About Time...!!!

Well, I know it's been quite awhile since I've posted and you've all been waiting with baited breath to see what snippet of wisdom I'll throw out next.

Here goes : Do or do not. There is no try.

I know, I know. I totally ripped that one off, but it seems to fit.

One of the reasons I haven't posted is that, well, life happens. First off, the baby (I can't believe she's amost a year old already) has been battling almost constant ear infections, and hasn't been sleeping all that well. As a result, none of the rest of us are sleeping that well either. Except big sister; she can sleep through ANYTHING!!

It seems as if we've all taken turns getting/being sick. The Wednesday before the Super Bowl (how great was that game??? I was SO happy to see the mighty Pats felled by the sling weilding David that was the New York Giants) the baby was sick with the flu, throwing up, etc. Not fun. Mom stayed home with her on Thursday and she started to get sick on Friday. She ended up spending most of Saturday in bed. The evening of the game (Sunday) I started getting sick. And so it went. Eventually it all cleared up and things returned (a bit) to normal.

Now it seems as if the girls and I have colds that have nearly (hopefully) run their course. Still a bit runny in the nose, and some drainage, but not too bad.

The official training for the Flying Pig Half Marathon is now in its second week, and all I have to say is thank God for the treadmill. The weather has been SO miserable and SO NOT conducive to running outside that I've moved most of my training inside for the time being. Hopefully things will get better outside, as I must say 6 miles on the treadmill (my long run last week) is not so fun. I've been pretty good about putting in the miles, and not so good about the day of cross training and the day of stretching/strengthening. I think next week I'll really try to focus on doing some strength training (probably push ups, lunges, crunches, etc.) to see if that helps me out any. The running itself seems to be going pretty well. I've revised the training schedule a bit and am putting in slightly more mileage than called for (mostly on the long runs). The other night I ran a 3 mile pyramid run (I think). I ran the first mile at a 10:30 pace, the second mile at a 10:00 minute pace, and the third mile at a 9:30 pace. (Times were based on the treadmill speed rather that Nike+ as that seems to be off a bit.) I cooled down with a slow 1/4 mile. It seemed to go pretty well.

Speaking of long runs: My six miler on the treamill last week led to a bit of minor chafing, so I decided to go to the local running store and buy some BodyGlide. This led to the following conversation:

Clerk: Must be doing some long runs if you're needing BodyGlide.
Me: Yeah, I'm running a half marathon in May.
Clerk:Really? Which one? Indy?
Me:No the Flying Pig in Cincinnatti.
Clerk: Oh, yeah. The challenging thing will be getting in some speed work. It's hard to do in the wind and snow.
Me: (Picture a mostly blank expression) Yeah..

Um, SPEED WORK?? Now I know the basic idea behind it, but the training plan I'm using doesn't call for it. Maybe I need to rethink a couple things here.


What I'm Reading :Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon. A great (but LONG) period mystery about a witch trial in the colonies. Really good, and I'm only about halfway through.

Since posting last, I read Duma Key by Stephen King: FANTASTIC. LOVED IT. (Um, did you catch the fact that I REALLY enjoyed it??)

I also read Star Wars: Darth Bane: The Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn (sp??). Good, but not great, Star Wars book.

What I'm Playing: Not much. Some Madden, since I NEED my football fix. Oh, and some Guitar Hero III.