I'm sitting this one out

Today Amy and Josie are traveling to Corinth, Mississippi to see this. I will be at home with Jenna watching the NFL Draft while they enjoy My Little Pony Live. Josie's world has been revolving around this day for the better part of two months. Yesterday Amy and I woke up at 5:30 with a three year old in our bed asking us if "Cloud Catcher" would be at the show. The marketing geniuses at the Hasbro planned three shows for Corinth market. If you didn't get tickets for today's show (and there are plenty available) you still have a chance to catch the Sunday matinee.

My Only Quasi-Winkler Post......

I would like to get your opinons on this article that was published Monday in the Columbia Daily Herald. The author is a local woman who is a little bitter at her CoC upbringing. Despite her claims to the contrary, she pins the Winkler murder on the old school CoC methodology. Check it out.......

Link

Pretty often I find former members of the church of Chirst to be pretty bitter people about some aspect of their religious heritage. Often times I am sympathetic to their frustrations. That being said, I think the author fails to demonstrate how a women's silence for an hour on Sunday creates a scenario in which she has no audience to voice her personal problems for the other 167 hours in the week. What do you think?

Also, a few thoughts on the Winkler case......

Will?/Can/Should her church forgive her for murdering her husband?

Would they have forgiven her if she had divorced him?

How much time in jail time did Mrs. Winkler's mild & meek appearance save her?

What are the fundamental differences in situations of Mary Winkler and Scott Peterson?

In handing out punishment for crimes how would you rank the following.....
* justice for the victim
* rehabilitating the violater
* protecting society

Back from Boston!!

First I want to say thanks to all of you who have e-mailed or called me since I returned from Boston. Amy and I had a great trip despite some pretty rough weather. We arrived in Boston about noon on Saturday. Most of the afternoon and evening was spent walking around downtown Boston and Harvard. Saturday's "Chamber of Commerce" weather made it difficult for me to believe the dismal weather forecast for Monday. On Saturday the Boston news channels were using reassuring terms like "historic costal flooding" and "gale force winds" to describe the marathon conditions.

On Sunday we awoke to an ominous drizzle. The priority of the day was to stay indoors, keep dry, and stay off my feet! Walking home from the restaurant Sunday night a stiff cold wind was slapping Amy and I in the face with a hard steady rain. I made up my mind then that if the conditions persisted I would punt on Boston and run two weeks later at Nashville.

The next morning the rain had not relented but the winds had subsided enough to convince me to run. I boarded my bus and headed out to Hopkinton. The wait at Hopkinton was by far the worst part of the Boston experience. All the runners are shuttled to the athletic complex at Hopkinton High School where they wait for the start of the race. For two hours 20,000 runners and myself shivered in the cold rain. The only thing worse than running in the cold is standing around in the cold. I was very ready to run so my body could begin to generate some heat!

The race finally began in the cold rain. Once undeway, the rain and wind seemed to really subside. By Mile3 I was looking to ditch my waterproof windbreaker. I relinquished a Red Sox cap that I had been wearing under my stocking cap (I had planed on using the bill of the cap to keep the driving rain out of my eyes) somewhere around Mile 4 to a very excited young Sox fan. I had also begun the race wearing two pairs of gloves. My outer gloves were crimson and boldly displayed the OU logo. These gloves I gladly tossed to a marathon fan standing by the road holding a Nebraska Cornhuskers flag. In less than 20 minutes I had tossed off over $100 worth of clothing.

I ran the first half of the race very conservatively. At the 12 Mile mark I was feeling great and had begun to contemplate when to turn on the jets and drop some fast splits. My plans changed somewhere around Mile 13 when I felt the first frightening tug on my left calf muscle. During the miles that followed it became obvious that I would be cramping up somewhere before the finish. By altering my stride I was able to nurse my condition until Mile 18. At that point my calf completely locked up forcing me to the side of the road to stretch. My fear was that this years marathon was about to turn into a repeat of my first Boston Marathon.

The previous year I spent the final 8 miles of the marathon walking, stretching, or jogging due to severe cramps that had begun at almost the same identical location on the course. After stretching my calf for over a minute (possibly two) at Mile 18 I jumped back in the race and was able resume a decent pace. This years calf cramps were nowhere near as debilitating as those from the 2006 marathon. I was forced to stop and stretch probably four more times before I finished the race. The difference this year was that after each stretching session I was able resume a healthy but cautious pace for another mile and half to two miles.

My finishing time was 3:05. Not as good as I had hoped but 30 minutes better than I had feared when the cramps began. Thanks to my GU, I was able to hold off any “hitting the wall” symptoms until I was past Mile 24. Up until that point everything, aside from my calves, felt great. I am very curious to know how well I could have done had I avoided cramping. That curiosity may or may not be enough to send me back again for another stab at Boston. My finishing time from this years race automatically qualifies me for next years race!

Finally, several of you have expressed concerns about my health. Most (read "all") of the comments have focused on my slight 153 lb frame. Please know that I am working to rectify the situation even as I type with a bowl of Cookies-N- Cream.

More Bad News.......

BOSTON -- A forecast for a wind-driven rainstorm had organizers of Monday's Boston Marathon keeping a close watch on the forecast. However, the race was expected to be run as scheduled.
StormTrak 5 meteorologist Dick Albert predicted a Nor'easter would begin Sunday and continue through the day on Monday.
"If the winds are strong enough, it could bring down power lines and trees," said Albert.
The potential exists for conditions that could threaten the safety of the runners, forecasters said.
"We are planning for likely heavy rain and windy conditions on race day. However, all race day plans remain the same," the Boston Athletic Association said in a statement on its Web site.

