Marathon Training - Weeks 15 and 16 (Late Post)

Dang, I forgot all about doing this. Better late than never, I guess. The last two weeks were very productive. Kathy and I went to Maine for a week (some very good friends were marrying off their youngest son) and we still managed to get our runs in, including a 14-miler. So now we're in coasting mode. The training plan calls for easy runs during the last week. We'll rest on Saturday and fly to San Diego. And Sunday morning it will be over. One way or another.

Backpacking Breaking In

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My brother John and I have two backpacking trips planned for the summer. In June we have a three day trip at Ross Lake to shake out our gear and food and make sure I can run faster than him in case we see a bear. In August we do the 93-mile Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier. I decided to load my back with 30 pounds and spend one hour hiking up and down the hillside behind Holmberg Park. It's the same trails I rode on last winter. I thought it would be a great opportunity to see what got sore and work from there.

Had I brought my camera I could have shown the wild flowers like my friend John wrote about elsewhere. Not as many flowers but it's pretty with Mt Spokane in the background.

The climbing got me breathing hard, but thanks to all the running and cycling I never felt out of breath. During my second time up I felt my right heel get a little warm. Rather than practice putting some moleskin on I thought I'd tough it out. I paid for that foolish decision on my third time up. Next time I'll wear thin synthetic socks under the wool ones and see if that works better. Other than the blister everything went great. Kathy reminded me that I'm supposed to run 26.2 miles in eight days so getting a blister is even more foolish than I thought.

Stimulus Check Hocus Pocus

Today I received a notice in the mail from the IRS letting me know they're sending me the economic stimulus payment I received last Friday. What a load of crap. Our government borrows money to give to us so we can spend it and help the economy. Does anybody think these things through?

Pocketbook Power

For the past couple of months I've been slowly reading this book and mulling it over. It's very disturbing. The influence of multinational corporations today is far far greater than we think. And yet most of us think the government is to blame. To a point it is, but it is also manipulated by the corporate world to create and enforce policies that benefit the corporate world. As the African National Congress learned soon after taking power in apartheid South Africa in 1994, they had the government but they had no economic power and that is where the real power lies. Because of the economic strangleholds placed on the new government the people of South Africa are worse off today than when they lived under their apartheid masters. Boris Yeltsin destroyed the new Russian democracy to implement repressive economic policies. And Clinton backed him. I had no idea.

I wonder what is really going on in Iraq. A Los Angeles-based company is planning to open a Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience amusement park. So what United States government is going to make sure they make money on that deal? And where exactly is that money going to come from?

Marathon Training - Weeks 13 and 14

I just wrapped up a 22-mile run this morning and I feel good. I'm ready to take a nap, but I feel good. That is the longest training run and I'm glad to be done with it. Now we ease our mileage down, presumably to save our depleted bodies for the big run on June 1. I decided I will do one marathon every 51 years. I think that's enough.

Belated Bloomsday Entry

A business trip before and after Bloomsday delayed my getting to this. My marathon training paid off. I ran my fastest time ever in 13 straight Bloomsdays: 1:01:45. It felt great. I didn't push it very hard because I don't want to injure myself with the marathon coming up in less than four weeks. The question to ponder is, "Do I want to beat that time next year?" Hmmmmm.