2007-01-01 - 12:44 p.m.

...a new old sport for the new year...

It's the beginning of another new year. Welcome, 2007! Vancouver welcomes you with another rainstorm...although I'm not complaining (yet) because yesterday was a nice winter day for this city - still cloud-covered, but mild and clear. And, I still love to watch the north shore mountains absorb every kind of weather that is thrown at them. It gives one a feeling of timelessness. It's the first time that I've lived near mountains, I don't think I'll ever get over looking at them.

New year's. I'm not really a very good long-term new year's resolution kind of person. I'm not sure why that is. I wonder if it's because I'm always hesitant about committing/resolving to do something over the course of one year. I think that I probably have several long-term goals in life --> longer than one year. Other goals are shorter-term - I see something and I think, "I'd like to do that" and then I do it.

Other than these cases, I'm rather cynical about my ability to follow through on a resolution, and so I'd rather not state them outright on January 1st. And so I think, let me try this a little bit now. Let me try it for a month and see how it goes. And if it's working, then let me shoot for the next month. I used to do this all the time when running - let me just get to that mailbox down the street, and then we'll see how it goes. Once I reach the mailbox, I'd think, okay, okay. To that telephone pole down there, and then we'll see it goes. I'm nervous about setting an arbitrary, unachievable goal once a year.

But I guess I can think about where I'd like to be in one year. In this case, most of my thoughts are very abstract, and not something that one can set as a goal. I'd like to be happy, fit, and more secure in my job, and with more local friends.

Yesterday K and I went for our third 'run' this week, which was rather successful. I'm rather weary of starting too quickly, because my knee injury complains. So we do 5-minute run/walk sessions until we are tired of doing it. The first day I stopped in the middle of the third run session. The 2nd day saw me through 3 1/2 5-minute runs. Yesterday my body felt good enough to do five, without any complaints from the knee.

It helps very much that K comes along with me, because the time goes by much more quickly when we can talk together. The only trouble is that our strides are so different - I don't imagine that we will be running 'together' very much longer. Here's where I really wish I had a buddy who went at my speed and had similar low ambitions ;-), but was determined enough to keep me going when my hectic life of teaching starts next week.

But my reason for wandering onto this topic is that K suggested that we enroll in a 10k run this Spring - April 15. It's gotten me thinking.. A goal like this might keep me going - but I'm concerned about injury. Running involves a lot of jarring motions. I do not have the dainty frame of someone who has been running all of their lives. I'm HEAVY. I like how running feels, but I'm concerned that I'll get wrapped up in pushing myself to this particular goal, and forget that I started doing this for fun.

But I've had a look at the 10k course that he suggested, and I could certainly WALK part of the 10k if I needed to. Maybe it would be a fun thing to do, and maybe it would be a fun goal to work towards as long as I keep this in perspective.

Alternatively, I've just found a 5k run scheduled for mid-June - this might be a cool alternative...hmmm, I'll keep thinking on this. In the meantime, I should probably invest in some more waterproof gear.