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Yeah, it's a slow Friday and I decided to take another stab at blogging. I have not figured out exactly what I need to say, but Facebook posts are too short to really write anything worth keeping. I think the pending elections and all of the misleading discussion about economics has stoked my interest... Stay tuned, or not.

Thank You Cleveland!!!

Nats: 10-18, 0.357

Cleveland Indians: 11-20, 0.355

And, they live in Cleveland...

Nats staN

Well, I am suffering through another lame effort. When will I learn? Manny seems completely detatched from the game, just mechanically going through the files in the inbox. On the bright side, Hanrahan seems to have found the strike zone and big Zim seems to be locked in. Willie is doing his thing and Dunn makes me smile---because he reminds of Ricky Bobby. And, I guess being a fan of the home team is better than being a fan of somebody else's home team.

philly post mortem

The good the bad and the ugly. The good was I finished around 3:18; the bad was I finished around 3:18; the ugly was my post run "monkey butt" as so delicately phrased by an anonymous runner. He spoke the truth, but the pain was intense and it was still below freezing. And the finish was far from the hotel.

Here is a quick overview of the Philly experience. (I know it has been a very long time since I posted, but facebook is easier... and I am sort of lazy.) The course sort of stinks. Mile 4 or 5 was cobblestones. The end of the race is out and back along the Schuylkill river. Boring and cold. In the middle we run up some hills near the fairgrounds, I thought the course was flat and fast. Overall, I give the course a C-.

Race management seemed overwhelmed and the 7 am start made for a very cold late November race in Philly. Little medical support at the end, I just needed a chair so I could put my clothes on... wheel chair would have been nice too. I grade it a C.

Weather was crazy. Below freezing from start to finish, water stations were, as you could imagine, ice stations. The run up the Schuylkill was mostly in the shade whcih made it even worse. Thankfully, the wind was not that much of a factor. Cold, but not miserable, B-.

My performance stunk. Not enough speedwork coupled with an abbreviated training schedule meant I was stupid to run sub 7 at any time during the race. I did and I paid. And, the bathroom break (bad diet management) at the half marathon point cost me 4 minutes. Other small issues were the knee pain the developed after a Friday easy run and the quad pain that has been around since last summer (it's still around). D-


My p

Running well

I seem to be rounding into shape as my lunch runs are becoming less laborious. It's probably conditioning and the close to perfect weather. I may weigh in this weekend to see where I am, but will likely wait until next week. I plan on a run around Hains point tomorrow, reflect on what we have lost and learned the last couple of years.

Philadelphia

The stars aligned and I pulled the trigger today and signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon. Several important factors led to this seemingly nutcase idea. (1) The race is on November 23, 2008, a comfortable 12 weeks away. (2) It's the Sunday before Thanksgiving; man is that turkey going to taste good. (3) There happens to be a professional conference in Philly for me the Thursday through Saturday before the race. (4) My last two long runs, 16 and 18 miles, though not easy, were not complete disasters. (5) Ian's sleep patterns have improved tremendously. And finally, (6) Kelly realized running Steve is more interesting than sedentary (relatively) Steve, thus, Saturday mornings can be reserved for long runs. I have not decided on a goal pace, more than likely it'll be in the "just finish" neighborhood.

By the way, that weight thing played a role too. After the 16 miler I weighed in at 177.5 after fully hydrating. So, I have some work cut out for me. Ideally, I can get down to 170 or which is about 2 pounds a month. With higher mileage and fewer adult beverages, I should get there.

Graeme wants to type a GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG....

Until next time (hopefully sooner rather than later).