Run 101, 2008

The run was to be 6 km.
The pace was to be 5:50 or better.
The place was…the arctic.
The weather was -20 C and there was a mini blizzard happening with snow.

The wind was re-arranging the environment, blasting down in shards of ice crystals cutting into my flesh, mixed with snow.

I got out there. I bit the wind. The wind chill was not going to let me win this one. I could barely breathe as I nosed my way into the wind. It was frostbite time. At the end of 1 km I decided to check my time and abort if I did not make it.

I checked the time.

The time was 6:47 for one kilometer.

I had had enough. I headed back home. So this is it. My last run of 2008 ended up being only 2 km. This year I met some of my goals and did not meet others.

I ran a marathon. I did not reach the 1000 mile mark. I did not lose all the weight I wanted. I did lose 5 pounds. I did not manage to run a sub hour 10 km, but I did run a sub thirty minute 5 km and I did it many times.

Next year will be my year. It will be the year I run 2 marathons. It will be the year I run a sub hour 10 km. It will be the year I lose 20 pounds. It will be the year I earn my blue belt in karate. That’s just a brown belt away from a black belt. Two ranks.

Did I mention that I suffer from a lack of confidence?