Running into the New Year

My sister Melissa -- on a journey to become an Iron[wo]man -- told me that she was signed up to run a 5K on New Years Day in Chicago, and asked if I was interested in taking part in the event. Today, I signed up, too, so I'll be among a couple thousand crazies running on New Years morning.

Here's why we're all crazy:

The race will be held in Lincoln Park, which you hit at around Mile 6 or 7 during the Chicago Marathon. Part of the reason I thought this race sounded fun was because I haven't run in an organized event off less than 13.1 miles since high school. I'm looking forward to going all out for 3.1 miles and seeing how I do -- cold weather and all.

I'll be aiming to break 21 minutes, but we'll see what happens. I can break that no problem on an indoor track inside the comforts of a gym, or on a treadmill. We'll see if I can do it out in the cold with a few layers on. If I finish fast, I'm hoping to go find my sister and push her along to the finish to hopefully help her reach her time goal.

I have taken Monday and Tuesday off this week, so I'll hit the snow-covered sidewalks here again tomorrow. Last week, I met my goal of 21 miles in 3 runs, logging a nice 6-miler at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. It's been hard to steer completely clear of all the Christmas cookies between runs, though!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!