Odds and Ends

I know, I know. I have been noticeably absent over the past couple of months. So what has happened? Here are some incomplete thoughts:

• SF One Day was supposed to be my big race for the fall. A friend's wedding got in the way of that. Such is life. I wish there was a comparable race some time in the spring to make up for it. I'm still a bit bummed.
  
• The kids (wait, they're my age) over at trailruntimes.com featured a blog entry of mine as a winner of the "My First Ultra" contest. Read it here. It won me the most comfortable sweater of all time. I wear it 8 or 9 days a week. Thanks to Brett Rivers, et al in making that happen. Visit their site, read their race reports and meet them at a race. Likely before or after, since their are all fast!
  

• Cal football - Yes, football Saturdays make both race and long-run scheduling surprisingly difficult. Oh, well, at least it was worth it with the Bears living up to expectations this year. Oh wait, that's right. We only really good on paper. That helps. They must beat Stanford this weekend for this season to find a sweet ending, but I digress.

Best. Sports. Moment. (links to 45 sec. YouTube clip)

• I loaded up heavy on academics this fall to have a bit more time for job search in the spring. That's kept me busy. That edumacation thing is pretty important, you know? 16 credit hours is a lot though.
  
• Without any real races on the calendar, it's been hard to motivate myself to run much this fall. Been feeling both mentally and physically tired for a couple of months. It took me a while to realize that the lack of race goals may have contributed to that. I also need to get out more. I've fallen victim to running the same long run in Tilden over and over. Why? No idea. The Bay Area is trail heaven. I must be stupid for not having taken better advantage of that. Headlands this weekend. I'm making a change!
  
• With school, job search, etc. I have really fallen behind on reading blogs, the other HUGE source of inspiration. I am slowly catching up, so don't be offended if I comment on a race you did in September. :)
• I'm going to run Woodside and Rodeo Beach to finish the year out in style. And I cannot wait. See you all out there!!