Blogging on Boston, Now the Good News....

This year I have made every effort to eliminate the speed bumps the prevented me from excelling last year. Here is a brief summary of the modest changes and additions I have made to my preparations for the 2007 Boston Marathon.

#1- Last year my average weekly mileage total was somewhere between 56-58. This year I have upped my weekly mileage to 63-65. This would be roughly a 10% increase and should benefit me.

#2 – Last year I had a horrible time sleeping the last four nights before the race. I would sit in bed and just think about the race. Sometime around 3 or 4 AM I would drift off into a shallow and restless sleep. This year a good doctor friend of mine has generously provided me with several samples of the sleep aide Lunesta. I sleep 7 hours and wake up with no drowsy side effects! I will be using this every night except for the Sunday night before Monday's race. I feel that last year my lack of sleep was the most significant single factor in my bonking. This year it won't be a problem.

#3 – This year I have trained for the hills of Newton, Massachusetts. During my long runs I have purposely hit some of the nastiest hills in Columbia after I have been running for two hours. I have no doubt that this will help me both physically and mentally as I approach Newton and the infamous hills.

#4 – I will be carrying packets of the carbohydrate wonder gel, “GU” in my shorts. My shorts have mesh pockets specifically designed for carrying packets of carb-gel. GU, once ingested, should give me 2-3 extra miles of carbs before I hit the wall.

#5 – I have been on spring break for the last two weeks! I am rested and ready to go. Usually I spend my two week spring break in the woods hunting turkey. This year I have given up my early morning hobby in the interest arriving in Boston as rested as I possibly can be.

Blogging on Boston, First the Bad News.......

On April 16th I’m going to run in my second Boston Marathon. As most of you know my first trip there was somewhat less than I had hoped for. I had run a sub-3 hour qualifying time and my expectations were no less for my trip to the most famous marathon in the world. As I found out (the hard way) Boston is a much different marathon than most. Returning to Boston this year my goal of a a sub-3 hour marathon will remain the same. Hopefully I will preform better than 3:34 disaster of last year. Here is a brief description of hurdles in my path and the strikes I have going against me.

At Boston runners are assigned bib numbers based on their qualifying time. The faster the qualifying time, the lower the bib number. Last year my qualifier was a 2:58, my bib was #2244. That means 2,243 people submitted qualifying times faster than I did. I would guess that somewhere close to 2,400 runners sent in qualifying times under three hours. Checking the Boston Marathon official results from last year, I found that fewer than 1,200 runners finished with a time faster than 3 hours. Simply put, roughly half of the people who ran their qualifiers in less than three hours were unable to duplicate the same feat in Boston.

The main reason for the slow times at Boston is the topography of the marathon. The first half of the marathon is either downhill or flat. This encourages runners to go faster than they should. Encouraging this fast pace are the thousands of spectators cheering the runners from town to town. For the first 16 miles of the race there is not a single rise in elevation and split times are fast. Then you arrive in Newton, Massachusetts. Newton presents a series of four hills from mile 16.5 to mile 21.5. Those that have been tempted to push the pace over the easy first half of the marathon are punished severely in Newton.

The hills present two problems. First, they come in rapid succession. None of the hills by itself would pose a problem for a dedicated runner. The cumulative effect however is crushing to the runner's spirits and body. The second reason for the slow times is that the hills begin in the later portion of the race. Newton's hills begin at a point in the race when glycogen stores are beginning to run out. This experience is commonly referred to as “hitting the wall.” Glycogen (Carbs) is the primary fuel of the muscles. Once it is gone the body looks to other fuels, usually fat, to keep it going. Even on a flat course this is painful and results in the runner significantly slowing his or her pace. In Boston your glycogen reserves run just as you are reaching Newton’s hills. Good times.

In all honesty, the deck is stacked against me running a sub-3 hour marathon. Last year a younger me and roughly a thousand people who were faster than me failed to achieve the time goal that I set for myself. Despite my miserable race last year my goal will remain unchanged this year. Why do I think I can do it this year? I’ll tell you later. Have a Happy Easter!

Spring Break!

Well- We are almost finished with one of our two week spring break. Time sure does fly!! We have managed to spend a lot of family time together, which has been wonderful!! We also have completed, with the help of my dad, Josie's swing set. She got it for her birthday in Feb., but we had to wait for it to be warmer to put it together. Although- it was around 50 degrees both days of construction! We still have to build the ladder and install the slide. We are also going to add a baby swing for Jenna. This weather is weird!!
We went to Kentucky today to visit David's grandparents. On the way back we saw some snow flurries!! It is always fun to visit the grandparents- they really love seeing the great-grandkids!!
Tomorrow is our church Easter Egg Hunt- it is going to be chilly! Josie is excited about the hunt and that the bunny is coming tomorrow night. Jenna will stay at home with David. It will be too cold for her to be out.
Speaking of Jenna- she turned 10 months old this week! She is a master at crawling and pulling up. She loves to talk and says bible and uh oh!! She loves her big sister too!
David is tapering off on his running- we leave for Boston a week from tomorrow. We are excited! My roommate from college- Ericka and her husband are going with us! No kids! It will be nice, but I will sure miss my girls. I have not been away from them this long ever!! Josie informed that I could not go to Boston because her and Jenna would be all alone. Talk about a heart breaker! They will be staying with my mom and dad!!
I will try to post pics from the Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow.