A New Month; Some New Challenges

Get it?

Looks like we are in our final month of December. I have to say that this has been a very challenging year for me both mentally, physically, and professionally. Hopefully, I can float on through to 2023.

2022km in 2022 Challenge:

As some might know, I’m still working through my 2022km in 2022 challenge, but I’m pretty sure that I will not complete all 2022km this year.

Honestly, I was hoping that I would have logged in more kilometers/miles during the month of November since I ran NYC Marathon and Norfolk Harbor Half Marathon, but the numbers don’t lie. Hey, at least when I do this challenge for 2023, I have to add only 1 more km. 😉 We gotta think positively.

One City Marathon:

At first, I was a bit nervous about registering for this one because of the transportation issue. Since it’s a point-to-point marathon, I was like how the hell are we going to retrieve our cars. However, a little birdie told me that you drive to a location near the finish, and the race organizers will have shuttles that will take runners to the start. Since I had a disastrous performance at this year’s NYC Marathon, I will wanna kick ass for this marathon. While I’m excited about this marathon, I’m a bit nervous because this will be my first non-NYC Marathon. Yes, running 26.2 miles is difficult, but sometimes I find race logistics overwhelming.

In terms of training, I pretty much will stick with the same plan that I used for NYC Marathon (see below). While I did not meet my goals for NYC Marathon (actually, I’m not sure that I really finalized a goal besides finishing), I admit that I did not really stick to the plan because life kind of got in the way. I have high hopes for my training. While most of my training will occur during the winter months, the winters in southeast Virginia are not as brutal as those in NYC. LOL. By mentioning the winters, I probably have jinxed myself, and Virginia will have the coldest winter ever.

Berlin Marathon: Sorry maybe next time

So I guess the odds were not in my favor because I received a nice little ‘thanks for signing up for our lottery, but . . .’ email. Hey, that sounds like a lot of emails I have received regarding my job search.

While Berlin will not happen for me in 2023, I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for Chicago’s lottery.

Hill Challenge:

While training for Newport News Marathon, I’m going to add another challenge to the list and call this one The Paint Mt. Trashmore Yellow & Green Challenge.

For this challenge, I would like to cover all of Mt Trashmore in one workout. Since Apple Watch represents running routes with a combination of green, yellow, and red, I want to ‘paint’ Mt. Trashmore with these colors. Hopefully, there will not be a lot of red in my final result. Over the weekend, I started this challenge as a baseline. For the baseline, I went up and down Mt. Trashmore 14 times in 30 minutes. Note: I had to alternate between walking & running. For example, cycle 1 – run up & down the ‘mountain’; cycle 2 – walk up & down the ‘mountain’; rinse and repeat. Speaking of rinsing, I wanted to see how many cycles I could complete in 45 minutes, but there was some rain during the workout, and I cut it short.

A little information about Mt. Trashmore

In the late 60’s early 70’s, the city converted a 640,000-ton pile of garbage into the nation’s first landfill park. An environmental wonder, Mount Trashmore Park also features many other eco-friendly amenities. 

The main mountain, ​Mount Trashmore, now 60 feet in height and 800 feet long, was created by compacting layers of solid waste and clean soil. Recognized for its environmental feat, this former landfill features a water-wise garden that boasts xeriscaping which requires minimal water.

Virgina Beach Department of Parks & Recreation (***)

Random info: This landmark holds a special place in my cold heart because ~90% of my high school cross country practices, and my school’s cross country invitationals were held here.

NYC One City Marathon 20223 Training Goals:

NYC One City Marathon 20223 Training Plan:

Image from Hal Higdon Training (Link ***)

Goals for the week:

-Check out another local group.

-Register for a December or January race or two. I’m a bit bummed that I missed out on registering for Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Christmas Town Dash 8K. How cool would it have been to run through an amusement theme park where I can ‘travel’ to various European countries (Germany, Ireland, England, Scotland, and Italy)?

Long Run Playlist: (N/A)

Questions of the Day:

-Since it looks like I do not have much luck with the Abbott marathon lotteries, do you have any recommendations for marathons held in October or November? You know, just in case I cannot enter Chicago’s marathon. Since I don’t wanna have NYC Marathon FOMO, I would like to register for a marathon that is held around the same time as NYC Marathon.

-Outside training for a half or a full marathon, what other fitness challenges have you attempted. It doesn’t matter if you have completed the challenge or not.

-If Christmas is your thing, what are you going to ask Santa to bring you? I’m gonna ask him ass for a damn job.

Social Media Plug:

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@smokinscientist (Twitter)

Kwame s (Strava)