Running Aimlessly Around the Countryside

This week was a mixed week. I started off the week on a note of encouragement after the Polar Bear Run. I got my planned 4 days in. For 2 of those days the weather showed a hint of spring, allowing runs with a little less clothing than has been required of late. For the other 2 however, the mercury dropped back down to the normal zone. We know Spring is out there, we just have to be patient. I also got a speed workout in and lived to walk and run the next day. That is already an improvement over last year. My hope is that I can continue down that positive path. I wrapped up the week with a nice 9 miler right on my target pace. Toward the end, I was starting to feel that "zone". Hopefully, that is not too far away. It was a little windy and cool, but it is still February in the Midwest. Jil had a bit of a step back week. She had a cough settle into her chest, and the Dr. asked her to stay off the roads until the antibiotics were gone. Luckily that was sandwiched between her M...

After my marathon last year, my wife, Jil, decided she would like to run a half marathon. She's walked one a couple times before, but after beginning running last year, she decided running was next. With that in mind she has a training group, and is targeting a spring half. This weekend's Polar Bear Run was the first racing step in that journey. The weather held out, and being "real runners", we thought it was a beautiful morning with temps in the mid-30's(F). We started together, but you will get 2 different stories about what happened in the first half. She brought her iPod shuffle, and I remember asking a couple times whether she wanted company or was going to listen. She remembers that I was like a kid who kept pestering until I got what I wanted. After about a 1/4 mile, I approval to go off on my own. I spent the rest of the first mile working through the mass of people before being able to settle in to a more comfortable race pace for me. I finished with wha...

Okay, so the podcasts and bloggers have been pushing for a while to get out here and share. I've been contemplating it, and finally decided to give it a try. While I'm wide open to what I'll post, at this point in time, my intention is to focus on my training/road racing, my wife's training/road racing, and the successes and heartbreaks of my children's training/swimming/road racing/triathlons. So here we go...