Time to Carbo Load

Tonight, while watching me slurp a mound of brown rice and chicken at P.F. Chang's, Dori barked, "You're running (the half marathon), aren't you?" I said, "Probably," and then made the mental note to check the weather for the morning of the 26th when we got home. The forecast is mid-50s at the gun with a high of 70, so that was the clincher. I'm entered to run Saturday's Country Music Half Marathon.

I listed a goal of 2:05:00 on the entry form, which would be my course record. If I feel like I did at the Tom King in mid-March, I'll do better than that. My goal this race isn't time, though ... It's to have a good time. I want to find a few folks who'd like to sit on a 9:00/mile pace for 9-10 miles and then reassess if it's about finishing, helping someone else PR, or going ahead and burying the needle.

I ran a weird five miles at Radnor yesterday. The pollen had me coughing and wheezing a bit. I took the first 2.5 miles briskly, then headed up the steep hill back into Radnor. I tanked. I had to gather myself and walked for maybe two minutes, then got back on it at an easy pace. When I reached the top of that .75 mile climb, I felt fine again. In fact, I started feeling great so I decided to max out the last 1.75 miles. I sat on a hard 7:00/mile pace that I held the whole way. Final time: 44:00. When I was done, I felt like I could do another mile at the same pace. Bizarre and encouraging after the deflating tank 20 minutes earlier. I did wind up feeling the run later that night at the school auction.

Speaking of the auction, Dori and I bought a lovely platter that we gave sister Anne and her husband. We delivered it after mass, and Anne loves it! It looks great in her living room. The photo above does the platter no justice. It's more creme than white.

Before P.F. Chang's, we went to the VU-Auburn baseball game. We were named "fans of the game," so we hauled home a gift basket courtesy of the TN Pork Producers. In the basket was everything BBQ (like BBQ sauces, recipes and a meat thermometer), but buried at the bottom was a Harry and David jar of red raspberry preserves. Earlier this week, my Aunt Renee sent some information about some studies about the benefits of red raspberries to folks who have or had leukemia.

When I saw the jar, I looked at Dori, who was all slathered with SPF 70 sunblock on the bright day, and ruminated out loud, "Think that's a coincidence?"

"Nope," she said in wonder.

Our thoughts tomorrow morning are with our good friend, Ann DeNunzio, who is running the Boston Marathon. Her goal is a bold 3:45:00. Ann told me Friday she's dedicating mile 25 to Dori. We're eager to follow her and see her do well.