its weird what fatigue can do to a person. all day long at work today i was dying to run, nearly incoherent as i day-dreamed about lacing up the new asics 2120 (great shoe update btw). i must have stammered, "want to go running...right now...must run" no less than 8 times throughout the day. staring blankly off into the skyline, imaging what it would be like to hear my own pitter-patter cadence against the dirt of lake harriet's outer rim. some lucky sole (get it? lucky sole? ha!) is probably out there right now getting in a few miles, i'd think to myself.

fast forward to 10pm. still hadn't run. last minute shopping, haircut, crappy weather outside, and so forth. guess what? all i wanted to do was go to bed.

i FORCED myself out the door at 10:30pm (to the gym). i can't say it was easy but i was committed to the idea. what i really wanted to do at 10:30 was to sneak underneath the warm covers, bury my head in the pillow, and zzzz zzzzzz zzzz. i knew i would regret it.

4.25 miles in the books, right around 9:30 pace, 1.0 incline (mostly), nothing too crazy, but it felt good anyway. i should be able to hit 25 miles this week.

i'm starting to get that jumpy, crazy feeling you get when you take a day off (i didn't run on wednesday for various reasons, err...excuses).

finally, an embarrassing realization hit me as i was leaving the health club: my gym membership is about $53 per month = $636 per year. i really only use the gym for 5 months: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar = $265. they charge an additional ~$120 for you to re-join. therefore the total annual cost to quit, and rejoin for 5 months: $385 versus $636 for a whole year of dues. man am i stupid sometimes. i've been a member for several years, at least.

this is most likely my last update of '06; i'm having Christmas with my family here in MN and then meeting up with my gf in MI for 5 days, later next week. you can be sure i'm packing all kinds of running gear!! what a year, '06...the ups (Marathon #2 + more winter running), the downs (weightloss progress has completely stalled). i'm looking forward to a lot of growth in '07 though, a lot of growth. looking forward to reading about all of your growth too. see you then dudes! or until i update again! Merry Christmas to you and your families.