Christmas 2009

We had a very good Christmas this year. My wife and I have been very careful to not have our kids exposed to marketing geared toward spending money on whimsical and trendy products. While our eldest son does want things from Santa like every other kid, he does not compile a laundry list of must haves. Even when exposed to his cousins who own everything from the comical Snuggie sweater (for a seven year old) to Nintendo Wii's, he has yet to come to either my wife or I and ask for something because his cousins or friends have one. I have to commend my wife on raising both my son's to be very people oriented and not materialistic.

After a nearly a month long hangover from my November marathon run, I am finally getting back into the groove of running. I am on pace for running about 60 miles this month.

I am searching for meaningful running goals for calendar year 2010. One of them I am contemplating is to run 800 miles next year. Because disposable income will be scarce next year due to my wife attending a college an hour's commute each way, it may be a few months into 2010 before I know if I will be running any races next year.

My most important running considerations are to stay in shape, keep my weight down, and most importantly, regulate my high blood pressure. Running the races was fun this past year, but was not essential for my physical well-being.