MORE ODDS & INS

I did jump on the treadmill for 5 more easy miles last night. I’m not sure if I was supposed to meet Scott this morning or not. Last Friday we talked about keeping it rolling, but never contacted one another during the week. I stopped by his house at 6 and knew I was in trouble when I didn’t see any lights on. I waited 5 minutes then just drove to my usual spot and ran 6 miles. I had thoughts of doubling up again tonight since I was hoping to get in 8 miles today. However, since I’m meeting Evan tomorrow for 10-12 miles and then ramping back up next week, I think I’ll just enjoy the nice, easy day.

I started reading Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan’s Soul the other night. Chapter 2 starts with a poem that made me think of Mike and his marathon this weekend. Obviously, it can apply to any of us.

There’s no thrill in easy sailing
when the skies are clear and blue,
there’s no joy in merely doing things
which anyone can do.

But there is some satisfaction
that is mighty sweet to take,
when you reach a destination that
you thought you’d never make.

-Spirella

Sometimes I think my blog entries are “cheating” because I just take emails from friends like Jim and Eric and turn them into posts. They don’t blog, so I can take all the credit.

Anyway, congrats to Jim for his recent performance at the World Snowshoe Championships in Italy. I’m not sure if that’s the official title of the event, but it sounds cool. Results can be found here. I’m not really sure what ASS means, but it looks like everyone is one. Jim finished 147th out of 478 and was the 8th of 11 Americans. As Jim (who is 61 years old) said, he was the first “old toad.”

Eric sent me an email this morning telling me how inspiring it is to think of the kick ass season I’ll be having with all my training. My response was that I’m not counting my chickens yet. He told me the same thing last year and then I proceeded to lay an egg. I do think, if nothing else, last year's training has allowed me to do this year's training – and I feel stronger doing it. This year I just have to translate all the training into racing.