A Rollercoaster Month

When November first began, I thought that I’d get through the first two or three weeks like I did in October – lots of miles doing a little bit of everything. Well, that quickly changed with the birth of my son a few weeks earlier than expected.

Not that I’m complaining – the little man has been a bundle of joy, despite only sleeping in two or three hour chunks. As most new parents quickly realize, I can’t imagine life any other way now. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

November also was impacted by a crazy sickness that pretty much amounted to the second worst cold of my life – the worst coming about a year ago. That essentially led to a week of no workouts.

Somehow, though, I stayed determined to keep going and not let life’s happenings stop me from working out. I thought that if I could keep moving through these major events then nothing will stop me next time I’m training for something. In the end, I managed to not let November be the worst month of the year when it comes to working out. That in itself is an accomplishment. For November, I logged 30.2 running miles (more than April and September), 18 biking miles (the fifth best month), 15.6 walking miles (more than February and March) and 6.8 “other” miles (a tenth higher than the only other month with “other”).

As the calendar flips to December, I am pretty much approaching this month with the same attitude I carried through November. I plan to run, bike and hit the elliptical machine whenever I can. If the weather stays somewhat nice, I’d like to get at least one outside run in every week. My goals from a mileage standpoint will be to beat November. If I can the year like that, then I’ll be happy. It seems like only yesterday I was closing out 2007 on the lowest of lows, so I’m determined not to let this month be a repeat of last year.