hi
has been a while since i’ve dropped by, but a lot has taken place. first, i actually finished the san diego marathon last weekend. honestly, i didn’t expect to do as well as i did, but wonders never cease. i was fairly unprepared, given that, due to injury, i hadn’t really run any significant miles in the 6 weeks leading up to the marathon. my longest run over that span was five miles. but, on race day, i arrived at the start line as well rested and fed as could be. i then stuck to my strategy of running very slow. five of us started in a slow pack, but maye and i dropped off when she needed to use a bathroom. she and i then slogged at a 9:30-10:00 per mile pace through mile 18. that’s where i stopped. i developed a lot of pain by mile 15, so miles 15 to 18 were my test of fortitude. i set a goal to run until i saw jeff blackburn and karen cho on their return leg. after i saw them, i then kept on setting goals, and when i had missed my mouth with my water cup at 18, i decided that that was a sign that maybe i was getting a bit dizzy. i then walked and ran it in from there, but still maintained ~12 minute per mile pace. was so fantastic to see karen at the hotel every time we went by — that was definitely a huge assistance for me. all in all, it was a nice mini-vacation. the hotel was very nice, and the weather was fantastic. we even got to spend some time with mary and rick cassoni and spent the last day in la jolla and san diego with karen cho before flying back. san diego is really undergoing development, which reminded us a lot of seattle.
we also moved the boat from thunderbird marina out to elliott bay marina this weekend. it is so much of a nicer marina. we can’t wait until the sunny seattle days arrive. it will be so peaceful to hang around elliott bay.
spent the rest of the weekend just laying around. read a few different things. finished up an issue of runner’s world. read a few chapters of a Back and Neck Pain book. and, read the first two chapters of Good to Great by Jim Collins. i think that i’m in a reading group for that book tomorrow, but i don’t remember seeing it pop up on my meeting maker. either way, the first two chapters were very good, as usual. his concepts are very inspiring. more to follow on that, i’m sure.
finally, i e-mailed an organization called Northwest Environment Watch (NEW) about volunteering for them. i am excited about hearing back from them. basically, they work to “foster an environmentally sound economy and way of life in the Pacific Northwest, the bioregion encompassing the watersheds of rivers flowing through North America’s temperate rainforest zone.”
Is about 6:30 right now — I’m torn between getting some work done, and going out for a beer or two — i’d say it is about a 50/50 chance for either right now…