As you get older you will see the significance of being able to run well as the years go by.
New Years are not a time of hardy partying to me, just a time of quiet introspection and reflection.
I just had a nice 3 days in Sakura, Chiba, Japan, former home of incredible Japanese running champions as Masako Chiba, Yuko Arimori, Hiromi Suzuki and Naoko Takahashi.
I had dinner on the night of the 30th with an American friend of mine and 2 time Olympic Trials Qualifier.
Had a nice run last night, about 10 miles with 10km on the "Naoko course" which is a fairly challenging 10km loop course designed for the building of Olympic Medal winners. It has 3 significant hills. I did some accelerations on the flat area through farmland and ran into Yukari Sahaku, who is about 4 foot 6 and about 80 pounds. She's running the Nagoya marathon this year.
Went to bed at 10pm, woke up at 5am to start the year off right, with a nice 16-miler on the same course. I wanted to greet the first sunlight of the year while running.
Here's the best wishes to all runners for injury-free running and new PR's in 2011!!!