December 2024: Closing out the Year

Running stats:

Miles run:  285.3

Elevation gain:  22,674'

Weekly miles (for weeks ended in month):  50, 59, 59, 50

Running distance returned to normal post-marathon;
higher elevation due to cross-country trip with runs hillier than my RI runs!

Primary running surfaces:  Roads (139 miles), trails (105)  

Primary running locations:  Charlestown (54 miles), Westerly (35) 

Other disciplines:

• Walk / hike:  34 miles

Quick synopsis:

• No long runs.  That'll change next month.
• No races.
• Eleven states:  RI, CT, CA, AZ, NM, TX, AR, MO, KY, WV, MD.

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Interesting runs:

• Joshua Tree National Park, California, December 12.  12 miles.  First time to this park; outer-worldly run.  

  

  Amazing unique scenery.  And fun fact:  "Joshua Tree" (pictured here) isn't a tree at all, but rather a succulent.

  
  

• Saguaro National Park, Arizona, December 13.  6 miles.  My 2nd visit here.  

  

  Another really cool place to run through!

  
  

• 13th Annual Christmas Light Run 🎄, Westerly, December 23.  5 miles.  Fun to keep up the tradition!

  

  
  

  
  
• Newport in the Rain, Newport, December 28.  12 miles.  Rainy run pretty much on the half-marathon course, from Easton's Beach CCW around Brenton Point.  

  

  I love how every year someone places and decorates
  a small Christmas tree at Easton's Beach.

  
  

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Races:

(None)

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Miscellaneous:

I liked my old plates, and the Plum Beach Lighthouse
(north side of Jamestown Bridge), but the plates
were seriously delaminating to the point
the final digit was barely readable 

Of course I love Beavertail as well!

Dec 5:  Christmas tree selection!
Went earlier than normal due to my 
impending cross-country trip, but the 
timing worked well with snow on the ground!

Love the old-fashioned aspects of this:  snow, cutting and
hauling your own Christmas tree.  As with manual transmission
drivers, I'm in the minority of Americans that buy a real
Christmas tree (23%), but it's how I grew up and what makes
me happy!

8.5' Korean Fir

Dec 22:  First day back from 11-day cross country trip.
Happy to be back for a run with Brady; a little snow for Christmas
was an added bonus

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Looking ahead to January:

Just one race planned:

• Winter Wonderland 5-Mile Race, Milford, CT, January 25.  First race of the 2025 USATF-CT Road Grand Prix series.

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Monthly highlight: 

Running in Joshua Tree National Park. (will have a separate post on overall trip w/ more photos)

Monthly lowlight: 

Spending time in Arkansas, especially in Paris, Arkansas.  My first time ever to this state, and while I had low expectations, it was even worse than I had imagined.  Run down, dilapidated houses with trash strewn in the yards, impoverished, and redneck.  I Googled "most redneck state" and Arkansas came up.  No surprise there.  (On the opposite spectrum, least redneck:  CT, RI, HI, MA, NJ).