Time to breathe

Sorry folks, it has been a very busy month. As you read here earlier we traveled for most of December and then took the kids to Disney World in early January. Then classes started at my university. That has been a rough two weeks of solving student and faculty problems, making next year’s teaching schedule, and hosting candidates on campus for a job search that I am chairing. I finally had some time today to take a breath and get back to the blog.

High school soccer season is winding down and I won’t have to trudge over wet fields. This will help my running, which by the way, is going great once again.

I returned last Sunday to my familiar Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday running schedule. Sunday will always be my longest run of the week. Now that soccer season is over, this schedule can go on uninterrupted. Since most of the games that I reffed were on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I couldn’t always follow a steady running schedule.

On Sunday I did 4 easy miles. Oh, I forgot. On the Phedippidations Podcast (ep: 126)they had an episode about base miles. Essentially you could build your long run endurance by doing easy base miles. Don’t go over 70 – 72 % of the max HR and if need be take walk breaks to keep the HR under that zone. Go listen to it, I can’t give it justice.

The Sunday 4-miler went well until I got into the third mile when my IT band started nagging me just outside the knee. I finished, but was in pain for a brief post-run period. This is not a big deal. I just have to stretch better. Found some nice ones on the Running Times page (http://runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=6099). I ran again on Tuesday–on the dreary treadmill–since it was raining hard outside. An uneventful 3 miles. I hate treadmills.

But Thursday morning I had a GREAT 3-mile base run. No pain, HR kept under the 71% mark, felt good all over–except that it was 35 degrees outside. My friend Lisa–a world class triathlete–is writing my program once more, with the goal being the 2009 Disney Marathon. I plan to run a half in April–most likely Dallas.

So, I have created my WDW Marathon counter on this page and even bought a 2007 Marathon Luggage Tag for my backpack to remind me of my goal. Does anyone know (Susan) if St Jude’s Heroes run in the WDW or is it only in the Memphis race?

The image above is of my boys at EPCOT. We just entered the park that morning and they are holding hands as they walk toward Test Track. They don’t do this often and I am glad I had my camera ready. (Usually they are using those hands to fight and fuss–typical boy stuff). This is why I take them to Disney and why it appeals to me. It brings out the child in all of us, even children!

Here’s to running Disney!