Running With Jack

Tonight I have a 14K (~ 8.6 miles) training run on the schedule. For the record I checked my bicycle odometer by laying out a 2K course with my car, then riding with the bike. It is probably 99% accurate, thus I have indeed been running 14K’s rather than 12K’s all winter. Hasn’t hurt a bit! Definitely better than finding out that I had been running a shorter distance the whole time!!

I feel completely recovered from my 29-30K (18+ mile) run on Saturday morning. Based on the Hal Higdon training plan that I have been following (more or less), in two weeks I need to run about 30K (~19 miles) and in four weeks about 32K (~20 miles). If I want to be brave and run the Mannheim marathon on May 21, I have to sign-up by April 30th. I presented this idea to my wife yesterday and did not experience any negative vibes. I think it helped that I was still able to go out and work for six hours in the garden after my long run on Saturday. I think she is beginning to realize that maybe I won’t drop dead during the marathon (hopefully). So I guess I will wait until I run the 30K run in two weeks, then talk with her again about this. If you see me starting to taper in the beginning of May you know I have the green light :->

I received the final list of participants from my company for the Badischemeile (Baden Mile). This 8.88889K (5.5 mile), 70 people signed up: 66 runners, 3 walkers, and one wheelchair racer! My company has offered to buy running shirts for the 'Team', so sounds like it going to be a great time! In my department about half the people (10) are running, so this will be fun. As I write a few are in my office on their lunch break talking about starting to 'train' this week. It made me think about my situation last year about this time, I was running about 6-7K (3-4 miles) twice a week, and was wondering if I could finish the race. I had to smile when the guys were talking about meeting after work tomorrow night and run 2-3K. Today I felt really proud of myself for having stuck to my running over the winter. But then I had to humbly remind myself that I still have 9 lbs to lose before May 7th (my next goal on the list). Where’s my running shoes? Somebody pass me a celery stick:-(
Happy running!