I have much to write, but only the time & energy for a few quick thoughts to update this blog. The primary reason for my weariness is a good one: I got a 20 in this morning, my first in over a year & one of my least problematic ever. By the time I finished, my legs hurt seriously below the knee, but I was not completely wiped out & was able to go on with my day with few restrictions ( I even did some yard work this evening). There was no acute dehydration, no blisters, no discolored toenails, & by noon I was ready to go to the grocery store with my wife, who also got in a 20 this morning. I did nod off a couple of times while watching NBC's recap of the NYC Marathon, but otherwise made it through the afternoon just fine.
Speaking of NBC: adding to the tragedy of the Ryan Shay situation is the fact that the network's "coverage" of the race Sat. never mentioned him, & his untimely death garnered little coverage on any of the other networks either (college football takes precedence, you know). But just wait: give them a couple of days to get their act together, & we will be seeing segments on the Today show that will begin something like: "Each year, tens of thousands of Americans run marathons. But how safe are they? Next we'll hear from some medical experts as well as from our own marathoner, Natalie Morales."
A lot more has gone on with me vis-a-vis running in the past few weeks, but for now I will have to synopisze it. Last week's Spinx RunFest was terrific: I spent the entire weekend there volunteering, helping my wife (who directed the kids' races), & finally running a PR (1:47) in the half Sun. morning on a course that I had never run before & that was backloaded w/ hills. It is clear from my performance that my summer of base training & corresponding emphasis upon long tempo runs paid off. There's more to it than that, including the expert advice that I discussed in my last entry, but suffice to say that it was the first really good race that I have run all year, & I hope that it will prove to be a sign of things to come.
