Week Two is Done!

Well, I've just completed my last run for week two of my marathon training. Yes, you read that correctly. I know, I must have lost my mind, huh? Maybe so, but the way I see it, why wait 'till you're old to lose you mind? I'd rather do it while I'm young so I'll have more time to enjoy acting a little nutty! Just kidding (I think)!

Anyway, I've signed-up to run the Disney World Marathon (http://tinyurl.com/7rdg7), which will be held on January 8th, 2006 at Disney World in Orlando. I think its gonna be really fun! I haven't been to Disney World since my grandparents took us when I was little. We're gonna make a family vacation out of it and stay for 3 or 4 days in one of the economy resorts (probably Pop Century?). Sarah will be almost two years old by then. I think she'll love it!

I'm following Hal Higdon's "Novice" training progam (http://tinyurl.com/a9xs7). I figured if an old guy like him could run a marathon, then a young spry guy like me could too. I just did 7 miles this morning with my friend Dane. That's the longest I've ever run in my life! Of course, I guess I'll be able to say that every Saturday between now and January 8th. Well, almost every Saturday. Every third Saturday the long run steps back a bit to allow me to rest and get ready for the next increase in mileage.

So far the running is going great. I'm doing all of it in the mornings so I don't take too much time away from my family. I bought a Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS running watch (http://tinyurl.com/nphh). It tracks my speed and distance in real time while I'm running. It really helps me pace myself. When I get back from my runs, I upload them to http://www.motionbased.com/ which is really cool. It keeps a log of my runs and bike rides (but that's a whole other topic for another post) and shows my route overlaid on a map or even aerial photo.

In fact, you can click on the overview map below to see this morning's run. Once you click on this link, click on the "Dashboard" link to see a summary of the run including total distance and time, my average pace, the predominent weather and an overview map. You can also click on the links on the left to look at my lap times, elevation and speed graphs, etc. The export to Google Earth feature is pretty cool (if you haven't downloaded Google Earth yet you don't know what you're missing so click here http://earth.google.com/ now! Anyway, play around with it, it's really neat. I'll try to post a link to each run from now on so anybody who's interested can check on my progress.

Anyway, I guess that's enough rambling for now.

Catch ya later!