through a nice, beautiful, hilly area. I finished the last 3 miles strong and felt amazing afterwards.

Not wanting to use the weather as an excuse anymore I decided to invest in some running tights (Nike dryfit, very comfy, super awesome), and I'm not gonna lie...I love them. I suppose I'm one of those guys now, the guys that run outdoors in tights. I think that means I'm serious now. But I decided to embrace them as I did the super short warrior shorts, which I donned of my long run Friday by the way. You gotta own it, and my girlfriend seems to like em'. They are seriously comfortable to run in, and it makes the 30 degree temps much more bearable.

Well, I hope everyone has a great Christmas. Don't let the holidays be your excuse not to do something. Instead, make it a family and friends affair. I know there would probably be some flag football going on if I was back in Austin. Maybe there will be some snowboarding here instead.

Merry Christmas

ff