Muddy shoes

Just another nice morning

My time here in Kaiserslautern, Germany, is coming to an end. On Wednesday I am going all the way up north to the North Sea to give my dad's ashes to the water where I will stay there for another four days before I finally bid my farewell to this country and go back to my family in New York. I sure am counting the days.

From a runner's point of view I enjoyed my stay quite a bit since running through the forest, rain or shine, was a welcome change to the usual beating the asphalt back home. I ran all kinds of trails throughout this area and I will miss it while my shoes probably won't because they had to suffer through mud, puddles, messy leaves and branches on the ground. At least they are now broken in and I hope to get up into the Bronx and run in Van Cortlandt Park once a month or so.

For anybody who might wonder how it was with the 1. FCK Running, well, that didn't work out the way I thought it would because their meeting place was a bit too far for me to get to every Monday night without a car. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my running on my own just as much and I can't wait to squeeze in at least two runs up north.

I had a quick look at the NYRR's and NYCRUNS's winter and spring schedules and thought I would sign up for the following races (I am trying to keep it at two, maybe three at most, races per month, giving me time to recover after each - something that I really have to take seriously).

Mud everywhere

February
1st: NYCRUNS Hot Chocolate 10k @ Riverside Park
22nd: NYRR Al Gordon 4M @ Central Park

March
1st: NYCRUNS Frozen Penguin Half-Marathon @ Bay Shore Pier
16th: Handing out medals at the NYRR NYC Half*
22nd: NYCRUNS Spring Fling 10k @ Roosevelt Island

April
5th: Scotland Run 10k @ Central Park*
27th: NYCRUNS Henry's Hope 10k or Half-Marathon @ Bay Shore Pier

May
11th: NYRR Japan Run*
17th: NYRR Brooklyn Half*+
26th: NYCRUNS Memorial Day Ice Cream Social, 10k @ Roosevelt Island

Frosty mushrooms

June
1st: NYRR Israel Run*
15th: NYRR Portugal Day*
22nd: NYRR Queens 10k*+

August
2nd: NYRR Team Championships*

September
21st: NYRR Bronx Half*+
13th: NYRR Fifth Avenue Mile*

October
12th: NYRR Staten Island Half*+

November
1st: NYRR Dash to the Finish Line*
2nd: NYC Marathon (either running or volunteering)*

December
13th: NYRR Ted Corbitt 15k*

*: Qualifying event for the 2015 NYC Marathon
+: Qualifying race for the 2015 NYC Half

The NYCRUNS schedule does not have any events in the summer and fall, yet, so they will be picked and added later to fill up the later months of the year.

Last, but not least, for 2015 I would like to run the Marathon and the NYC Half. For both races I have to run certain races and volunteer at least once to get guaranteed entry. I put my name into this year's lottery for the 2014 Marathon and maybe I'll be lucky but I definitely want to get into the 2015 races. Let's hope neither injury nor bad luck will prevent me from doing so.