What's Happening in My World!

Wow! Thanks for the question Phil because things have certainly been crazy lately and my focus has definately not been on the marathon

Several weeks ago the 20-miler went great and I was really gearing up for the marathon. The reality that I could do it was sinking in and I could see the end of my training in sight.

I completed a 12 miler the next weekend and commented to my wife that I remembered when 6-milers felt like that. I could tell that I was getting accustomed to the longer miles.

Then, I don't know if I was wearing my body down or what but I got a terrible cold that cut into my running the next week. I was really tired and had congestion in my chest. Some meds seemed to finally clear it up before the weekend but I faced a delima: I had to fly out to Austin, Texas the next day for the yearly senior managment conference and I thought that running 22 miles with the week I had was not a smart idea. But the business of packing and getting everything else ready got to me and I actually missed any kind of long run that Saturday!

I did manage to run both Monday and Tuesday in Texas but the heat and humidity down there were both something! I ran once more on Friday and completed a 16 miler this past Saturday.

I know that this is not the kind of taper you want for a beginner running a marathon. 16 miles two weeks beforehand may have been pushing it a bit but I felt I needed to do it with all of the time I had taken off. I must admit that the 16 miles were a little harder than I would have liked. There was not so much a time that I lacked the wind but my ankles bothered me and I had more soreness than normal.

I have been really wrapped up in some major work stuff and my attention has just not been on my running. In fact, as you have noticed, it has been really hard to keep the blogging going. It really stinks that work is so demanding right now because I have put all the hard weeks into training and now I have not been able to "gear up" for it like I would want.

So I guess I am kinda of dragging my butt into the marathon and the reality just has not sunk in just yet. I am kinda bummed about it all and that is part of why I haven;t blogged -- that and all the business that is.

Me and the fam will be traveling to K-town for Thanksgiving Wednesday and I hope to take a few runs around campus to "clear the mind". It's less than two weeks away so I need to be "psyching" myself up! I will try and post more frequently in the days leading up to December 2nd!