1550 - I love telling a story with pictures.
So...just like last week...
WILL
's
at  

1345 - Bibs are up.  I figured I'd be high 400's to low 500's.  
507
Cool, I assumed correctly. 

0935 - I'm assuming that when I get an email from NAS saying "we are ASSIGNING bib numbers on Thursday 10/16" I shouldn't actually assume they'd POST said bib numbers on 10/16.  Even this morning they're not effing posted yet.  Sheesh!

0800 - I had a VERY active night of sleep last night.  I slept with the windows open, that's probably why.  There were trains in my dreams.   There were multiple dreams about rain, clouds, storms, and tornadoes.  There were dreams about running...not running like we do here...I mean running away from things that are chasing me.  Lots and lots of dreams.  I usually only dream like that when I'm camping.  But then again, with the outside world blowing thru my window, I am not surprised.  Still, it was great to breathe the outside air while I was sleeping.  I feel refresed today even though my sleep was very broken.

2200 - Holy hell, I forgot that I'm capable of workouts like that! It's been a while since I've actually worked out for more than an hour.  LOL  Had a great workout with Bridget tonight, our run was awesome...we were really kickin' up the pace out there!!

1135 - I'm giving it up.  Too much logistics.  I think I'll just do a double in February (Myrtle Beach/Sarasota) and call it good.  It'll get me Level 4.  A double double is just too much planning.  UGH.  Buttar.com rains on my parade again.

1000 - A bigtime blow to my "plan", the Orlando Xtreme Marathon is now only a half-marathon.  So there goes my two consecutive weekends of back-to-back marathons.  I must find another alternative.  Damn that buttar.com, they continually screw me.  When I race with them, and when I don't.  Sheesh!!
               A long shot to replace this would be...
               11/29 - Bartram 50K, then drive home to do...
               11/30 - Space Coast Marathon
               12/6 - Sunmart 50 Miler, then either fly home and do
               12/7 - Marathon of the Palm Beaches, or stay in Texas and do
               12/7 - Austin Double Decker Marathon
Leaning towards the fly home option so Brian can drive to WPB instead of me having to drive to Austin after running 50 miles.  That's the only solution I have right now.  Damn.  This sucks!!

0800 - Well my dead arm thing went away last night, but this morning I woke up with it again.  Maybe I'm sleeping wrong on it.  That doesn't make sense though, since I have been dealing with it since after my workout on Tuesday, not after waking up.  Hmmm...
           More swimming on the schedule tonight.  This will be my third day in a row of swimming.  Gee, that in itself might be a PR!!  :)

20PU/10DPU - 0840, 0955, 1045, 1150, 1245, 1420, 1450, 1550, 1645
OK that's enough for one day.  Whew.

1600 - Just an FYI.  I guess I need to say this since I've been getting PM's questioning my motivation.
I put this stuff here to share my enthusiasm for my sport, not to make anyone feel less adequate or say that I'm better than anyone. 
I'm no better than any of you, no matter what your level of fitness or goals or achievements are.  Is that what you think of me??? Do you think I believe myself to be superior in any way?  I sure hope not.

1120 - Alright, one more idea and then I'll leave it alone. 
This one's doable.  7 marathons in one calendar month 29 days. 
THERE. I CHANGED IT.  ARE YOU ALL FUCKING HAPPY NOW?  SHEESH!!
2/1 Ocala
2/7 Orlando
2/8 Melbourne
2/14 Myrtle Beach
2/15 Sarasota
2/22 A1A
3/1 Gasparilla
There.  OK, next subject. 

1045 - OK now I'm REALLY insane!!  What if I did...
Sunmart (TX) 12/6, Rocket City (AL) 12/13, Jacksonville 12/21, Chicadecalunaless 12/27, Disney 1/11, Aviation Museum (GA) 1/17,  Miami 1/25, Ocala 2/1, Orlando 2/7, Melbourne 2/8, Myrtle Beach (SC) 2/14, Sarasota 2/15, and A1A 2/22...13 marathons in 12 weeks.  LEVEL 7!!!!  Yes, I know it's a dream.  But hey, maybe 2009-2010 I can go for that string.  Then I can start training for IMAZ 2010.

