No images today.  While they always add a bit of impact to these musings, sometimes words are all you need.  So here are two things that I have been pondering this weekend.

#1-  My wife and I spent some time out shopping Friday afternoon.  Usually we wait until the afternoon, to let the crowds go down a bit and in this case let people settle into the Husker game.  Still crowded out, but not insanely so.  Not really my point though.  Now I teach economics.  I get the power of markets and how they work.  Yet I am continually stunned by how much “stuff” is out there.  It almost made me nauseous.  The world of running gear is no different.  Shoes, clothing, technology, accessories, and more.  I have a large number of running shoes, more clothing than I know what to do with, and enough t-shirts to compete with those boxes they send to developing countries after a team loses the Super Bowl. So here is my Thanksgiving resolution:  To pare down my running “quiver”.  I don’t know what that means exactly, but if you see a dude with a bag of running clothing dropping off at a donation site, it might be me.

#2- I have now set my winter goal races.  Surf City Half-Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA and a 50k trail race in February.  So today I began my winter training cycle.  I always pick a race to train for and keep me motivated through those cold winter days.  So those two will be in my thoughts during 4:30am training runs the next few months.  But the main point of, um, this point is that I am restructuring my plans coming up.  I am doubling up on some stuff my brother is doing via Nate Jenkins over at Runners Connect.  Tough stuff, but good stuff.  My training paces are established by Jack Daniels in his incredible book (See below). While most folks probably find a lot of that stuff too sciency, there are a few pages in there that can really guide your training.  But here is the most important thing I have to say.  Sometimes you need to swallow your pride and try some new training plans.  It is tough to admit that you might need something new, but that might be the exact thing needed to push your racing to the next PR.