Farm Hands Rejoyce

Run: 8mi, 58:41; easy day with Di around the bay, felt a little sluggish from yesterday but that was expected.

For all of you that don't live in CA, today is César Chávez Day. I had never heard of this holiday until I moved out to CA but it is actually a big deal here (along with the other 9 states that celebrate it). I had to look him up, which is sad for a person who supposedly majored in US History, but this guy was the driving force behind all modern laws pertaining to the rights of farm workers. He put himself on the front line of many very confrontational protests, including a stint of 36 days in which he didn't eat in the 1980's. I'm not saying today should be a national holiday, but I give this guy some serious credit for standing up for workers who tend to get overlooked and generally treated like crap.

Well that is my history lesson for the day. In other news I am getting ready to drive to LA to stay with Millsy tonight so that I don't have to drive up in rush hour tomorrow. For someone who stays in hotels more nights than you would care to hear about, it is nice to have a normal place to stay in LA when I need it. Not only does Matt get to have my wonderful company for the night, but he usually gets a free dinner out of it, so he never complains.

Well I got a tank of gas and a Khaos with my name on it down at Volero. Catch ya on the flip side...

Training Log : March 24-30

Monday 3/24 - off, extremely tired from a long, yet fun, weekend watching NCAA BBall in Tampa

Tuesday 3/25 - 6 mi, 42:00, easy run testing out a sore shin, felt fine

Wednesday 3/26 - 10mi, 72:30, easy run on the bay with Di, shin feels better now

Thursday 3/27 - 8mi, 57:40, solid run around Del Mar with JLew

Friday 3/28 - off, no good reason but to try and not run every day this week so I stay healthy for Boston

Saturday 3/29 - 7mi, 48:03, easy around the bay alone with a good stretch afterward to prepare for my long run/"workout" tomorrow

Sunday 3/30- 18mi, 2:03:20, ran with Di the entire way, we did a 12+ mile push averaging 6:35 which is almost spot on her goal marathon pace, it was windy today so we had a solid effort with a few miles south of 6:30 in to the wind

Total: 5 day, 49 miles. I felt fine with how this week went. Although I am feeling healthy enough to run 7 days I don't think it is the best idea to just start in to my normal routine when I plan on running Boston in 3 weeks. I am still weary about Boston for a few reasons: 1, I would never tell someone to run a marathon off the minute training I have done and feel a little like a hypocrite, 2, I worry I may potentially hurt myself (refer to reason #1), 3, I am a little worried Dianna will have a better day than we are planning for and will drop me, which could definitely happen, 4, finally I would like to repeat I would think someone else training for it like I am is an idiot and therefore think that I, myself, am an idiot. More to come on this as Marathon Monday approaches.

p.s. Anyone that reads Mario's blog will notice this is relatively the same format he uses. Yes I stole it and no I don't feel bad about it. Until I have time to think of my own ways of blogging I will use other people's ideas. I will always cite when I do this. Actually I think this is the first time I have cited something since my senior project. Truthfully I think this is the first time I've used anything I learned in college since I graduated...how sad.

In the beginning...

Alright, so I finally decided to start this blog in some sort of attempt at keeping a record of my attempt at getting back to serious racing. It is going to be a hard road and as you will read below, I haven't exactly shown that I am capable of this since I graduated. Keeping a public record is hopefully going to keep my mind focused and give me a little motivation on the tough days.

A quick look at my life since I last "trained." Well I shouldn't say that because I did run a marathon last fall and did run some decent mileage, but I wouldn't say I trained well for it, but I digress. It has been 3 years since I graduated from the wonderful life I had at Stonehill College. Since I graduated I took a summer of resting the legs from 4 hard years of training and suddenly before I had time to start training again I had a job. I have worked for Reebok for almost 3 years now, during which I have moved to San Diego, for work, and all that time attempted to train. Well as many may know it hasn't work out the way I wanted. With my crazy schedule I will get in a month, maybe two of great running but then suddenly lose a week or two to work. I was able last summer to really dedicate my non-work time to running and it felt great. I didn't get any workouts in and I ran a forgettable time (although, in my defense, on a horrendously hot/humid day in the Twin Cities), but I felt good about myself and felt as though training had a direction again. After that I cooked up a plan to run respectable at Boston and it was going well until I accidentally stepping on a piece of glass and suffered for 2 1/2 months dealing with that until the doctor finally removed it all last month. Now I am trying my best to get in good enough shape to pace Dianna, my lovely FIANCE, through Boston in less than a month.

So that is where I am right now. Clearly I left many details of my life out but that is the general gist of my life since college. I am living in a place where training year-round is so easy that I need to take advantage until we move back for the wedding. The plan is to suffer through Boston to help Dianna reach her goal and then get my ass in gear. As of now I am aiming at finally running well for a half marathon this fall and then see where that takes me. I plan to use this blog to track my progress through Boston and beyond. I will add little random tidbits about my life, the Sox , my travels and anything else that comes to mind. I will do my best to update daily and keep a fairly detailed training log which I will post in full once a week. Well here goes nothing, I hope you enjoy!