1005 - OK I made a decision just now.  I want to up my Marathon Maniacs status.  I'm at LEVEL 3 right now.  I want LEVEL 5 next year.  I have to do 4 marathons in 2 weeks to get it.  I can get LEVEL 4 just by doing a Saturday/Sunday deal, but if I do two of those in a row, it's LEVEL 5!  3 in a row would be 6, but the logistics aren't agreeing, especially since I'll have Umstead coming up.  But LEVEL 5 is what I'm aiming for.  So...I'm thinking this...
2/7 - Orlando Xtreme Trail Marathon
2/8 - Melbourne Beach Music Marathon
2/14 - Myrtle Beach Marathon
2/15 - Sarasota Marathon
Am I crazy.  Yeah.  But I'm running a 100-miler...it's good practice for being on my feet for umpteen hours at a time.  If I could find a 1/31 marathon, I'd do that plus Ocala on 2/1 and get LEVEL 6, but I'm having trouble locating a 1/31 race.

0735 - I have this "dead arm" thing going on.  I don't know what it is.  Ya know when you hit your funny bone, you get that kinda dull heaviness in your arm?  AFTER the initial shock I mean.  Well that's how I feel in my whole arm, from my shoulder down to my palm.  UGH.  It's annoying.  Not even Tylenol takes it away.  I've had it since I swam last night.
               I feel like I slept well last night, but I wanted to stay in bed this morning, I was soooo comfortable.  I think tonight (if it's nice out like it was when I got up this morning) I'll open the windows and sleep without the air on.  I love breathing fresh, cool air.  Of course tomorrow morning I won't want to get out of bed either!
              I have to be creative with my workouts today.  It's a strength day, push exercises, so I think to get that done, I'll do the 20 pushups/10 decline pushups per hour thing.  I won't have much time to work out.  Brian comes home tonight and I have to get him from the airport, and I also have to fit in dinner with my friend George who's moving to California this weekend, so I won't see him after tonight.  Plus I have to swim and do bike Tabatas.  So if I can get the pushups done at work, and then do the swim and Tabatas after dinner, I'll still be able to get Brian on time.  Whew...logistics suck.  Glad I don't do that for a living.

1600 supplemental...I mean seriously, what is it with people?  I'm depressed for a fucking month and I get PMs about "HTFU" and "snap out of it" and shit like that.  I ignore it, or smile and just chalk it up to the fact that they don't understand.  Then I get happy, get motivated again, get some fun (albeit a little crazy) goals written down and I have to get inspires and MORE PM's criticising what I wanna do with my marathon schedule?  Seriously people, FUCK OFF.  Maybe I shouldn't be so vocal about my goals and just fucking do it.

MILES AND MUNCHIES TONIGHT!  7pm Bay to Bay/Bayshore.
Everyone come and say hey to our own Tampa Mafia Marine, Brian (cantgeTRIte) who's in town for a couple weeks!

1535 - Update on my Baltimore results!  Official results posted! I made the top 5%!!
Official race time - 3:10:54
Chip time - 3:10:41
Age group - 18/264
Gender - 97/1981
Overall - 109/3107
That puts me INSIDE the TOP 100 MALES and INSIDE the top 20 in age group!!!  Woohoo!!!

1145 - I just realized that my bike helmet and shoes are in Brian's truck, at his place, so I won't be doing any bike Tabatas at lunch today.  That's good anyway, cuz honestly, I don't feel like having to get undressed, ride, shower, and get redressed at lunch.  I'll just do them before the run tonight.  I'll swim and then do them on the trainer at the gym, or I'll grab them from Brian's truck when I go feed/walk Sable tonight.

0725 - I think I'm caught up on sleep from over the weekend.  I was able to wake up early and work out this morning, I haven't done that in a while.  It wasn't a long workout, but it was part of yesterday's that I wanted to get out of the way.  I'm gonna do bike Tabatas at lunch today so I can do at least SOME of the swim from yesterday.  May have to split it up into halves over two days, which means I'd be swimming every day from today thru Friday...which, mind you, is NOT a bad thing.  I probably NEED to do that.

