Coming back from a vacation can always be a bit of a rough adjustment. Previously, I’d wrap four days off around a weekend to create six days off between two three-day weeks, which seemed to help, but last week I went for the full week off, which made coming back this week a little rough. Throw in a couple of company events on Thursday and it really left the week feeling longer than usual.
This weekend we closed out Session I for the 2011 indoor soccer season with an 8-5 loss to Zoly. Zoly is one of the best teams in the division, and our losing to them, while perhaps not unexpected, by only three points was a demonstration of how far we’ve come as a team. We had a couple of good subs, and I’d love to see them join the team full-time. We’re one or two really good players away from being able to start winning games. Despite barely running at all these days, my soccer game has gotten better; I’m getting a bit faster and I can play a bit smarter. I just need to work on my speed, my endurance, and my ability to actually possess the ball. Being able to successfully take a shot on goal would be nice too.
I’ve surrendered in the war with Sam to keep my Christmas tree looking even mildly presentable. See below, when the tree was first finished:
Now, the tree is largely bare from the bottom up to about 2 feet off the ground, and a growing collection of reclaimed ornaments adorns a nearby shelf. Sam has yet to figure out how to pull down the garland or knock my Crayola ornaments around, though, so at least there’s that.
Almost all of my Christmas presents have arrived at this point; I’m waiting on two final things to show up later this week, and then I’ll be ready to wrap them on Saturday. Because of my cat’s taste for chewing on boxes, presents don’t get wrapped until the night of the 24th, but I’m looking forward to it.
Finally, a few days ago, a little something showed up in the mail.
I didn’t open it up until this morning, but this is a suggested training plan for the 2012 Fifth Third Riverbank Run. I had done the 10K last year and concluded shortly after that I wanted to do the 25K (and get my medal) this year, but I have to admit I hadn’t really given training for this much thought until I got this in the mail. I knew I was going to need to start running again soon, and I’d need to try and avoid pushing myself too fast, too soon and getting injured again, but I really had no idea how I was going to go about it. This, I’m hoping, should help. I’m just going to start on the square for December 19 tomorrow and see where things go from there. I’m getting excited to run the River Bank Run, and I already can’t wait for next summer and the opportunity to go for early-morning runs outdoors before work.
Anybody have any Christmas shopping left to do? What’s the one thing you want most for Christmas this year?
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