Merry Christmas to all! To all, a good run.

Tom Monson is my best friend. If you aren’t Tom, don’t be offended, because I don’t have just one best friend.

Tom and I have known each other since the first day of 10th grade at Cottonwood High School (Salt Lake City). I still remember. We were in Mr. Christy’s geometry class. Our seating was in alphabetical order, so Tom sat right by me. We quickly became friends because we had so much in common.

We were both into the same “stuff”–specifically, we were both big fans of the Utah Jazz, University of Utah, and the New York Yankees. We always hung out.

Just after high school, we knew that we would go down our own paths in life. I attended the University of Utah, and Tom went on a mission for the LDS (Mormon) Church. When he came back from his mission and attended Utah State, our friendship was still as strong as ever. We just weren’t able to hang out as often as we did in high school.

Several years passed, we both graduated from college and had jobs in different places…we were even roommates in LA. While Tom was in Nashville, I told him that I wanted to sign up for the AIDS Marathon training program. Tom was the FIRST person to donate money! He also booked a flight to come and see me run the marathon in March.

Along with my family, Tom spent a VERY long day in the heat to help cheer me on at the marathon. I saw them at various different points along the course. This motivation made the painful blisters and cramping legs seem meaningless.

After that long day, I told Tom that I want to run the San Diego Rock N’ Roll Marathon in June. Tom said he would be there. And he was.

I am very lucky to have a best friend like Tom. He has been there for me throughout many circumstances in my life. He has been at every marathon, every major holiday, every major success and every major disappointment. He is my go-to person when I need serious advice.

Next month, Tom will be flying out to Phoenix with me as I run the Arizona Rock N’ Roll Marathon. I’m lucky to always have him by my side. Running a marathon is hard, but it’s much easier having a familiar face in the crowd.

My family is always there to support me during my marathons, fundraising and such. Tom is no different.

Tom, you are an awesome person. Thanks for always being there for me. Now I get to embarrass you by pulling out photos from the archive…

Here is a trip down memory lane:

Summer 1998

At the LA Marathon…

I can’t believe it. 2007 is almost gone. This was the first year that I participated in several races…most notably the Los Angeles Marathon and the San Diego Rock N’ Roll Marathon.

In 2008, I’m running the Arizona Rock N’ Roll Marathon and the LA Marathon. I will then spend the rest of the year recovering and training, because….I intend on running the 2009 London Marathon!

London will be a very special marathon for me. In 1980, I was born in London and moved to the US when I was very young. Now, with proper training I will run in my home country. This will be special.

On an unrelated note, I completed a nice 8 mile recovery run yesterday through Griffith Park. I have no long runs left until the Arizona Marathon in January. I will still continue to blog regularly, even though I won’t be running super long distances.

January 13th is creeping upon me. I am ready for this marathon. Eight mile maintenance runs each weekend until the Marathon. I am SO excited. I’m also nervous.

This marathon will be the first time that I run a long distance without my running partner Krystle, my cousin Ashu, or my pace group that I have trained with for the past several months.

Recently, I have started to train to music, because I need the mental distraction.

I thought I should post my playlist for the marathon. The actual order of songs will be random with a couple exceptions. I know it’s cliche, but I’d love to start to the Rocky theme and then finishing to “Chariots of Fire” and “We are the champions”.

Click here for the list. This list is alphabetized by artist. Let me know what you think. Should I add anything?

Today I went shopping…and I got some cool gear…so I thought I’d write about it…

New Balance Men’s Gazelle Pant
I LOVE these pants. They are tapered and felt fantastic when I tried them on. They are made with Lightning Dry material to wick away moisture. My favorite feature is the zippered pockets.

New Balance Compression Shorts
There really isn’t much to say about these without the topic becoming awkward. I will stick to the basics and say that these are supportive shorts with two features I like: a drawstring (which automatically makes these better than the Nike shorts) and a internal key pocket. I don’t envision ever using the key pocket, but it’s nice to know that it’s there. I think its a great place to store extra cash instead of keeping it in my belt pouch…

Amphipod Flasks
Over the past year, I’ve had an Amphipod Air Flow Lite belt (pictured below), and it’s been great. I’ve never had the belt wobble or feel uncomfortable while I run. I’ve also used a separate belt for my water bottle. Now, I have added two Amphipod flasks, that attach directly to the belt. These flasks are great, because they each hold 8 ounces of fluid, and they are made to be attached to Amphipod belts. It works out great for me.

I will be using all of my new gear, and my new shoes this weekend for my 20 mile run. This is my first long run since my minor surgery…so hopefully everything will go swimmingly…Wish me luck!

My next marathon is just over a month away. It’s clearly time to break in some shoes so that I can rock it hard core. I am going to wear the New Balance 858. It’s an update to the 857 (click here to see my previous post on this).

The 858 actually received the “Best Update” award by Runner’s World magazine. This shoe is great for people like me…flat foot, overpronator and wide, square toes. Two interior features of this shoe stand out for me: Lightning Dry material (to help wick away moisture) and a seamless construction (to prevent blisters).

I have a 20 mile run this weekend. I may run half of the run with these new shoes.

Here is what they look like:

My one week hiatus of non-running and no exercise is over. Tomorrow (Sunday) I am going to run a few miles. I need to get my legs back in tip top shape. My ingrown toenail is no longer an issue thanks to the lovely doctors at Kaiser Permanente. I’m (for the most part) fully healed and ready for action.

This week will allow me to build up my strength for the 20 miler that is coming up on Saturday, the 15th.

I have one month left until the Arizona Rock N Roll Marathon in Phoenix. January 13th is the big day. Next week’s 20 miler will be my longest run until the big race.

Since I don’ have much more to write, I leave you with something to make you feel good:

Yeah, being injured sucks. But…it’s pictures like this that make me smile. I found this picture about a week ago, buried in a folder on my desktop. This was taken at about mile 10 when I ran the 2007 LA Marathon. Isn’t my shirt cool?

My friends and family have always had my back during my various, random adventures. This picture is just one example of that…Behind me in this picture is one of my very best friends Tom, and my Dad.

My right big toe nail was giving me some trouble (ingrown) for most of last week and on Friday night, I thought I could take care of it by myself by cutting it. Unfortunately on Saturday, during the 17 mile run, the problem got much worse.

I stopped at eight miles because I knew that something was wrong. Luckily, I listened to my body and didn’t risk serious injury by “over doing it”. I spent a good part of the day relaxing and icing various parts of my body for maintenance. Later on, I went to Kaiser Permanente’s Surgical Walk-In clinic in Panorama City last night.

After getting checked in, the nurse gave me a tub of Benadine/water solution to soak my foot. This helped ease the infection a bit, and also prepared me for the surgery. The doctor then injected my foot with two shots of Lidocaine to numb the foot.

On a side note, I’ve been afraid of needles my whole life. Each time I get a shot, I realize that “It wasn’t so bad.” Well, last night, it was! The pain was unbearable!

In any case, once numb, the doctor proceeded to take out the ingrown nail. After dressing the foot to stop the bleeding, I went home and took some pain killers.

This surgery will put me out of running for 7-10 days. I may not be able to run in next week’s eight mile recovery run. This sucks really bad! Every day, and every season, any given baseball player can get hit with the injury bug and get placed on the DL (disabled list). It happens. But then, the goal of every injured player, is to get better, and come back with a vengeance. I intend on doing that.

Make no mistake…this little injury may be painful, and the recovery may put me out a week or two, but I am going to rock the marathon HARD CORE in January and March.

It’s now time to rest and mentally prepare.

Next week…I will be back.