2010 - Gotta skip the workouts today.  My body's just still too sore and tight.  I'm gonna take it easy tonight, wear my compression stuff, and get some rest.  I'll split up tonight's workouts throughout the week's remaining days.  Even if I have to get up early one day or another.  It's just better off for my legs to not tax them too much.  I'd rather they recover before I start killin' 'em again. 

1400 - This is the handstand thingy I was talking about from before...

1235 - This HAS to qualify as a "photo of the week" somewhere.

1145 - BALTIMORE MARATHON RR IS UP!!!
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=136042

1015 - Well, I'm back at home.  Glad to be home, but missin' my fun times in DC already.  Haley and I had a blast.  We are freaks.  It was fun being stupid at the National Mall.  People were all kinds of staring...and we even got some kids to copy us when we did our handstand thingy...pics to come.
            I slept most of the flight home, except for the takeoff and landing.  So I'm well rested even though I have been awake since 0445.  I'll be working til about 1800 tonight and then I have to do some swimming.  I think I'll save the 5 mile run for tomorrow and do tomorrow's run Tabatas tonight instead.
            I'm pretty satisfied with my time at Baltimore.  It definitely lets me know I'm good to go on IMFL.  I think if I can just get one more century ride in this weekend, I'm good to go.  I think I'll do it on Saturday with a 3 mile brick run, and then do maybe a 7 miler up at Flatwoods on Sunday.  I don't think I need to run much at all for the next three weeks.

2140 - OK, people.   All we did today was eat and shop.  Holy hell.  We had planned on going to the Holocaust Museum...did we...ummmmm yeahno.  But we DID manage to be idiots for most of the day.  And we had some FUN on the National Mall.  
            Meals today...
            Crab cakes and steak
            Sport beans
            Pizza (they didn't have RANCH dressing!  The nerve of them!!!)
            CUPCAKES
            Dinner (wings for me, pizza WITH RANCH for Haley)
            CUPCAKES!!
            The cupcakes came from Georgetown Cupcake...we stood in a line that was out the door and down the street for these cupcakes.  We got our cupcakes, went across the street to the mall, and ate them in front of these two girls that were chatting.  They called us evil.  We laughed.  We each ate two of the six...yes we each bought six...in our cupcake boxes, and well...our tummies were not happy after that.  We had to drink lots of diet soda (which we got free on the street corner...cuz we're hot--and cheap) to wake us back up.

0850 - Slept til about 0530 this morning...which is still late since I went to bed at 1930 last night.  Haley and I watched the final 10 minutes of Kona.  Cool stuff. 
            Then uhhhhh....we watched 90210...holy hell what is WRONG with us!??!  Oh it gets better...then we ate steak and crab cakes...AND CHOCOLATE MILK...for breakfast.  This is all before 0730 mind you.  I still need to run about 3 miles today to shake my legs out from yesterday.  I've got some cramping in my calves and hip flexors, but not doing too badly.  IT bands are tight though, so when I run I need to shake them out.
            I think we're gonna try to go to the Holocaust Museum today.  I know of course that I'll get upset like the last time I was there, but I never got to go the past few times I've been in DC so I wanna go, I haven't been to the HM in over 10 years.  Tonight we are going to Capitol City Brewery for dinner!! YUM!!!

I think I'll write my RR tomorrow, I still have a lot of absorbing to do.  And recovering.  :)

1855 - Wow, what a day.  After the run, we were exhausted but we just HAD to have some awesome crab cakes and steak at G&M Restaurant.  It was goooooood...I wound up taking half my meal with me, but it was very much worth the 38 bux I spent on lunch.  Yes...for myself.  It's like the Bern's of crab cakes tho...so it was definitely worth the money.

Then we went and had pedicures.  Pics to follow.  My footies are nice and relaxed (and not scary like they were when I walked in there).  After getting back we had a nice bottle of Lambic Beer, sat outside in the fresh air (it's beautiful weather here), and chatted about the race.  I had an uncrustable too.  Yeah, beer and pbj...nice eh?  YUM.

Now I think I'm going to collapse and just sleep the entire night.  Lemme at that fluffy feather couch.