19 in 3

19? in 3? What? No on March 27th 19 was not the temp our at 6am, that was all th way up at 26. BRRRR!!

Cheerios, yogurt, juice, and I seriously thought about putting on a pot of coffee and playing Wii with Josh and Quinn.

Because of you guys I bundled up, Under Armour hat, NY marathon gloves, ASICs Kayano 15s, 2xu compression tights and 2xu comp shirt, Underarmour long sleeve overshirt, pocketed Cannondale bike shirt, 45 oz of gatorade split in two bottles, cookies, girl scout dos y dos and rasp. newtons, and a banana. Clothed and fueled up I headed out into the raw air.

Why do this again? One, you folks paid good money, two, a little suffering is a small price considering the price people pay when combating cancer . . .

Two, feeling underprepared is one thing, embarrassing yourself is another . you cannot just go big without some training! A marathon is not quite an Ironman, but if you are not prepared there is no where to hide out on the course. Pay your dues now or drop out later . . .and I never drop out.

Started slow hoping to warm up. Nope! My fingers were so frozen they were not moving. As the sun rose, I encountered frozen friends out and about and started to feel better.

Four miles in at the Green Village Firehouse the tunes started rocking. Through the Loantoka trail into Harding and before I knew it I was at ten miles. A brief walk to pee, eat cookies, and warm my hands in private places and I was back in stride for two more on Pleasantville Road Mansion Row. Through the Great Swamp for four miles to Meyersville and the mexican restaurant that means I knew I was close to home.

Back in the neighborhood in three hours flat. I ran 95% of the last 4 miles in and still averaged about 9:30s overall so I feel OK.

Wish I had stayed up for that epic UK-OSU game, but thanks to the Jayhawks sending my spiders to the showers early I hit the hay.

So 21 days out, a couple of long runs left on Wed/Sat/Wed and then shut it down.

Hope springs eternal and maybe I can hit a mini peak in three weeks for the race. Regardless I am in whole hog, and glad you all are along for the ride!