Day 778 -- More Clearwater

I could have taken today off. Arguably, I should have taken today off. But I didn't.

Some time earlier this month, I hit a sure fire plan to make sure that in 2009, I will run more miles and more days than any of the three previous years of JogAmericaBlog. All I have to do is to make sure that each month, I run more miles and more days than all three of the previous corresponding months. That is, make sure that January, 2009, is my best January, that February, 2009, is my best February, etc. This allows for seasonal variation -- February is just not going to beat August -- and gives me a reasonable goal.

Well, sort of. Somehow, in 2007, I ran 25 days in January. I don't know how I did it. Only six days off in the whole month, in the middle of winter! And I found that this year, I had already taken six days off by Martin Luther King Junior Day. So, to make 25 days, I have to run the last 11 days of January.

I don't know if I can make it. Certainly, it's not a tragedy if I only run 24 or 23 days. It would be far worse to push myself to the point of injury, so I will be careful not to do that. Anyway, that goal was enough to get me out this morning to run 4 miles, gingerly.

Interestingly, I already have the mileage. In 2007, I ran 121.6 miles in January. (In 2008, I ran 121.3, in only 22 days.) But this year, I'm running so much more per day that I'm already over 130.

Well, we'll see if I can get out again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day.

[Photo from here.]