Delightful December

December 2023 in review!

Total mileage for December: 289.1

Total mileage for 2023: 3619.7

• Nov. 27-Dec. 3: 69.0
• Dec. 4-10: 71.2
• Dec. 11-17: 66.3
• Dec. 18-24: 70.3
• Dec. 25-31: 58.1

#delightfuldecember at Sally's
birthday run

Last day of #delightfuldecember
but #davidisnotdelightful

Races:

• Dec. 16: Jack is Back 30k in 2:16:36 for 1st overall female, because I got a free entry. This was a state record for age 43 because the 30k is a rarely run distance. The race was on a gravel trail that ended up being more difficult than I expected due to lots of rain, and it was also not at all competitive, but it's always fun to win a race!

#delightfuldecember

More #delightfuldecember

And more #delightfuldecember

Workouts:

• Dec. 5: 8 x 0:45 hills to start a 6 week block of working on my biggest weakness, power. Pace is kind of meaningless on hills unless someone with premium Strava is running the workout with you, but I was pretty even across reps at 5:55-6:09 pace. Six minutes of hard running with breaks never felt so hard, at least since the last time I ran hill reps!
• Dec. 8: 3 mile net uphill effort in 7:37, 6:59, 7:01 / grade-adjusted pace of 6:48, 7:04, 6:39 (3 miles warm up, 3 miles cool down). I was pleasantly surprised with how good and strong this felt! I ran with Sally for most of it. The route climbed 337 ft in 3 miles. We ran it in the opposite direction to warm up, meaning it dropped 337 ft in those 3 miles and sometime I should run it that way for a confidence-boost, hah!
• Dec. 12: 8 x 1:00 hills, and I was again pretty even across reps at 6:17-6:29 actual pace. Strava GAP said to subtract 1:00-1:10 for grade-adjusted pace, which seems a bit generous, but reps were only 1:00 so maybe.
• Dec. 20: 3 mile net uphill effort (9 miles total) - I did my splits oddly so I could use the GAP from the Dec. 8 workout. We couldn't run the exact same course as Dec. 8 as planned, due to multiple emergency responders being on the road by our starting spot (a stolen truck being pulled from Springfield Lake was why, news story here). So, we started 0.25 up the road and went 0.25 farther at the end. The elevation total was probably almost exactly the same, but since no one who was on this run had premium Strava I split at 0.75, 1, 1, 0.25 to use the GAPs from Dec. 8. Hopefully that makes sense! Anyway, the paces (GAP) were 7:35 (6:46), 6:51 (6:56), 7:01 (6:39), 6:34 (?), making it a few seconds faster than Dec. 8. I ran this one solo, which I thought really made it a success since it's always easier for me to push when I'm with someone else.
• Dec. 26: 8 x 1:30 hills solo, so I have no GAPs but my actual paces were pretty even though "slow", which climbing about 80 feet in 90 seconds tends to do to you.
• Dec. 29: 3 mile net uphill effort (same course as Dec. 8) in 7:29, 6:53, 7:09 / grade-adjusted paces of 6:40, 6:58, 6:48 (11.2 miles total). I don't buy that mile 2 on this route is aided by 5 seconds, because though it has one steep decently long downhill, you can't use it for all it's worth without falling on your face. But I like the grade-adjustments for the first and third mile on this route so I suppose I am taking them all. This was about 3 seconds slower than Dec. 20 and 6 seconds faster than Dec. 8, so it seems I am pretty consistent with these efforts. I was solo on this one but will have company on this workout again in January!
• Favorite workout: I enjoyed the 3 mile net uphill effort enough to do it 3 times! ;-)

#delightfuldecember

    

Hills for breakfast

More hills for breakfast

Hills for breakfast again

This was another hills for breakfast
morning, but we were only delightful

Long Runs:

• Dec. 2: 16 miles (7:49) that felt pretty great!
• Dec. 9: 13 miles (8:17), which was part of two running buddies' wedding reception.
• Dec. 16: 19.9 miles, including the Jack is Back 30k (7:18).
• Dec. 22: 15.3 miles (8:23) in light rain.
• Dec. 30: 12.2 miles (8:15) before spectating Run for the Ranch.
• Favorite long run: Dec. 2 definitely felt the best!

Hearts for Jeff & Crystal's Running Reception

Running Highlights:

• Running group's annual Christmas lights run + soup supper was a huge success.

Christmas lights run

Life Highlights:

• It was a busy month, including a day trip to Baxter Springs, Sarah's PA school graduation party, work Christmas parties, Christmas as my parents' house, and Christmas at Jon's parents' house.

Route 66 in Baxter Springs

Part of my department of 18!

Major Christmas

Ibbetson Christmas

Books:

• Lone Wolf by Jodi Piccoult
• Congratulations, the Best is Over! by R. Eric Thomas
• The Girl from Guernica by Karen Robards
• Long Run to Glory: The Story of the Greatest Marathon in Olympic History and the Women Who Made It Happen by Stephen Lane
• The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell'Antonia
• The Girl With Seven Names: Escape from North Korea by Hyoneseo Lee
• Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
• Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
• The Search for Anna Fisher by Florence Fisher
• The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
• The New International Version Bible (I did the 2-year chronological reading plan)

Theme for the month:

• I think Delightful December, running group's photo theme, fits. I love our hills for breakfast photos though!