Running in the new year

New Year's resolutions are like jeggings - a good idea in theory, but after awhile, they lose their luster.  Unless you're a runner.



Pre-race mugshot



Although I've never been one to resolude anything on January 1st, beginning 2011 with a positive outlook seemed like something I could latch onto - especially if it involved a frosty midnight run.  So when a friend suggested ringing in the new year running a 5k instead of kissing random strangers, I leaped at the opportunity and thought the following:

Running + friends + new year + open bar = AWESOMENESS!



"Cheers!" to new beginnings

 And awesome it was.  At the stroke of midnight, I "ran" in the new year with a smile, ecstatic that I was entering 2011 doing something I've loved for most of my life.  As I lapped around the Link, it occurred to me that perhaps resolutions are really enjoyable goals that people set out to achieve instead of bothersome tasks on a "To do" list.

As I blazed into the finish shoot, running 22 minutes and some change, I left 2010 in the dust and had a silent epiphany: A new year means letting go, but also, looking forward. 

Champagne in hand, I toasted to a new year and made a resolution to make 2011 the best running year of my life.  As David Gray suggests, it's  "A new day at midnight."  Indeed, it is.